Drum: Cayman island musical instrument

The drum is a member of the percussion family of musical instruments. In the Hornbestel-sachs classification system, the drum is a membranophone. Drums is made up of at least one membrane that is known as the drumhead or the drum skin that is stretched over the shell of the instrument and struck by the player either directly with the hand or by the use of a drum stick to give out the desired sound. There is always an amplified sound head on the underside of the drum, specifically tuned to a slightly lower pitch than the top drumhead. Other methods have been used to make the drum to produce sound like the thumb roll. The drums are the world’s oldest and the only musical instrument that can be found almost everywhere around the world and the basic design f the instrument has remained almost unchanged for many years.

source: jessedotson.com

He drums are usually played by hitting it with the hand or with one or two sticks. In some traditional cultures, drums have symbolic works and are used in religious occasions. Hand drums are mostly used in music therapy because of their tactile nature and easy use by many people. In popular music and jazz music, the drums are usually referred to as the drum kit or a set of drums and the person the play the drums are called the drummer. In place like the Burundi, the drum has some divine status.

The shell of the instrument almost invariable has a circle opening over which the drumhead is placed and stretched, although the shape of the remainder of the shell differs much. In the western musical instrument tradition, the most normal shape is a cylinder, although the timpani have the shape of a bowl. Other shapes that can be given to the drum are frame design, truncated cones and joined truncated cones. Drums that has cylindrical shapes can be made to be open at one end or have two drum heads. Single headed drums are typically made up of a skin stretched over an enclosed space or over one end of the instrument. Drums that are built to have two heads that is covering the both ends of a cylindrical shell possess a small hole that could be created in halfway between the two heads. The shell of the instrument forms the resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions includes the African slit drum, also called a log drum because it is produced from a hollowed-out tree trunk and the Caribbean steel drum is manufactured from a metal barrel. Drums that have double heads can have a set of wires that is known as snares held across the bottom head, top head of both heads of the drum making the instrument a snare drum. In the modern band and the orchestral drums, the head of the drum is placed over the opening of the drum that in turn is being attached by the shell by a rim that then held by means of a number of tuning screws known as the tension rods, which screw in to the lugs at the same distant around the circumference. The tension of the head can be adjusted by tightening or loosening the rods. Most of such drums have about six tension rods.

The sound of Any drum will depend the variables which are; the shape, the size of the drum, and the thickness of the drum, also the material of the shell, counter hoop material, the material of the drum head, the tension of the drum head, the position of the drum, and the striking velocity as well as the angle. Before the invention of the tension rods, the drum skins were attached and tuned by rope system just like that of the djembe or with pegs and ropes just like that of the Ewe drums. The head of the drum has the most effect on the sound of the drum; each type of drum serves its own musical function and has its own unique sound. Double-ply drumheads moisten high frequency harmonics due to they are heavier and they are suited to heavy performance. Another factor that determines the sound of the drum is the head tension against the shell of the drum. When the hoop of the drum is placed around the drum and the shell and is tightened with the use of a tension rod, the tension of the head can be adjusted. When the tension of the instrument is increased, the abundance of the sound will be reduced and the frequency of the drum will be increased and this will make the pitch of the drum higher and the volume will be lower. The type of shell used in the construction of the drum also affects the sound of the instrument because the vibrations resonate in the shell of the musical instrument and the shell can be used to raise the volume of the drum and to manipulate the type of sound that the instrument will produce. The larger the diameter of the drum is, the lower the pitch of the drum and the larger the deepness of the drum, the louder the volume of the drum. The thickness of the shell will also determine the sound volume. The thicker shells will always give out louder volume.

Drums produced with alligator skins was found in the Neolithic cultures located in china. And this dates back to a period of 5500 BC to 2350 BC. Drums are used not just only for their qualities, also but as a medium of communication over great distances. The talking drums of the African continent are used in the imitation of the tone pattern of spoken language and throughout the Sri Lankan history; the talking drum has been used as a means of communicating to the citizens of the community by the state. The Chinese troops used the talking drum to motivate their troops to help set a marching pace and to opt out orders and announcements.