Hand drum

Last updated October 07, 2024

A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater.

Types

The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are available for most if not all of the drums listed through various manufacturers.

Middle and Near East

The tar is a frame drum common in Middle Eastern music.
The tambourine is a frame drum with jingles attached to the shell.
The daf and the dayereh are Iranian frame drums.
The ghaval is the Azerbaijani frame drum.
The tonbak is the Persian goblet drum.
The doumbek is a goblet shaped drum used in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music.
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Africa

The most common African drum known to westerners is the djembe, a large, single-headed drum with a goblet shape.
The Ashiko is another African drum in the shape of a truncated cone. Similar to the Djembe it is rope strung. This drum is easily recognized as having straight sides (many actually have a slight curve but appear straight compared to most hand drums). The ashiko contrary to popular belief is traditionally mounted with wild game heads such as a gazelle. Most modern Ashikos are made with goat skin as a matter of convenience or legality. A more traditional-sounding Ashiko can be created using hand-picked goat skins that imitate the game skin or using deer skin (which requires more frequent tuning and maintenance). Ashiko drums are quite popular but less so than other types of hand drums and the difficulty in making sound as it should traditionally probably explains why they are less common. Most Ashikos found in common use have a non-traditional sound to them due to different skin types being used.
Bougarabou are African drums with cow skin heads. The base of the um drum is shorter than a djembe and the goblet shape less pronounced. (This is believed by some to be the African traditional predecessor of the Conga.)
The Dundun talking drum, is a class of hour glass shaped drum that is popular amongst the Yoruba people of West Africa. Dun-dun literarily translates to "Sweet-Sound". The class includes the largest in the ensemble Iya-Ilu (mother drum) and other smaller category like Ijin, Gangan, Adamo, and the smallest of the ensemble is called kanago. Depending on the parts of the Yoruba region, other types of Dundun drum in between may be available.
The Batá drum is often used for spiritual worship of Sango in Yoruba, Cuba and Brazil. It has drums in category of Iya Ilu (mother drum) and other smaller drums. Omele Bata is a triplet bunch of strapped drums in the Bata Drum Category.
The Gudu-gudu drum is a pace-maker drum that is used in both Dundun and Bata drum category.
The Bembe drum is a Yoruba base drum. The modern base drum in drum sets used by professional musicians and military/school parades is an example of modified bemebe drum.
The Ipese drum is used for Yoruba Spiritual worship of Ifa.
The Igbin drum is used for Yoruba Spiritual worship of Obatala.
Another type of drum family called Dundun is from Guinea. This is different from the Yoruba talking drum. It has 3 types of drums, the Dundun Songba and Kenke.

Latin percussion

Congas and bongos are essential to all kinds of Latin American music, especially that of the Caribbean and South American regions, used in both folklore (punta, santeria, rumba, etc.) and popular music such as merengue, salsa, son, boleros, bachata, cumbia, latin jazz, and others.
The Tambora, a two-sided drum played with both a stick and a hand, is essential to the merengue dance of Dominican Republic.
The pandero or plenera, is a percussion instrument included in the group of frame drums. A set of these hand drums from Puerto Rico is usually performed in plena music. There are three sizes, primo or requinto (for playing solos), segundo or seguidor, and tercero or tumbador (for playing a fixed rhythm).
The maracas and timbales are widely played in popular music.
The cajón is a box-shaped percussion instrument originating from Peru, primarily played in Afro-Peruvian music, as well as contemporary styles of flamenco and jazz.
The Ilu is popular in Pernambuco and Ceará.

Far East and India

Tabla are central to Indian music.
The mridangam takes the main spot in Indian classical (Carnatic) music.
Kanjiras accompany the mridangam in carnatic music.
Răbāna or Raban, Gáta Béra, Yak Béra and Udákkiya are used in Sri Lankan music.
One drum head in Daŭla is played by hand, which is again used in Sri Lanka.
Dhōlki is used both in Sri Lanks and India.
Klong yao is the Thai "long drum" which is shaped like an elongated or stretched goblet and rope tuned.
The tsuzumi (kotsuzumi) and the ōtsuzumi are Japanese hand drums, used in traditional Noh and Kabuki theatres.
- The Den-den daiko is a Japanese hand-held drum, used in Shinto-Buddhist ceremonies, etc.

Europe

The Irish Bodhrán is sometimes played with the bare hand.

North America

a drum used in powwows is called a hand drum, but is typically used with a mallet.^[1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drum</span> Type of musical instrument of the percussion family

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a percussion mallet, to produce sound. There is usually a resonant head on the underside of the drum. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the thumb roll. Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years.

A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashiko</span> Tapered drum traditionally found in West Africa and part of the Americas

The ashiko is a drum, shaped like a tapered cylinder or truncated cone with the head on the wide end, and the narrow end open. It is made of hardwood and generally has a calfskin hide. Nowadays, goatskin is sometimes used, in imitation of the high sound of the popular djembe drum. It is played with the hands, and tuned by ropes. Ashiko drums – or variants thereof – are traditionally found in West Africa, as well as part of the Americas.

A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language, "djé" is the verb for "gather" and "bé" translates as "peace."

The goblet drum is a single-head membranophone with a goblet-shaped body. It is most commonly used in the traditional music of Egypt, where it is considered the national symbol of Egyptian Shaabi Music. The instrument is also featured in traditional music from West Asia, North Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. The West African djembe is also a goblet membranophone. This article focuses on the Middle Eastern and North African goblet drum.

Daf, also known as dâyere and riq, is a Middle Eastern frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many regions of Georgia, Armenia, Pakistan as well as in parts of India and Russian polar regions. It is also popular among Balkans, Caucasians, Bukharan Jews, Kurds, and Macedonians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tombak</span> Iranian percussion instrument

The tombak, tonbak (تنبک) or zarb (ضَرب) is an Iranian goblet drum. It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The tombak is normally positioned diagonally across the torso, while the player uses one or more fingers and/or the palm(s) of the hand(s) on the drumhead, often near the drumhead's edge. Sometimes, tombak players wear metal finger rings for an extra-percussive "click" on the drum's shell. Tombak virtuosi often perform solos lasting ten minutes or more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunun</span> Generic term for a family of West African drums

Dunun is the generic name for a family of West African drums that have developed alongside the djembe in the Mande drum ensemble.

The music of West Africa has a significant history, and its varied sounds reflect the wide range of influences from the area's regions and historical periods.

Bandari music stems from Iran's south, around the Persian Gulf region.

The Batá drum is a double-headed hourglass drum with one end larger than the other. The percussion instrument is still used for its original purpose as it is one of the most important drums in the Yoruba land and used for traditional and religious activities among the Yoruba. Batá drums have been used in the religion known as Santería in Cuba since the 1800s, and in Puerto Rico and the United States since the 1950s. Today, they are also used for semi-religious musical entertainment in Nigeria and in secular, popular music. The early function of the batá was as a drum of different gods, of royalty, of ancestors and a drum of politicians, impacting all spheres of life in Yoruba land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoruba music</span> Music of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin

Yoruba music is the pattern/style of music practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Togo, and Benin. It is perhaps best known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition and techniques, especially using the gongon hourglass shape tension drums. Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles; it left an especially important influence on the music used in Santería practice and the music of Cuba.

Ngoma are musical instruments used by certain Bantu populations of Africa. Ngoma is derived from the Kongo word for "drum". Different Bantu-inhabited regions have their own traditions of percussion, with different names for their instruments. In Kikongo, "ngoma" is used by extension to signify specific dances, social occasions, and rhythms. In Swahili, Ngoma music is used to describe music, dance, instruments including the drums, and events together as a joint cultural practice.

The zerbaghali is a goblet-shaped hand drum that is played in the folk music of Afghanistan.

Gbedu literally means "big drum" and is a percussion instrument traditionally used in ceremonial Yoruba music in Nigeria and Benin. More recently, the word has come to be used to describe forms of Nigerian Afrobeats music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sakara drum</span> Type of Yoruba drum

The Sakara drum is one of the four major families of Yoruba drums of Nigeria. The other families are the Dundun/Gangan or talking drum, the Batá drum and the Gbedu drum. Each family includes drums of different sizes, with the mother drum playing the lead role and other drums playing in support. The Sakara is also made and used by the Hausa people of northern Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aṣíkò</span> Music genre

Aṣíkò (Ashiko) is a musical genre similar to sákárà music from Nigeria, West Africa. Aṣíkò was the Christian version of sákárà (Sakara).

The Duhulla is a type of bass drum that is commonly found in Arabic percussion. Usually, it is played along with the Tabla, Goblet drum, Darabuka, Riq (tambourine), and Daf Duhulla, sometimes referred to as Doholla, or Bass Darabuka, is mostly found across the Middle East. Used mostly in festival settings, it is part of many trans-regional traditional music and dance across the Arab world. It is very similar to the Darabuka, but it is a larger version and has a deeper sound.

The Dammam is a large double-headed cylinder drum or frame drum played by Shias in Iraq and Iran in religious ceremonies. The dammām is usually struck with the left hand and a curved stick in the right hand, especially during passion plays in the mourning month of Muharram or to wake up the devotees early in the morning of Ramadan.

References

↑ "Native American Drums: The heartbeat of Mother Earth | Race and Culture". 21 November 2022.

External links

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[1] "Native American Drums: The heartbeat of Mother Earth | Race and Culture". 21 November 2022.

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