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Drumhead
 
 
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A drumhead is a membrane
Diaphragm (acoustics)

In a loudspeaker, a diaphragm is the thin, semi-rigid artificial membrane attached to the voice coil, which moves in a magnetic gap, vibrating the diaphragm, and producing sound....
 stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as 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 parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands so that it vibrates
Oscillation

Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and Alternating current power....
 and the sound
Sound

Sound is vibration transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a threshold of hearing to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations....
 resonates
Resonance

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude at certain Frequency, known as the system's resonance frequencies ....
 through the drum.

inally, drumheads were made from animal skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
 and were first used in early human history, long before records began.

In 1956, Chick Evans invented the plastic drumhead. Plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
 drumheads made from polyester
Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate ....
 are cheaper, more durable, and less sensitive to weather than animal skin .






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Encyclopedia


A drumhead is a membrane
Diaphragm (acoustics)

In a loudspeaker, a diaphragm is the thin, semi-rigid artificial membrane attached to the voice coil, which moves in a magnetic gap, vibrating the diaphragm, and producing sound....
 stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as 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 parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands so that it vibrates
Oscillation

Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and Alternating current power....
 and the sound
Sound

Sound is vibration transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a threshold of hearing to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations....
 resonates
Resonance

In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude at certain Frequency, known as the system's resonance frequencies ....
 through the drum.

History

Originally, drumheads were made from animal skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
 and were first used in early human history, long before records began.

In 1956, Chick Evans invented the plastic drumhead. Plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
 drumheads made from polyester
Polyester

Polyester is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many polyesters, the term "polyester" as a specific material most commonly refers to polyethylene terephthalate ....
 are cheaper, more durable, and less sensitive to weather than animal skin . In 1957, Remo Belli and Sam Muchnick together developed a plastic head (also known as Mylar) leading to the development of the Remo drumhead company.

Despite the benefits of plastic heads, drummers in historical reenactment
Historical reenactment

Historical reenactment is a type of roleplay in which participants attempt to recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire period....
 groups such as fife and drum use animal skin heads for historical accuracy. Skin heads are used on most hand drum
Hand drum

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. The simplest type of hand drum is the frame drum, which consists of a shallow, cylinder shell with a drumhead attached to one of the open ends....
s, including djembe
Djembe

A djembe also known as djimbe, jenbe, jymbe, jembe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin covered hand drum, shaped like a large Goblet drum, and meant to be played with bare hands....
s, frame drum
Frame drum

A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead diameter greater than its depth. Usually the single drumhead is made of rawhide or man-made materials....
s and conga
Conga

The conga is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum of African origin, probably derived from the Congolese Makuta drums or Sikulu drums commonly played in Mbanza Ngungu, Congo....
s. Another common material used for drumheads is aramid
Aramid

Aramid fibers are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic rated bulletproof vest cloth, and as an asbestos substitute....
 fiber, such as kevlar
Kevlar

Kevlar is the registered trademark for a light, strong aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora.Developed at DuPont in 1965 by Stephanie Kwolek it was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires....
. More durable fiber heads are used mostly in marching percussion.

Tuning

A drum
Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion instrument group, technically classified as 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 parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound....
 "hoop" or "rim" may be made of metal, wood, or other material and is used to hold a drumhead against a drum shell, either with bolts through metal "claws" attached directly to a hoop, or bolts through holes in a flange
Flange

A flange is an external or internal rib, or rim , for Shear strength, as the flange of an iron Beam or I-beam ; or for a guide, as the flange of a train wheel; or for attachment to another object, as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, etc, or on the lens mount of a camera....
d rim. The bolts, called "tension rods," are screwed into threaded "lugs" attached to the drum shell, in order to tighten and tune the drumhead. A "drum key" is a type of wrench
Wrench

A wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide a mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn screw, Nut or other items designed to interface with a wrench....
 used to screw the tension rods into the lugs.

Muffling

Drummers muffle their drums using special drumheads like double-ply heads, "control ring" heads, and "hydraulic" heads, or various materials placed on the drumhead like o-rings, duct tape, muffling clamps, and a product called Moongel which is a blue, sticky, gel-like substance also used to dampen cymbals. Drummers also place foam, pillows, or blankets inside the bass drum to reduce overtones.

Manufacturers

  • Remo
    Remo

    Remo is an American drum skin company.Remo may also refer to:* Remo , a member of the Lucchese crime family* Remo language, a Panoan language of Brazil and Peru...
  • Evans
    D'Addario

    D'Addario is a manufacturer of musical instrument Strings s, primarily guitar strings, currently headquartered in Farmingdale, New York, Long Island, New York....


External links


  • A Complete List of Drum Head Manufacturers