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Hand drum

Hand drum

Overview
A hand drum is any type of drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, 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...

 that is typically played with the bare hand
Hand
The hands are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm of a primate. They are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, used for both gross motor skills and fine motor skills...

 rather than a stick
Stick
A stick generally refers to a long, slender piece of wood, usually a branch from a tree without the leaves that may be refined. It also makes a good weapon and early records have shown that they were used for hunting.Stick may refer to:...

, mallet
Mallet
A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of wood, smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...

, hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...

, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the 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. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...

, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical
Cylinder (geometry)
A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given straight line, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

 shell with a drumhead
Drumhead
A drumhead is a membrane stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands so that it vibrates and the sound resonates through the drum.-History:...

 attached to one of the open ends.
  • A 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. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...

     common in Middle Eastern music is the Tar (drum)
    Tar (drum)
    A tar is a single-headed frame drum. The tar comes from North Africa and the Middle East. Depictions of these frame drums date back thousands of years....

    .
  • The tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"...

     is simply a frame drum with jingles attached to the shell.
  • The daf
    Daf
    A daf is a large-sized frame drum used to accompany both popular and classical music in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kuhistoni Badakhshon of Tajikistan and other countries of the Middle East...

     and the dayereh
    Dayereh
    A dayereh is a medium-sized frame drum with jingles, used to accompany both popular and classical music in Iran , the Balkans, and many Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Frame drums are popular in Kartli, Kakheti, Tusheti, Samegrelo, Racha and Imereti...

     are Iranian frame drums.
  • Ghaval is the Azerbaijani frame drum.
  • The tonbak
    Tonbak
    The tonbak or zarb is a goblet drum from Persia . It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music...

     is the Persian goblet drum
    Goblet drum
    The goblet drum is a goblet shaped hand drum used mostly in Arabic, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. Its thin, responsive drumhead and resonance help it produce a distinctively crisp sound...

    .
  • The Doumbek is a goblet shaped drum used in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music.
  • Mirwas
    Mirwas
    The mirwās or marwas , plural marāwīs is a small double-sided hand drum originally from the Middle East. It is a popular instrument in the Arab Gulf states, used in sout and fijiri music...


  • The most common African drum known to westerners is the 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 and meant to be played with bare hands...

    , a large, single-headed drum with a goblet shape.
  • The Ashiko
    Ashiko
    An ashiko is a kind of drum shaped like a truncated cone and meant to be played with bare hands.The drum is played throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.The Ashiko has three primary tones, just like the Djembe....

     is another African drum in the shape of a truncated cone.
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Encyclopedia
A hand drum is any type of drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of music instruments, 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...

 that is typically played with the bare hand
Hand
The hands are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm of a primate. They are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, used for both gross motor skills and fine motor skills...

 rather than a stick
Stick
A stick generally refers to a long, slender piece of wood, usually a branch from a tree without the leaves that may be refined. It also makes a good weapon and early records have shown that they were used for hunting.Stick may refer to:...

, mallet
Mallet
A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of wood, smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...

, hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...

, or other type of beater. The simplest type of hand drum is the 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. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...

, which consists of a shallow, cylindrical
Cylinder (geometry)
A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given straight line, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

 shell with a drumhead
Drumhead
A drumhead is a membrane stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands so that it vibrates and the sound resonates through the drum.-History:...

 attached to one of the open ends.

Middle & Near East

  • A 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. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...

     common in Middle Eastern music is the Tar (drum)
    Tar (drum)
    A tar is a single-headed frame drum. The tar comes from North Africa and the Middle East. Depictions of these frame drums date back thousands of years....

    .
  • The tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"...

     is simply a frame drum with jingles attached to the shell.
  • The daf
    Daf
    A daf is a large-sized frame drum used to accompany both popular and classical music in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kuhistoni Badakhshon of Tajikistan and other countries of the Middle East...

     and the dayereh
    Dayereh
    A dayereh is a medium-sized frame drum with jingles, used to accompany both popular and classical music in Iran , the Balkans, and many Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Frame drums are popular in Kartli, Kakheti, Tusheti, Samegrelo, Racha and Imereti...

     are Iranian frame drums.
  • Ghaval is the Azerbaijani frame drum.
  • The tonbak
    Tonbak
    The tonbak or zarb is a goblet drum from Persia . It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music...

     is the Persian goblet drum
    Goblet drum
    The goblet drum is a goblet shaped hand drum used mostly in Arabic, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. Its thin, responsive drumhead and resonance help it produce a distinctively crisp sound...

    .
  • The Doumbek is a goblet shaped drum used in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music.
  • Mirwas
    Mirwas
    The mirwās or marwas , plural marāwīs is a small double-sided hand drum originally from the Middle East. It is a popular instrument in the Arab Gulf states, used in sout and fijiri music...


Africa

  • The most common African drum known to westerners is the 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 and meant to be played with bare hands...

    , a large, single-headed drum with a goblet shape.
  • The Ashiko
    Ashiko
    An ashiko is a kind of drum shaped like a truncated cone and meant to be played with bare hands.The drum is played throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.The Ashiko has three primary tones, just like the Djembe....

     is another African drum in the shape of a truncated cone. Similar to the Djembe it is rope strung.
  • Bougarabou
    Bougarabou
    A Bougarabou is a set of drums commonly used in West Africa. The drums are single headed , with an elongated goblet or roughly conical shape, usually placed on a single stand, and most commonly played in sets of three to four.Until the last few decades the Bougarabou was played only one at a time,...

     are African drums with cow skin heads.

Latin Percussion

  • Conga
    Conga
    The conga is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent....

    s and bongos
    Bongo drum
    Bongo drums or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...

     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
    Merengue music
    Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the Spanish name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar. It is unclear as to why this name became the...

    , salsa
    Salsa music
    Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Cuban Caribbean genre that is popular across Latin America and among Latinos abroad that was brought to international fame by Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and variations; the term has been used to describe most any...

    , son
    Son
    A son is a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents. The female equivalent is a daughter.-Social issues regarding sons:Pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters,...

    , boleros, bachata, cumbia
    Cumbia
    Cumbia is a Colombian musical style and folk dance that is considered to be representative of Colombia, along with Vallenato. Cumbia originated from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with folkloric variants in Panama....

    , latin jazz
    Latin jazz
    Latin jazz is the general term given to this musical genre in the countries of Latin descent...

    , and others.
  • The Tambora, a two-sided drum played with both a stick and a hand, is essential to the merengue
    Merengue (dance)
    Merengue is a style of Latin American music and dance with a two-step beat . Partners hold each other in a closed position. The leader holds the follower's waist with the leader's right hand, while holding the follower's right hand with the leader's left hand at the follower's eye level. Partners...

     dance of Dominican Republic.
  • The maracas and timbales
    Timbales
    Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...

     are widely played in popular music.

Far East and India

  • Tabla
    Tabla
    The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in the classical, popular and religious music of the Indian subcontinent and in Hindustani classical music. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...

     are central to Indian music
    Indian music
    Indian music may refer to:*Music of India*Music of South Asia, the music of the Indian subcontinent*Native American music*Music of Central America, and in particular, of its indigenous peoples...

    .
  • The mridangam
    Mridangam
    The mridangam is a percussion instrument from India, especially South India. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble...

     takes the main spot in Indian classical (Carnatic
    Carnatic music
    Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...

    ) music.
  • Ghatam
    Ghatam
    The ghatam is a percussion instrument, used in the Carnatic music of South India. It's analogs in Rajasthan knows as madga and pani mataqa ....

    s and Kanjira
    Kanjira
    The kanjira or ganjira, a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. It is used primarily in concerts of Carnatic music as a supporting instrument for the mridangam...

    s accompany the mridangam in carnatic music.

External links