A
membranophone is any
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
which produces
soundSound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.- Perception of sound...
primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original
Hornbostel-SachsHornbostel-Sachs is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961...
scheme of
musical instrument classificationAt various times, and in various different cultures, various schemes of musical instrument classification have been used.The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments...
.
Most membranophones are
drumThe 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...
s. Hornbostel-Sachs divides drums into three main types: struck drums, where the skin is hit with a stick, the hand, or something else; string drums, where a knotted string attached to the skin is pulled, passing its vibrations onto the skin; and friction drums, where some sort of rubbing motion causes the skin to vibrate (a common type has a stick passing through a hole in the skin which is pulled back and forth).
In addition to drums, there is another kind of membranophone, called the
singing membranophone, of which the best known type is the
kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
.
A
membranophone is any
musical instrumentA musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making the sounds of music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture...
which produces
soundSound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.- Perception of sound...
primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original
Hornbostel-SachsHornbostel-Sachs is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961...
scheme of
musical instrument classificationAt various times, and in various different cultures, various schemes of musical instrument classification have been used.The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments...
.
Most membranophones are
drumThe 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...
s. Hornbostel-Sachs divides drums into three main types: struck drums, where the skin is hit with a stick, the hand, or something else; string drums, where a knotted string attached to the skin is pulled, passing its vibrations onto the skin; and friction drums, where some sort of rubbing motion causes the skin to vibrate (a common type has a stick passing through a hole in the skin which is pulled back and forth).
In addition to drums, there is another kind of membranophone, called the
singing membranophone, of which the best known type is the
kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
. These instruments modify a sound produced by something else, commonly the human voice, by having a skin vibrate in sympathy with it.
Hornbostel-Sachs
The
Hornbostel-SachsHornbostel-Sachs is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961...
scheme of
musical instrument classificationAt various times, and in various different cultures, various schemes of musical instrument classification have been used.The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments...
divides membranophones in a numeric taxonomy based on how the sound is produced:
- 21: by hitting the drumskin with a hand or object (most common form, including the timpani
Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick...
and snare drumThe snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom...
)
- 22: by pulling a knotted string attached to the drumskin (common in Indian drums, and can be considered an example of a chordophone
A chordophone is any musical instrument which makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification....
as well)
- 23: by rubbing the drumskin with a hand or object
- 24: by modifying sounds through a vibrating membrane (unusual form, including the kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
)
Shape and technique
Membranophones can also be divided into large divisions based on shape and manner of sound production:
- Tubular drums include a wide range of drum shapes, like waisted, long, footed, cylindrical, conical and barrel
- Kettle drums and vessel drums are characterized by the presence of rounded bottoms.
- Frame drums consist of a membrane stretched across a frame.
- Friction drums produce sound by rubbing a stick through a hole in a membrane stretched across a frame.
- Mirlitons and kazoos vibrate by blowing air across a membrane. These are the only membranophones that are not truly drums.
SIL InternationalSIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy and aid minority language development...
maintains a classification system based largely on shape:
- Cylindrical drum
Cylindrical drums are a category of drum instruments that include a wide range of implementations, including the bass drum and the Iranian dohol. Cylindrical drums are generally two-headed and straight-sided, and sometimes use a buzzing, percussive string....
s are straight-sided, and generally two-headed. A buzzing, percussive string is sometimes used. Examples include the bass drumA bass drum is a relatively large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The bass drums are of variable sizes and are used in several musical genres . Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished: the large orchestral bass drum, the smaller kick' drum, and the...
and the Iranian dohol.
- Conical drum
Conical drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, that is characterized by sloping sides. They are usually one-headed. An example is the timbal bahiano....
s are sloped on the sides, and are usually one-headed. Examples include the Indian tablaThe 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...
and the Venezuelan chimbangueles.
- Barrel drum
Barrel drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by a barrel-shape with a bulge in the middle. They are often one-headed and open at the bottom...
s are normally one-headed, and may be open at the bottom. They bulge in the middle. Examples include the bendre, made by the MossiMossi are a people in central Burkina Faso, living mostly in the villages of the Volta River Basin. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, constituting 40% of the population, or about 6.2 million people.. The other 60% of Burkina Faso's population is composed of more than 60...
of Burkina Faso out of a large calabashThe calabash or bottle gourd is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, one of the calabash subspecies is known as the bottle gourd. The fresh fruit has a light...
, and the trong chau of Vietnam.
- Hourglass drum
Hourglass drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by an hourglass shape. They are also known as waisted drums. Drumheads are attached by laces, which may be squeezed during a performance to alter the pitch....
s (or waisted drums) are hourglassAn hourglass, also known as a sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer, is a device for the measurement of time. It consists of two glass bulbs placed one above the other which are connected by a narrow tube. One of the bulbs is usually filled with fine sand which flows through the narrow...
-shaped and generally two-headed. The drumheads are laced onto the body, and the laces may be squeezed during performance to alter the drum's pitch. Examples include folk drums in India (like the damaruA damaru or damru is a small two-headed pellet drum from India and Tibet, shaped like an hourglass. The drum is typically made of wood, with leather drum head, or made out of human skulls. Its height ranges from a few inches to a little over a foot. It is played one handed...
) and much of Africa, as well as some talking drums.
- 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...
s (or chalice drums) are one-headed and goblet shaped, and are usually open at the bottom. Examples include the Arab darabukka, and a range of similar instruments from Armenia, Azerbaijan, North Africa, Southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
- Footed drum
Footed drums are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by an open area at the bottom of the instrument, held by feet. This open area adds resonance to the drum's sound....
s are single-headed and are held above the ground by feet. The space between the drum and the ground provides extra resonance. Examples include a range of East African and Polynesian drums.
- Long drum
Long drums are a loose category of tubular membranophones, characterized by their extreme length. They are most common in Africa, Thailand, and in Native American traditions. Long drums can be made out of entire tree trunks....
s are a diverse category, characterized by extreme length. Examples include the single-headed hollow tree trunk drums of Africa and the ornately carved and dyed gufalo of the Nuna in Burkina Faso.
- Kettle drums (or pot drums or vessel drums) are frequently played in pairs, and have a vessel or pot body, and are usually one-headed. Examples include the timpani
Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick...
.
- 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...
s are composed of one or more membranes stretched across a frame. Examples include the tambourineThe 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"...
and bodhranThe bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...
.
- Friction drum
Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 232.11-92A friction drum is a musical instrument found in various forms in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America...
s produce sound through frictionFriction is the force resisting the relative lateral motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact. It is usually subdivided into several varieties:...
, such as by rubbing a hand or object against the drumskin. Examples include the Brazilian cuicaCuíca is a Brazilian friction drum often used in samba music. The tone it produces has a high-pitched squeaky timbre. It has been called a 'laughing gourd' due to this sound....
and the Spanish zambomba.
- Mirliton
Mirliton may refer to:*Chayote or mirliton, a pear-shaped vegetable or its vine*Mirliton , a comic book cat character created by Raymond Macherot and Raoul Cauvin*Mirliton, a type of membranophone...
s and kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
s produce sound by blowing air across a membrane.
Traditional classifications
The traditional Chinese method of classifying instruments by composite material renders the following categories of drums:
- Jin: Metal drums, along with bells and gongs
- Ge: Leather-headed drums
- Mu: Wood drums and blocks
- Tu: Clay drums, as well as some kinds of clay ocarina
The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument. While several variations exist, an ocarina is typified by an oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouth tube projecting out from the body...
s
Traditional Japanese and Korean instrument classification schemes use essentially the same scheme.
The traditional classification of Indian instruments include two categories of membranophones.
- Ghan: Percussion without membranes, such as chimes, bells and gongs
- Avanaddh: Percussion with membranes, such as drums with skin heads
Other categories
The
predrum category consists of simple drum-like percussion instruments. These include the
ground drum, which, in its most common form, consists of an animal skin stretched over a hole in the ground, and the
pot drum, made from a simple
potPot may refer to:* Pottery, the ceramic ware made by potters* Plantpot or flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated* Cooking pot, a stove-top cooking utensil* Chamber pot, a bedside urinal...
.
Water drumWater drums are a category of membranophone characterized by the filling of the drum chamber with some amount of water to create a unique sound. Water drums are common in Native American music, and in some forms of African and Southeast Asian music....
s are also sometimes treated as a distinct category of membranophone. Common in
Native American musicAmerican Indian music is the music that is used, created or performed by Native North Americans. In addition to the tribally specific music of those groups there now exist pan-tribal and intertribal genres as well as distinct Indian subgenres of popular music including: rock, blues, hip hop,...
and the
music of AfricaAfrica is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. Most importantly, the music of north Africa has a different history from that of Sub-Saharan African music....
, water drums are characterized by a unique sound caused by filling the drum with some amount of water.
The
talking drum is an important category of West African membranophone, characterized by the use of varying tones to "talk". Talking drums are used to communicate across distances.
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Hornbostel-Sachs Hornbostel-Sachs is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961...
system of musical instrument classificationAt various times, and in various different cultures, various schemes of musical instrument classification have been used.The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments...
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IdiophoneAn idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument vibrating itself, without the use of strings or membranes. It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification...
| MembranophoneA 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....
| ChordophoneA chordophone is any musical instrument which makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification....
| AerophoneAn aerophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding considerably to the sound...
| ElectrophoneThe fifth top-level group, electrophone category was added to the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classfication system by Sachs in 1940, to describe instruments involving electricity...
List of musical instruments by Hornbostel-Sachs number |