Membranophone from Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Most membranophones are
drums. 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 kazoo. These instruments
modify a sound produced by something else, commonly the human voice, by having
a skin vibrate in sympathy
with it.
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Hornbostel-Sachs
The Hornbostel-Sachs
scheme of musical
instrument classification 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 and snare drum)
22: by pulling a knotted string attached
to the drumskin (common in Indian drums, and can be
considered an example of a chordophone
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) [1]
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Shape and technique
Membranophones can also be divided into large
divisions based on shape and manner of sound production:[2]
A
kazoo is a special class of membranophone,
and is the only class that does not consist of true drums
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 grame.
Mirlitons and kazoos vibrate by blowing air across a
membrane. These are the only membranophones that are
not truly drums.
SIL International
maintains a classification system based largely on shape: [3]
Cylindrical drums are straight-sided,
and generally two-headed. A buzzing, percussive string is sometimes used.
Examples include the bass drum
and the Iranian dohol.
Conical drums are sloped on the sides,
and are usually one-headed. Examples include the Indian tabla
and the Venezuelan chimbangueles.
A
timpani is a kind of kettle drum
A
cuica is a kind of friction drum
Barrel drums are normally one-headed, and
may be open at the bottom. They bulge in the middle. Examples include the bendre, made by the Mossi
of Burkina Faso out of a large calabash,
and the trong chau of Vietnam.
Hourglass drums (or waisted drums) are hourglass-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 damaru)
and much of Africa, as well as some talking drums.
Goblet drums (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 drums 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 drums 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.
Frame drums are composed of one or
more membranes stretched across a frame. Examples include the tambourine and bodhran.
Friction drums produce sound through friction, such as by
rubbing a hand or object against the drumskin.
Examples include the Brazilian cuica
and the Spanish zambomba.
Mirlitons
and kazoos produce sound by blowing air
across a membrane.
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Traditional classifications
The traditional Chinese method of classifying
instruments by composite material renders the following categories of drums:[4]
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 ocarinas
Traditional Japanese and Korean instrument
classification schemes use essentially the same scheme.[5]
The traditional classification of Indian
instruments include two categories of membranophones.[6]
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 pot.[7]
Water drums
are also sometimes treated as a distinct category of membranophone.
Common in Native
American music and the music of Africa, water
drums are characterized by a unique sound caused by filling the drum with some
amount of water.[8]
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.[9]
