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Drums are widely used in traditional music in the Far East, along with a diverse range of cymbals, gongs, metallophones and untuned wooden idiophones. In much traditional music of this region, the drum is played by the director of the ensemble, who uses specific signals for the other performers. Chinese Drums Most Chinese drums (gu) are ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Drums are an essential part of urban music, classical ensembles, sacred Sufi music, and traditional folk music throughout the Middle East. Dumbek, Tar and Riq The dumbek is a goblet drum (10–22 cm/4–9 in diameter and 22–40 cm/9–16 in long). It has a hollow pottery, wood or metal body and a goatskin or fish-skin head. There ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

of the griot class of professional musical entertainers. These men lead the drumming and promote the tradition by teaching students. The two main types of West African drum are goblet drums and hourglass drums made from a hollowed-out single log (like the djembe and kpanlogo), and those constructed like a barrel with wooden strips bound by metal (like the ashiko). The ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

together sharply to make a ‘crack’ sound when the slapstick is flicked abruptly. Debussy often requires a large orchestra and the percussion section in his music may contain timpani, drums both large and small, cymbals, tam tams, glockenspiel and xylophone. Cowell introduced bullroarers (also known as thundersticks) into the score of his Ensemble (1924). His Ostinato (1951) ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

keep the rhythm in marching bands. The modern orchestral bass drum (100 cm/70 in diameter and 50 cm/20 in long) is double headed and rod tensioned. Although single-headed orchestral bass drums were popular in the late-nineteenth century, the enclosed cylinder of air in a double-headed drum gives a greater depth of tone and more carrying power at a range of ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

wind instruments, such as serpents and basset horns, were also tried out. An influx of Turkish instruments from the Turkish Janissary bands – such as cymbals, bass drums, triangles and Turkish crescents – became increasingly common in European bands. In domestic music, pianos started to replace harpsichords and clavichords, and the mandolin was very popular in ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Anderson used the IRCAM computer to construct six taped inserts for use in performance, transforming notes originally played on a harp into enormous percussion sounds like bongos, bass drums, marimbas and vibraphones. Styles & Forms | Contemporary | Classical Instruments | Marimba | Contemporary | Classical ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Barrel-shaped drums are usually constructed either from a single log, which is carved into a barrel shape like Japanese byou-daiko drums, or made like a wine barrel from staves of wood glued together or bound with metal strips, as in conga and bongo drums. Barrel drums can have two heads or a single head, and are played ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

itself equally to the soaring melancholy of a ballad or the toe-tapping lilt of western swing. Alongside these staples stands a host of other instruments – from the piano, drums and mandolin to the dulcimer, washboard and harmonica – that have seen periods of popularity and decline during the ebb and flow of changing country styles. Banjo The banjo ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Goblet and hourglass drums are commonly found in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. They are not normally tuned to a specific pitch, although the heads may be tightened to create different sonorities. The djembe is perhaps the best-known of this type of drum. Goblet and Hourglass Drums Goblet drums are single-headed drums shaped like a wineglass ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

At its simplest, to make a double reed the end of a piece of reed or similar plant tube is flattened so its sides nearly touch. Putting this flattened end into the mouth and blowing causes the two sides to briefly close against each other then spring back, hundreds of times a second. This causes a regular stream of ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

The drum kit is a collection of drums and cymbals played in all styles of rock, pop, jazz and blues. It is also widely used in urban music across the world, such as Afrobeat and reggae. Drum-Kit Construction A typical drum kit comprises a bass drum and hi-hat cymbal played with foot pedals, a snare drum, ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

A drum machine is an instrument that uses synthesized or sampled sound to emulate drums or other percussion, and allows the user to programme rhythmic patterns that can be chained together into songs. Rhythm Machines The history of the drum machine dates back as far as the 1930s, when Leon Theremin (1896–1993) was commissioned by composer Henry Cowell (1897–1965) ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

gaining access to as broad a palette of sounds as possible and, in many instances, have embraced the electronic revolution as enthusiastically as their keyboard-playing counterparts. Early Electronic Drums Early electronic drum systems included the Electro-Harmonix Space Drum and the Pearl Syncussion of 1979, a two-channel synthesizer that could be triggered from a pair of bongo-like drums fitted ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

playing the tunes. The earliest forms of jazz – New Orleans and Dixieland – have a core grouping of trumpet, clarinet and trombone supplying the tune and piano and drums forming the rhythm section. Sometimes violins or banjos would be found and a double bass soon became standard. As an antidote to the larger big bands and swing bands that ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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