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Most mhm;ylukjpmyu\^Ukji6bniu7b6vsi678ui 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 drum's 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).




  • 23: by rubbing the drumskin with a hand or object (common in Irish traditional music, an example is the bodhran)

Shape and technique[edit]


Mirlitons, as the kazoo in the picture, are a special class of membranophone, and is the only class that does not consist of true drums
  • Frame drums consist of a membrane stretched across a frame.
  • Mirlitons, Kazoos and Swazzles vibrate in sympathy with sounds travelling across a membrane. These are the only membranophones that are not truly drums.


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 Dhak from eastern parts of India, 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, 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, are one-headed and usually tuned to a specific note. Examples include the timpani and tabla.
  • 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, Kazoos and Swazzles produce sound by blowing air across a membrane.

Traditional classifications[edit]

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[edit]

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]

Military drums or war drums are drums in various forms that have been used in the military.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Glossary#Membranophone". Essentials of Music. Retrieved January 22, 2007. 
  2. ^ Catherine Schmidt-Jones. "Classifying Musical Instruments: Membranophones". Connexions. Retrieved January 22, 2007. 
  3. ^ "534m Membranophones". SIL. Archived from the original on July 10, 2006. Retrieved January 4, 2007. 
  4. ^ Gregory Youtz. "Silk and Bamboo" (pdf). Chapter 8. Retrieved January 24, 2007. 
  5. ^ Richard Hooker (1996). "The Earliest Japanese Music". World Civilizations. Retrieved February 4, 2007. 
  6. ^ David Courtney (2006). "Indian Musical Instruments". Chandra and David's Indian Musical Instruments. Retrieved February 4, 2007. 
  7. ^ Virginia Tech Department of Music. "Modern Instruments and their Families: Symphonic Classifications in Western Music". Music Dictionary. Retrieved January 22, 2007. 
  8. ^ Claire King. "Tuning the Water Drum". From Cradleboard to Motherboard. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2007. 
  9. ^ "Drum Telegraphy". TIME. 21 September 1942. Retrieved 7 November 2006.