{"id":1165,"date":"2020-09-14T21:23:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T02:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2020-09-14T21:23:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T02:23:45","slug":"examples-of-membranophones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/examples-of-membranophones\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Examples Of Membranophones (Some Familiar, Some Not)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s a membranophone? A membrane is a thin flat material.<\/strong> A membranophone is an instrument that produces sound by the vibrations of a flat stretched material<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore there are other classifications of membranophones, including struck, plucked, and friction. I’ll try and point out those as I go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds kind of technical and obtuse, but it’s not! I’m going to share with you lots of examples of membranophones–so next time you’re asked in your music class you’ll sound super smart by rattling off some of these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drums<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By far, the most common type of membranophone has another more common name. A drum!<\/strong> They aren’t exactly the same thing as you’ll see later on, but this makes up the most important recognizable category of membranophone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drums typically make sound by a stretched membrane being struck by another device, including drumsticks, mallets, or sometimes a hand. After being struck the energy from the striking device transfers a lot of energy to the membrane<\/strong>. In the case of a drum the membrane is often called the drum head, or drum skin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the flat drum membrane vibrates and that vibration moves the air the air subsequently rattles the eardrum to where we then perceive sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snare Drum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The snare drum is one of the most recognizable drums because it is so critical to the music we listen to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snare drum is a type of membranophone with a special difference that sets it apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snare drum has thin wires stretched across the bottom of the drumhead. When the drumhead is struck, the wires rattle against the drumhead creating a hissing sound.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hissing sound<\/strong> is crucial for all pop, all R&B, all rock and roll. Any song that has some form of a drumkit (electronic or real) relies on the snare drum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the snare drum is so easy to hear, it’s used to accent the beat<\/strong>. Which, for rock and pop is almost always beats 2 and 4. Besides these accents, the snare drum is used extensively during fills and other embellishments the drummer uses to add interest to the song (such as ghost notes). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drum itself is struck<\/strong> with a drumstick, so it can be classified as a struck membranophone. However, since the characteristic sound of the drum is the sound of the snare wires rattling against the drumhead, they could also be considered friction membranophones.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, you can play the snare drum with brushes that glide across the snare drum face (these brushes are typically used in ballads… and inserting my own opinion here, they sound amazing. I love the sound of brushes. Anyway, this is another example of how the snare can also be considered a friction membranophone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snare drums often come in a dual-head configuration, where it has two drumheads, one on top of the drum where you strike it and one on the bottom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Up close drumsticks on a drum head.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The top drumhead is designed to be played with two drumsticks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenor Drum \/ Toms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A tenor drum is a type of large membranophone that varies in diameter from 6 to 14 inches. The tenor drum is often a single-headed drum simply meaning that it has a only single drumhead on the top of the drum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tenor drum is designed to be played with two drumsticks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tenor drums are somewhat a generic term–in a marching band tenor drums come in multiple configurations. You can play a single tenor drum or you can play what are called “quads”, where 4 tenor drums are attached to a harness that the player carries. It doesn’t stop there, you can over 6 drums in a single configuration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drummers Playing Tenor (Quad Toms) Drums in Parade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tenor drum is used extensively in marching bands. The wooden part of the drums are thick which is designed to project the sound and be loud–which is ideal for playing in large open spaces (such as a football stadium).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A close cousin to the tenor drum is the tom-tom. Tom toms are the same basic concept as the tenor drums but often come in a dual-head<\/strong> configuration (meaning it has a drumhead on the top and on the bottom). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is an example drumkit. The drums on the right side of the picture are all tom toms. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tom Toms are also designed to be used on a drum kit, so they are able to be mounted in such a way so that the drummer can play all the different drums and cymbals from a seated position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A special type of tom tom is <\/strong>called the floor tom<\/strong>. The floor tom has the widest diameter out of the drumkit and stands on its own instead of being mounted to the bass drum like the other tom toms. (You can see it in the bottom right hand corner of the above picture). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom toms don’t typically cut through the sound of the rest of the band and so they are only really used in fills where the music is transitioning to the rest of the song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bass Drum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The bass drum is special type of membranophone that is struck with a mallet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mallet is a different type of drumstick where the end of the drumstick ends in a heavier object rather than a small wooden bead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of a drumkit, the bass drum is played with a kick pedal so the drummer can play multiple drums with their hands and use the kick pedal to play the bass drum. The kick pedal has what is called a kick drum beater <\/strong>which strikes the drum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another key difference between bass drums and other drums is that it’s huge.<\/strong> In the case of concert bass drum heads they come in diameters ranging from 26 inches to 40 inches<\/strong>. Drum kit bass drums are much more modest in diameter and range from 16 inches to 22 inches. <\/strong>Although, just like anything, there are exceptions that fall outside of those ranges for drummers who want to experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An example of a bass drum being played with mallets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With a larger surface area the bass drum is designed to play lower frequencies. The type of mallet or beater determines the attack of the frequency. The sharper the attack, the more the bass drum is noticed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bass drum frequencies are so low that they are used non-melodically. Their sole purpose is to provide emphasis to the rest of the instruments and can be played in such a way to establish a steady beat that drives the song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bongos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bongo drums are another type of membranophone except are unique in that they are actually two drums joined together. Bongos are single-headed, which means they only have drumheads on top of the drums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore<\/strong>, unlike all the other membranophones we’ve talked about so far, the bongos are meant to be played with your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My bongo drums<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hand drums are capable of making a wider range of sound because you can play the drum directly on the bearing edge making extremely resonant sounds as well as use your other hand to apply pressure to shape the pitch and timbre of your playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made a video on different bongo drum techniques if you want to see how different this membranophone is from others:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bongo Techniques for Beginners (including notation)<\/div><\/div>
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