MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: PERCUSSION

Membranophones - drums

(Membranophones - instruments in which stretched skins are the sources of sound)

The largest collection of drums in the museum originates from Africa. A pair of fontomfrom drums, goblet-shaped drums from Ghana made c.1953 and an hourglass-shaped dundun drums collected in a Yorùbá-speaking area of Nigeria are among the drums that imitate the speech tones and rhythms of tonal languages. There are various types of kettledrums, including examples from North Africa and a pair used for camel cavalry in Sudan.

Drums from Europe include an 18th century military side-drum used for beating the bounds of Exeter, a Russian military side-drum from the Crimean War, 19th century orchestral timpani, and a jazzman's drumkit by Carlton of London made in 1937. A tambourine by Joseph Dale of London, whose modifications to the instrument were patented in 1799, is classified typologically with other frame drums, including examples used in dance and instrumental music from West Asia.

Several makers of drums have generously provided extensive information regarding the manufacture of their instruments. Among them are Parnell Necklace, the maker of a Dakotah Sioux powwow drum from South Dakota, USA now in the collection, and Asser Pakanak Ignatiussen, from whom a qilaat, an Inuit frame drum from Greenland was commissioned in 1991.