Cherry Drum
This 8-tongue drum is made of well-seasoned solid cherry, with rubber feet. The hardwood construction creates a bright, crisp tone, with a strong fundamental. General information about tongue drums may be found below. $250.00 (mallets included; padded, soft-sided case available for $40.00).
To hear sound samples from this drum (sample one and sample two), please turn the volume of your computer up to maximum.
About Tongue Drums:
The drum is probably the earliest and most universal musical instrument. Used in initiation rites, magic, dance, religious ceremony, war, rock concert or symphonic orchestra, the hypnotic effect of rhythmic drumming is known to all cultures and peoples.
These instruments are patterned after the Teponaztli, an ancient Aztec drum. Unlike the conventional membranophone, the Teponaztli was a unique idiophonic instrument with tongue-like protrusions to produce the sound. Fashioned from a hollow log, it resembled a narrow wooden barrel laid sideways, with an H-shaped incision cut laterally into the top, forming two tongues that vibrated when struck. The instrument was tuned by altering the thickness of these tongues to create different pitches, the most common being those of a minor or major third apart. The hollow interior of the drum was its resonant chamber, and a rectangular opening on the bottom of the instrument increased its volume, much like the acoustical port of a guitar. The Teponaztli was placed on a stand and played with rubber-tipped mallets.
The sound producing principles of the Teponaztli have been used to make many types of 'tongue drums'. The design, tongue proportions and resonant chamber have been carefully fashioned to produce a pleasant progression of natural tones with good volume ranging around minor and major thirds to diminished and perfect fifths, just as in the original drums. The two tongues of the Aztecs may be increased to four, six or even eight, with two to four low-pitched bass tones and two to four contrasting higher tones.Multiple factors govern the sound produced by these drums, among them the size and shape of the resonant cavity, the length and widty of the tongues and the environment in which the drum is played. The type of wood and the grain of the top also influence the tone of the drum. A soft wood top makes a lower, more mellow sound, while a harder wood makes a brighter, more crisp sound.Much of the vibration of any one tongue is communicated through the body of the instrument to the other tongues. In special cases where the natural harmonics of the two tongues are identical or bear a simple integral relationship they will reinforce one another. However, in most cases they will damp each other, pull each other out of tune, or both. This problem of destructive communication between vibrations of different frequencies arises in many instruments. It is the reason for the seemingly arbitrary placement of the pitches in a Trinidadian steel drum, where the problem is alleviated by placing the most conflicting notes as far apart as possible. The interaction contributes significantly to the notorious difficulty in tuning a steel pan, as well as its characteristic overtones. This sympathetic vibration is one of the tongue drum's features as well.Please contact us to purchase any of the drums you see here, or to have The Electric Lutist create a custom tongue drum to your specifications, including size, type of wood, and number of tongues.
