Physics of Drums :: physics music drum drums

Dating back to the slave trade the drum has been utilize either last(predicate) over the world as a means of communication and self expression. Its broad variety of users includes the early African tribes and the Native Alaskan tribes, both use them for ceremonial purposes. The Africans brought drums with them to the Americas and helped to develop their popularity among American musicians. In the mid 1900s drum sets were brought about. These revolutionary collaborations of percussive pieces started off with a pair of hi-hats, a bass and lying in wait drum, and a couple of tom toms. Later as the music progressed, so did the drum kits, completely eliminating the need for an entire drum section. With the coming of the rock and overcharge movement the drum kits were changing, they needed to accommodate the new music styles. They became sonically diverse and even electronic drums were brought about making them infinitely adjustable both ergonomically and musically. With every major drum manufacturer competing to have the best product on the market drums will always be evolving and the limit for drum set concept will simply be the imagination of the musicians. (http//www.josaka.com/Features/2005/History-of-Drums.htm) The sound waves for open ended and string instruments is fairly straight forward. However, for a closed end instrument, such as a drum, the sound waves are different. A lot of the energy is dissipated through the shell of the drum, which is the reason for the variance in drum construction these days. some(prenominal) different kinds of wood are used to generate different sounds, or a different amount of energy absorption. For a warmer, deeper sound maple construction is used while birch is used to get a high, resonant tone full of vibration. The heaviest wood that dissipates the most amount of energy is oak, creating a lower, flat sound. When the woody shell construction isnt enough for drummers to achieve the right amount of sound wave dampening, different drum heads are used.