friction drum

The tradition & historical record

A friction drum is a musical instrument found in various forms in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. In Europe it emerged in the 16th century and was associated with specific religious and ceremonial occasions. ¹

A friction drum is a percussion instrument consisting of a single membrane stretched over a sound box, whose sound is produced by the player causing the membrane to vibrate by friction. The sound box may be a pot or jug or some open-ended hollow object. To produce the friction, the membrane may be directly rubbed with the fingers or through the use of a cloth, or a stick or cord which is attached to the centre of the membrane and then rubbed or moved with a hand, sponge or cloth, generally wet. The membrane may be depressed with the thumb while playing to vary the pitch. When a cord is used the instrument may be referred to as a "string drum" or "lion's roar." In some friction drums, the friction is obtained by spinning the drum around a pivot. ¹

The composer Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625) wrote a keyboard fantasia in which he quotes the Dutch melody De Rommelpot. In modern times the friction drum has been used by several Western composers. Edgard Varèse used it in Hyperprism (1924) and Ionisation (1933). Alexander Goehr specifies a "lion's roar" in his Romanza for cello and orchestra (1968). Carl Orff used a whirled friction drum in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1934–52) and Benjamin Britten, in his Children's Crusade, (1969) calls for a string drum to be struck with drumsticks and bowed by means of the stretched string. Jerry Goldsmith used one in his 1968 score for "Planet of the Apes" ¹

The rommelpot features in several paintings by Dutch painters, including Two Boys and a Girl Making Music by Jan Miense Molenaer (1629, National Gallery, London) and The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Brueghel (1559, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). ¹

Belgium: rommelpot, played by folk singers, often as the sole accompaniment to their singing. Brazil: cuíca, primarily used in Rio de Janeiro-style Carnival samba. A stick is attached to the centre of the membrane and protrudes into the inside of the sound box, which is an open-ended cylinder. The player reaches inside the sound box from the other end to rub the stick. Denmark: rummelpot or rumlepot. In some parts of Denmark, e.g. Southern Jutland, traditionally groups of masked children go from house to house on New Year's Eve singing songs to the rhythmic accompaniment of the rummelpot and receiving æbleskiver, sweets or fruits in return. France: tambour à friction, and local names (brau, bramadèra, brama-topin, petador, pinhaton in the South). Tambour à cordes is used for a string drum, not be confused with the tambourin à cordes, a stringed instrument. Germany: Brummtopf or Rummelpott, in Berlin and old Prussia Waldteufel. On New Year's Eve there is a tradition in North Germany in which groups of masked children with homemade instruments, including the Rummelpott, go from house to house singing special Rummelpott songs in Low German, receiving sweets or fruits in return. Adults go out later that evening and typically receive shots of schnapps. Hungary: köcsögduda (jughorn or jugpipe), especially used in zither orchestras. Leather or parchment is tightened over the top of a large terracotta or wooden jug. A reed or length of horsehair is fastened to the cover and rubbed with a wet hand. Italy: caccavella or putipù; also known by many other names. The body may be an earthenware pot, a wooden tub or a tin can, with a length of bamboo pierced through an animal skin membrane and rubbed. Malta: ir-rabbaba or iz-zafzafa. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Friction drum”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

friction drum is class of musical instruments made with stick poking through a membrane stretched over a pot, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 14 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²