BASS DRUM

Bass drum and beater. Click on the audio icon beneath the art to hear the sound of a roll-off largest and deepest-sounding military and orchestral drum. The military bass has two heads, tensioned by rope lacings or metal rods, and is struck on both of them. Most orchestral bass drums have only one head, rod-tensioned; two-headed ones normally are struck on one head only. Bass drums are usually played with a pair of large felt-headed sticks, or beaters, although in modern popular-music bands the drum is commonly struck by one stick operated by a pedal. Bass drums may reach 40 inches (100 cm) in diameter and 20 inches (50 cm) in height. A larger form of one-headed bass drum is the gong drum, often used in British orchestras. The bass drum was introduced into Europe in the 18th century in imitation of the music of the Turkish Janissary bands, and it typically appeared in combination with cymbals and triangle. It was first known as the Turkish drum; the long drum was a deep-shelled instrument that resembled the davul of modern Turkey and the Balkans. Originally the bass drum was beaten with a stick in the right hand and a switch in the left; similarly, in modern regimental bands the right hand beats time with a larger stick than that used for the accompanying rhythms played by the left. The bass drum entered the orchestra in the 18th century, at first for special effect, as in Joseph Haydn's Military Symphony (1794).