Help: drum used in Jewish music

Subject: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Dec 01 - 11:27 PM

Last week I went to an interfaith concert, and a choir from a synagogue sang a song that was accompanied by a drum tape. This tape included a drum with a very deep and sonorous note. (Deeper than our "dumbek." Now my husband wants one.

Does anyone have an idea what this drum would be called and where I could get one?

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 12:16 AM

I looked over a bunch of sites and they all just referred to them as "drums!" Deeper than a dumbek must've sounded really great! I have a whole CD of just dumbek and love it.

One of the links at this site might be of help.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 12:19 AM

Very large, deep dumbek. Very large deep bodhran. Etc.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,Jack The Lad at work
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 06:17 AM

Probably a middle eastern type darabuka. Traditionally conical shaped drum with flared opening- earthenware covered with goat.skin, or modern aluminium covered with synthetic skin. Jack the Lad- in the Middle East.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: artbrooks
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 08:48 AM

"Tuf" or "tuf miriam", but "middle-eastern drum" will prabably get you farther shopping. I have a couple, with different tones, and I'm really not sure if the deep sound you're referring to comes from the size/shape or the pottery construction...I have one clay one with a very high sound.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 11:06 AM

Darabuka is another name for a dumbek--I have seen a couple of really big ones, but they are not frequently found in middle eastern music--the sound is probably a frame drum, that is to say, tambourine without the jingly things(what are those called?)--often called a "def", and there can be several of these, in different sizes, in an ensemble.

It looks like, but is not, a bodhran, and is played with the open hand. Check Lark in the Morning, or any music store that deals with early music. Middle Eastern shops often have them, but these may be decorative items, rather that ornaments. Check around at various sites that provide items for bellydancers--Def, Daff, Tuf, and other spelling varients make it a bit difficult to search for, also the fact that some regions use the word for totally different instruments--

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 11:12 AM

Thanks, all. I think M.Ted is on the right track. Somehow it sounded more like a frame drum than a darabuka/dumbek.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,hollowfox at an odd computer
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 01:30 PM

You could always telephone the choir director for information.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 02:26 PM

Actually you can get an extremely deep and ringing tone from any bodhran. My drum is actually a 24" shaman with rope and bead tuning, but by holding it in a hanging position with the skin facing away from you and using the heel of your hand to strike the back side of the rim, you will get a fundamental at least one octave below the drums "Face tone". I use this alot in laments and dirges, because if the drum is properly struck on the rim (not a tap, as in a rim shot, but using your palm heel to "stick it to the rim") and holding the drum frame lightly enough to avoid damping the ring without losing control of the drum, you will get an incredible deep sub harmonic that has a long-decay sustain.

I learned this many years ago in Viet Nam, with temple drums, but the effect will work on any frame drum with a fairly responsive rim. The other trick involves using a kettle drum padded ball head "mallet" on the skin, and by using it as a tipper and rubbing it lightly back and forth from the nine to six o'clock position, you will get a sound not unlike thunder in the distance. Great for intro's, bridges, and fades.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,Frank
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 12:04 PM

There is a clay darabaka type drum called a durbake (der-bah-kay) that is adapted from Arabian and Yeminite tradition. It's small but powerful in sound. There probably are many names for these drums.

Frank

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: Hollowfox
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 01:56 PM

I haven't seen the name "timbrel" come up yet on this thread; a frame rum, probably synonimous with M Ted's def. You might also want to take a look in Mickey Hart's book Planet Drum: a celebration of percussion & rhythm (HarperSanFransisco, 1991) He's The Expert on drums, and the book is readable. (I thought he'd have a website on the subject, but I couldn't find one.) When you finally track one down, Leenia, please let us know what it's called, maybe where you got it, etc.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 02:25 PM

There is a website for Planet Drum. Maybe that will help?

kat

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: GUEST,LEENEIA
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 02:52 PM

Thanks, Claymore. I've been practicing hitting it to the rim of a frame drum I have. It's a good technique. I can't try the bodhran - it' too humid today.

I could try calling the director, but she snubbed me so thoroughly at the concert that I prefer to forget about her.

Subject: RE: Help: drum used in Jewish music
From: Hollowfox
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 03:35 PM

Maybe the person who put the interfaith concert together could ask. Unless that's the same person as the choir director. Or pehaps you could get someone else to ask her. Good luck.