Playing the Drums

I participated in a drum circle over the weekend and thought to make my analysis on all the different drums that were present. Some were hand drums and others had sticks and other tools for striking the head of the drum.

A drum is played by striking the head of it with either one's hand, stick or other relatively hard object. On some drums its impossible to change the note however on others, specifically hand drums, the player can place their hand on the open end to distort the waves on the inside and increasing the pitch. Hitting the drum at different distances from the center to the rim also changes the pitch, the center being the lowest and the rim being the highest.

Different drums are shaped differently and thus have different sounds, however the basic design is a cylinder open on one end and covered with an elastic material covering the other. Some drums have strings attached to the elastic head, that when tightened increase the pitch of the sound produced.

While observing and experimenting with all the pitches I was able to make with the drum, I noticed it was similar to the slinky lab we did on Friday. When the drum head was pulled tighter by the strings attached to the side there was less space for the same amount of energy to travel. Similar to the slinky when it was pulled for a long distance and shook the waves seemed long and slow, however when the distance between start to finish was shortened the waves shortened and seemed faster.