SNARE DRUM TECHNOLOGY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

 

SNARE DRUM TECHNOLOGY IN THE 16TH CENTURY

It is evident that the drum as an instrument of order and marching is a Swiss invention of the 15th century[1], as we have already discussed on this website in other articles.

Were there other instruments that served a military function, some making noise to stir the hearts of medieval troops while simultaneously terrifying the enemy? Yes, medieval literature is full of such descriptions.

 

However, modern drum technology was invented in the 16th century. The old medieval membranophones, tabors (tabor) and drums (often called atambores during this period), had a rudimentary system of attachment that literally sewed or tied the skin to the instrument's body. Furthermore, they were instruments with one or two heads attached to a body, cylindrical in the case of the tabor, or a closed, semi-spherical bowl in the case of the Timpani.

These untanned patches were nailed or sewn on, literally, as in the case of the frame drum or the tambourine:

 

Melozzo da Forli: Angel musician with tambourine/ tabor. ca. 1480. Rome. You can see how the drumhead is sewn to the body. The snare string is on top.

The sound was, evidently, rather weak and unheroic. It was in the mid-range frequencies. This didn't matter too much, since in the case of the tambourine, for example, it was played with a single stick (left hand) while the right hand simultaneously played a vertical flute.

 

This instrument was also called a tamborino, and for example, it is mentioned in Chinchilla in 1465[2], but at that time it did NOT yet have a military function. Only after the arrival of the Swiss war drum in the Kingdoms of Spain do we find some tamborinos and flutes linked to the Crown of Aragon with a military function:

However, they soon fell out of favor due to the far more effective snare drum of the day, with its two-handed rolls; this one-handed drum was incapable of producing effective and distinctive rhythms to indicate a varied series of military signals.[3] And its wrist-worn design did not allow for a large sound to be projected, precisely at a time when gunpowder and its roar dominated the battlefield. This changed radically with the introduction of two-handed Swiss side drums, on one hand, and a flute or fife played by another. This division of military roles revolutionized war music as early as the 15th century.

Virgilio Solis  “Militaire figuren van verschillende rangen” (c. 1524-1562).   When I play the drum, be alert that day

The effectiveness of the sound and transmission of military orders by the Swiss, and later the Landsknechts, led to significant improvements in drum technology. In the early decades of the 16th century, definitive technological advancements were made in the drumming of this instrument, advancements that are still used in drum manufacturing today, 2026. This musical way of accompanying warfare became widespread among all European armies. Let us follow these technological developments in the construction of the instrument:

 

Parts of a drum circa 1515-30. In essence, the modern drum was already designed

with this Renaissance war drum.

1- Flesh hoops: A crucial discovery was the cylindrical hoop, around which a fresh sheep or kid hide was wrapped, once peeled and prepared to be placed on the hoop. As it dried, this hide became extremely taut, producing the characteristic high-pitched sound we still hear today when we tap it with our fingernail to check if the drumhead is "tight." These cylindrical flesh hoops were placed above and below the snare drum and pressed firmly against it.

Vaandeldrager, tamboer en een derde man ” (c1563)

 

2- Counter hoops. Two counter hoops, threaded with strings, were placed over the two taut skin hoops that enclosed the snare drum at the top and bottom. An ingenious tensioning system "stitched" the counter hoops in place without affecting the stitching on the drumheads. This allowed for significant tension on the drumheads, enabling complex, multi-note rolls on the top head.

3- Ropes and tensión tempered leathers. The zigzag ropes that were sewn onto the counter-rims could have their tension increased by inserting tension rods, which, when lowered, significantly tightened the hemp ropes. This tempered the sound, increasing the tension on the drumheads, and made it clearer, in order to better understand the celestial signals that were to be transmitted through the instrument.

Drum in Syntagma Musicum, Praetorius. Circa 1610. We can see the system of strings, tension rods, and drone string with its screws anchored to the soundbox

 

4- Snare gut wires. Although snares were already used on drumheads in the Middle Ages, their use would become essential for amplifying and adding a nobler quality to the sound of the beating drum. The snare  gut  wires were placed on the lower drumhead, attached to the shell, and its tension could be adjusted with a screw 

 

5- Sling/ Shoulder belt. We believe that in a very early stage the drum was carried in the hollow of the left arm. However, the shoulder strap was soon introduced to hang the drum like a crossbody bag. This gave it its distinctive lateral position and definitively freed the hands.

 

Drum placement, according to Arbeau. With shoulder belt and marching position. Circa 1588. Orcheseographie

The drum is a portable instrument; that is, it is carried and played while marching. This is made abundantly clear in T. Arbeau's 1588 treatise, Orcheseographie, and led, as we saw in another article, to this instrument serving as both a compass and a clock for the soldiers' march. Let us recall, translated from his wise words and accompanied by the score that T. Arbeau provides as an example [pp. 8r]:

“Therefore, in the war march, the French created the drum to mark the rhythm to which the soldiers must march. Although most soldiers are not well trained in it, nor in the rest of the art of war, for that reason I will not fail to write down the methods.

The measure and rhythm of the drum contains eight small minim notes, of which the first five are struck and hit—that is, the first four each with a single stroke of one stick and the fifth with both sticks together—and the other three are held and retained, without being struck…

 

During the sound and rhythm of these five minim notes and three rests, the soldier takes a step; that is, he steps forward and extends both legs so that on the first note, he places his left foot down, and during the next three notes, he lifts his right foot to place it down on the fifth note, and during the three rests that form three notes, he lifts his left foot to begin another step as before: And so on, for the duration of the journey, so that in two thousand five hundred drumbeats the soldier marches the length of a league…

 

The technology of the drum and its rhythms was ready to make history for four centuries…

(C) Antonio del Carmen López Martí