Percusize Me!: Drum

Saturday, 15 May 2021

My home-made Renaissance side drum.

A side drum is an ancient kind of large drum that was used in Europe by the landsknechts, mercenaries from the German area. Said troops fought on the side of the highest bidder, and they even were part of the Spanish infantry under emperor Carlos I.

Said drum was played to one side, under the arm pit, thus its name. It was played together with fifes and was used to march, transmit orders, entertain the soldiers...

This project starts with a 18"x18" Gonalca surdo which was crying for a new chance.

I took all the hardware and the wrap off, leaving the shell in its "natural" state.

18"x13" seems to be a normal size for these drums, so I cut the shell to nearly 14" in depth.

Quite obviously, I kept the remainig shell, which is now an instrument I will write about in the future. Now it was time to cover the holes...

...and to cut the protuding dowels.

I sanded both sides of the shell so they were smooth and then glued a new veneer:

The shell was ready. I then drilled two diametrically opossed groups of three holes to accommodate the pegs in charge of tensioning the snares. Six viola tuning pegs were inserted, which I drilled so the gut could pass through:

I got two wooden counterhoops at Thomann, which I drilled (16 times each) at a 22.5º angle to facilitate the passing of the rope.

I cut two snare gates in the resonant counterhoop for the snares:

I made 16 ears using leather pads and ribbon:

Everything was ready: the 16 ears, 22 metres of hemp rope (7mm. thick) and two goat heads (the batter one slightly thicker, both mounted on wooden flesh hoops) I got at Baena Sonido.

Here you can see the pig tail, the knot that ends the roping and keeps the tension. See how the ends of the rope are covered with leather tape so they do not fray:

A chain is "knit" with the remaining rope, which is attached around the lower counterhoop. This is how the drum looks like once roped:

I made the snares using natural gut I also got at Baena Sonido.

I passed the gut through the hole I previously drilled on the pegs, securing it with a figure of 8 knot (the gut was wet, so it was malleable and easy to work with).

As a last detail I added to rope loops, which will be used to secure the cotton sling I will use to hang the drum from my right shoulder. See how the ends of the rope are covered with leather tape:

This is how the finished drum looks like:

And this is how it is played:

Stay tuned, as I will soon publish a video featuring this drum. As always, I will be more than happy to listen to your comments, advises, opinions...

…et in Arcadia ego.

Friday, 24 May 2019

Do it yourself historical rope drum (IV)

Today is the last instalment of the making process of my own historical rope drum. You can see the first part HERE, the second one HERE, and the third one HERE.

Just so you can remember, this is how the drum looked like at the end of part 3:

The first thing I did was making ten leather ears. They tense the rope, and I made them using the same materials and procedures described in "Restauration of a rope drum". This is the result:

I bought a couple of natural skin heads (the batter one thicker, the resonant one thinner) mounted on wooden flesh hoops at Baena Sonido and, with quite a few metres (around 20) of hemp rope and lots of patience, I started roping the drum:

Here´s a detailed view of the ears I made:

Here you can see the pig tail (historically correct. See the iconography in part 3):

Once the roping job was done, I started working on the snares. For that, I soaked quite a few metres of natural gut I also bought at Baena Sonido:

Once flexible, I tied a bowline knot to the butt plate I bought at Cooperman:

I, then, passed the gut through the "J hook" strainer I also bought at Cooperman:

After six passes, here is the rear part:

The front part:

These are the snares on the resonant head:

Here´s a detail of the drag rope (used to hang the drum from a shoulder when not playing and to carry the instrument here are there):

The pig tail. See how the rope was interweaved to add more tension to the heads:

This is how I secured the drag rope. See the leather thread I used to stop the end from undoing:

My job could have finished here, but I wanted to add some more details. So, I secured a bronze British style carry hook to the batter counterhoop I bought at Cooperman. This allows the drum to be hung from a sling:

I also added three bronze legs to the batter counterhoop (which I also bought at Cooperman). Historically, when the drummer was not playing and was resting or doing something else, he would have put the drum on the ground, but always on the batter counterhoop. The snare counterhoop had the drag rope, and it would have been in contact witht the ground (we have to remember these kind of drums were played outdoors, on grass, ground, mud...), and that would have damaged it. Also the snare and the strainer (delicate parts) could have been damaged. Because of that, the drum was always put on the floor on the batter counterhoop, and these legs were used to separate and isolate the drum from the ground. Historically, always three:

Here you can see the drum on the floor, on the batter counterhoop, and how the legs keep it away from the floor:

Here you can see the batter counterhoop with all its "things" (carry hook and legs):

Finally, a photo showing the finished drum:

I think it´s gorgeous, and I can tell you it sounds fantastically well. Thanks to this drum (16"x16") and the other one I own (14"x14"), I have plenty of colours to play early music. I will upload some audio files in future articles. Do you like this drum?

…et in Arcadia ego.

Posts by themes

Percusize Me! en español.

Saturday, 15 May 2021

My home-made Renaissance side drum.

Friday, 24 May 2019

Do it yourself historical rope drum (IV)