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Snare Drum

Snare drums are percussion instruments with snares stretched on the heads. They appear in military bands, orchestras or wind bands, and the music notation for snare drums uses only one line or the bass clef.

Swiss soldiers (mercenaries) have attached snare drums with piccolos since the 14th century. Then, the snare drums were spreaded to other parts of Europe. The height and diameter of early snare drums were the same or bigger, and the drum heads were thicker than the modern ones. Thicker drumsticks were used and the sounds made then were heavy and lacking of bright color. Drums changed dramatically in the 19th century. They became flatter and were made with brass. The heads were tied with screws and rods for tension. Screws and leverages were used as early as in the17th century to control the tension of snares, and advanced mechnism appeared in the 20th century, which enables the snares to leave the heads immediately, in the case when special effects or no resonation were needed as not to disturb other musical instruments. Guts were the common material for snares before the 20th century.

Drummers in military bands had continued the oral tradition of teaching the snare drums until the 19th century. Music scores were used until snare drums appear in the orchestra. Through relaxing the snares, striking drum sides, playing with fingers and striking with non-standard mallets or steel brush, one could make special sound effects required by modern pieces and jazz music. The history has proved that the earliest use of snare drums appeared in Alcyone, the opera written by French composer and viol player Marin Marais in 1706.Rossini's La gazza ladra also utilized snare drums in 1817. But not until the 19th century did Rimsky-korsakov and other Russian composers incoporate snare drums to the performance of orchestras.

Structure

Head

The heads of the snare drums were made by goat leather, which would loose under the exposure of wet environments and change the tone. The heads are now often made by plastics.

Shells

The shells of the drums are cylindrical. Woods such as walnut woods and maple woods are commonly used, sometimes metal shells are possible.

Snare

Snares, also calles rattles, are constructed with thin and spiral metal strings. The snares are attached to the lowerside of the drums. The sound of snares could penetrate through the air. Once the snares are put away from the bottom, the sounds of the snare drums would become like those of the tom-toms. By the way, the drum roll of snare drums (a common way of performance, which refers to continuing sounds like machine guns), is rendered by snares.

Performance Method

Single strike

One performs a single strike by striking the head only once.

Roll

Rolls, or drum rolls, are produced by tapping the heads with mellets, which enables the bounce of the heads to make the mellets to continue bouncing, making unending vibrating sounds. Its special sound is made from snares (please refer to "snare" above.) If controlled properly, snare drum players could make sounds with various volume change such as making it softer (dim.) or stronger.

Reference

Source: Innovative Musical Notes

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You-Chen Ye, bass drum, gong, cymbal, triangle, and tambourine concertmasters.

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