If you try to find a tympanum on the Internet, you may encounter a small problem. After all, this term refers to several types of percussion instruments, so you need to clearly understand what instrument you are looking for - the historical cultural heritage of Ancient Greece and Rome, or percussion sounds in modern music.
Tympanum in ancient history
Tympanum is a musical instrument common in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. The tool is round in shape and hollow inside could be covered with leather on one or both sides. On some images preserved from ancient times, one can see patterns along the rim. The tympanum was used in the rites and ceremonies of ministers worshiping Dionysus (Bacchus in Roman mythology), the god of winemaking, religious ecstasy and inspiration, and Cybele - the mother of the gods and all living things, the fertility goddess.
A tympanum is a frame drum, which was an animal skin membrane stretched over a wooden case. Sometimes, to enhance the resonance of the instrument, metal jingles or small bells were attached to the frame. They played it with his hands, the instrument was at chest or head level. You could hold it either below the frame or by the handle, which was made specifically as part of the body.
Some believe that the situation during the game depended on whether the skin was stretched on one side or both. It was convenient to support the one-sided drum from below, clinging with a thumb to the frame. It was difficult to take the two-sided in this way and at the same time not affect the sound quality, so an extra handle was provided on the case.
Divine instrument
The tympanum is a percussion instrument that was used in ancient Greece and Rome to create musical accompaniment in theaters and street performances. However, in literary sources it is more associated with religious rites and rituals.
It is claimed that this tool originates in the Ancient East, but the first images with it in Greece date from the 8th century BC. Drawings depicting a round hand drum were applied to bronze discs found on the island of Crete in a cave occupied by followers of the cult of Zeus.
The troupe of Dionysus, everywhere following him, certainly carried with it a tympanum. Bacchante played this instrument, and satyrs played wind instruments - flutes and aulos. The sounds of dynamic, exuberant music played a large role in achieving the ecstatic state required by the followers of the god of viticulture.
Cybele was depicted with a tympanum in her left hand and a lion lying on her lap or beside her. The most common tympanum was in ceremonies dedicated to Cybele, in Greek art and literature. It is curious that in Ancient Anatolia, the area where the goddess herself came from, there is no mention of the instrument.
Tympanum in modern music
A modern tympanum is a percussion instrument similar to a small timpani. There is hardly anything surprising in the similarity, as "Timpani" in Italian sounds like "timpani". The tool is common in Cuba. Two metal drums are installed in one rack. Outwardly, they may resemble Congo. You can play them with your sticks, hitting the membrane or the rim, which helps to add bright accents to the drum part.
For simple rhythm maintenance, musicians use only their hands - this allows you to fill the space with sound and prevent the drum from “shouting” the solo parts of other instruments. Widespread at home, the tympanum is an instrument that is currently widely used in funk, jazz and popular music, both supporting and soloing in a group.