The kettle drum is a caldron,
usually of brass or copper, covered with a vellum head bound at the
edge round an iron ring, which fits the circle formed by the upper
part of the metal body. Screws working on this ring tune the vellum
head, or vibrating membrane as we may call it, by tightening or
slackening it, so as to obtain any note of the scale within its
compass. The tonic and dominant are generally required, but other
notes are, in some compositions, used; even octaves have been
employed. The use Beethoven made of kettle drums may be regarded among
the particular manifestations of his genius. Two kettle drums may be
considered among the regular constituents of the orchestra, but this
number has been extended; in one remarkable instance, that of Berlioz
in his Requiem, to eight pairs. According to Mr. Victor de Pontigny,
whose article I am much indebted to (in Sir George Grove's dictionary)
upon the drum, the relative diameters, theoretically, for a pair of
kettle drums are in the proportion of 30 to 26, bass and tenor;
practically the diameter of the drums at the French opera is 29 and
251/4 inches, and of the Crystal Palace band, 28 and 241/4 inches. In
cavalry regiments the drums are slung so as to hang on each side of
the drummers horse's neck.
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