How Does a Drum Make a Sound?

Step 1 of 5

The skin does not stop where you hit it.

A stick pushes the skin down; the tension pulls it back and it overshoots, wobbling up and down and dying away. Each wobble shoves a pulse of air outwards.

Step 2 of 5

Tighter skin, higher sound.

Just like a string, more tension means faster wobbling and a higher sound. Drums have bolts around the rim so the skin can be tightened evenly all the way round.

Step 3 of 5

A drum has no clear note.

A string wobbles in a neat set of related patterns, which your ear hears as one note. A round skin wobbles in patterns that do not line up, so a drum sounds like a hit rather than a note.

Step 4 of 5

The shell decides how it rings.

A deep shell holds the air longer and sounds lower and boomier; a shallow one is sharp and short. Holes let the air out faster, and damping the skin stops the ring dead.

Step 5 of 5

Where you hit it changes everything.

The middle gives the deepest thud, the edge a higher ring, and the rim a crack. One drum has many sounds, and choosing between them is most of playing it.

Very big drums are felt more than heard. Below about twenty wobbles a second your ear stops registering it as a sound and your chest takes over.