A tabor, tabret ( cy, Tabwrdd), Tambour De Provence, or Tambourin (Provencal) is a portable

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

typically played either with one hand or with two drumsticks. The word "tabor" is simply an English variant of a Latin-derived word meaning "drum"—cf. french: tambour, links=no, it, tamburo, links=noHarms Historical Percussion's Tabor page
It has been used in the military as a

marching instrument A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, oft ...

, and has been used as accompaniment in parades and processions.

Construction

A tabor has a cylindrical wood shell, two skin heads tightened by rope tension, a leather strap, and an adjustable snare. The single snare can be made from gut, silk, or rough hemp.Goldenberg, Morris. ''Modern School for Snare Drum with a Guide for the Artist Percussionist''. USA: Chappell and Co., 1955. Each tabor has a pitch range of about an octave: the larger the tabor, the lower the pitch. It is played by just one short conical stick, made from bone or ivory, which usually strikes the snare head. The tabor is suspended by a strap from the forearm, somewhere between the elbow and wrist. When played, the shell is virtually parallel with the ground. In Spain, a deep drum is used for a tabor by pipe and taborers, and in England a shallow tom tom is sometimes used, although medieval icons of pipe and tabor usually display a large shallow tabor similar in shape to a

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

Usage

The tabor is most widely known as accompaniment for the

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

and other small

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

s, such as the flageolet, and most famously as the percussive element in the "

pipe and tabor Pipe and tabor is a pair of instruments played by a single player, consisting of a three-hole pipe played with one hand, and a small drum played with the other. The tabor (drum) hangs on the performer's left arm or around the neck, leaving the ...

one-man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

configuration. The tabor is beaten on the snare side.

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

scored for the tabor drum in his '' L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2'', and

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

calls for it in his ''

Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is a musical composition by Aaron Copland that was premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite. The music, scored for a thirteen-member chamber orchestra, was created upon ...

'' and ''

El Salón México ''El Salón México'' is a symphonic composition in one movement by Aaron Copland, which uses Mexican folk music extensively. Copland began the work in 1932 and completed it in 1936, following several visits to Mexico. The four melodies of th ...

''.

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

has been named one of the foremost composers of modern (mid-20th century) music for the tabor by Morris Goldenberg. His ''Suite Provancale'' calls for tabor played along with two other drums by a single player. In classical repertoire the tabor is usually played with two sticks, as many pieces call for speeds that are unwieldy for a single hand. In many cases composers' scores have been mistranslated with the erroneous call for tambour de basque or tambourine when the piece was originally intended for tabor. Parts written for tabor are usually very simple and feature straight eight notes or another easy repetitive pattern.

History

The tabor is classified as a

membranophone A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. ...

and dates back to the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

period in Europe. Hand-written documents and engravings are some of the earliest recordings of this instrument. The size of these early tabors ranged approximately 11-12 inches in diameter and 4-10 inches in width/depth. These 13th century tabors were thus larger across their diameter, but the tabor continued to evolve with time and eventually some were almost even in diameter and width. The 16th century design of the tabor changed to the opposite proportions from the earlier models with the width being greater. Tabors were constructed of wood for the body of the drum with the stretched membrane made out of some type of skin. It was primarily used for the outdoors. The tabor is a precursor to the side drum. The common way of playing the tabor together with the

produced the effect of a single person band. It was often played for dancing, and was sometimes played as a small ensemble with the bagpipes. Since the tabor was used to accompany dancing, regular rhythmic beats were common for this instrument. The tabor was used to accompany Morris style folk dancing. Initial documents show that a type of horn was played with the tabor, which then later lead into the

and tabor duo. This combination flourished in musical performances between the 13th-16th century and was connected with nobility. The tabor together with the pipe had the ability to make complicated musical timing

meters The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pr ...

. The tabor was also played solo. By the 15th century the size of the tabor increased. Players used two sticks instead of the original single stick to hit on the membrane. The larger 2-sticked version was predominantly used in military contexts, while the smaller single-sticked tabor was retained for dance music.Beck, John H. ''Encyclopedia of Percussion.'' Routledge, 2013. Tabor use decreased by the mid-17th century. The tabor did continue to evolve throughout the 19th and into the 20th century. The tabor style is still used as the tambourin de Provence.

References

External links

Musicien jouant du flûtet-tabor
illustration, details {{DEFAULTSORT:Tabor (Instrument) Drums Battle drums

Construction

Usage

History

See also

References

External links