The lion's roar is 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.
...
instrument that has a drum head and a cord or horsehair passing through it. It gets its name from the sound it produces, which closely resembles a
lion's roar. The home-made lion's roar is a drum that sits on the floor. The cord then makes friction with the drum head as it is moved back and forth.
Classification
According to the
Gary D. Cook classification system of musical instruments it is a
chordophone
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the s ...
, because it produces sound through the vibration of strings.
It can also be classified as a
friction drum.
Form
The lion's roar consists of a cylindrical or bucket-shaped vessel with one end open and the other closed with a membrane. A length of cord or gut is fastened through a hole in the centre of the membrane; the cord is resined and rubbed with coarse fabric or a glove, producing a passable imitation of a lion's roar.
In the past this was always a two-handed operation – one hand held the cord taut, the other gripped and slid up the cord, but in the late 20th century Kolberg produced a mounted model, with the cord held taut, requiring only one hand. In another version of the instrument, the end of the string is loosely secured to a wooden handle to form a whirled friction drum.
{{Experimental musical instruments
Friction drums
Continuous pitch instruments
Lions in culture