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Tom drum
A tom drum (also known as a tom-tom) is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between 15 and 50 centimetres (6 and 20 inches) in diameter, though floor toms can go as large as 60 centimetres (24 inches).
The drum called "Thammattama", played by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, is used in a number of Buddhist rituals in that country. It is commonly heard in Theravada Buddhist temple Vihāras paired along with the reed instrument called horanava. This may be etymologically derived from the Tamil term "Thappattam" or "Thappu", a frame drum associated with South Indian Tamil culture. However, the tom-tom drums on the Western drum set clearly resemble the Sri Lankan version more than the frame drum.
The British colonists complained loudly about the noise generated by the "tom-toms" of the natives throughout South Asia. It is likely that the term tom-toms thus comes from their experiences in colonial Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) or South India. The term "tom-tom" also has variants in the Telugu and Hindi languages, but only in Sri Lanka is there an indigenous drum with the same name (thammattama). Perhaps because of Westerners' lack of experience with Asian cultures, the term is often misattributed to the Chinese, given that "tam-tam" in Western classical music refers to a Chinese gong.
The first American drum set toms had no rims and were usually what were referred to as "Chinese" tom toms. The pigskin heads were tacked to the wooden shells with metal tacks. Through close collaboration with Gene Krupa's concept of fully tunable toms, the Slingerland drum and banjo company were the first, in 1936, to begin offering fully tunable tom-toms (top and bottom heads) with metal or wooden rims, tension rods, and lugs. Most Chinese toms were 10 to 14 inches in diameter, but the American drum companies were eventually producing a wider range of diameters and depths. These drums were usually clamped to the bass drum rims or sat in cradles as floor stand drums. The sizes that Krupa chose became the "standard" for many decades and they were 13 × 9″ (mounted) and 16 × 16″ (floor). Later, mounted on three (or, if larger than 16 × 16″, four) legs were attached to the floor tom designs. Together with a snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, the combination of the four drums became a "set". (The term "kit" did not appear until the mid 1960s.)
Later,[when?] the mounted toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.
A wide variety of configurations have been available and in use at all levels from advanced student kits upwards.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was common to have only a single hanging tom (a 13") and a single floor tom (16").
A basic rock configuration consists of 12" and 13" hanging toms, and a 16" floor tom with diameter × depth in inches used throughout this article. For a more detailed description of the conventions and their usage, see drum size conventions.
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Tom drum
A tom drum (also known as a tom-tom) is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between 15 and 50 centimetres (6 and 20 inches) in diameter, though floor toms can go as large as 60 centimetres (24 inches).
The drum called "Thammattama", played by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, is used in a number of Buddhist rituals in that country. It is commonly heard in Theravada Buddhist temple Vihāras paired along with the reed instrument called horanava. This may be etymologically derived from the Tamil term "Thappattam" or "Thappu", a frame drum associated with South Indian Tamil culture. However, the tom-tom drums on the Western drum set clearly resemble the Sri Lankan version more than the frame drum.
The British colonists complained loudly about the noise generated by the "tom-toms" of the natives throughout South Asia. It is likely that the term tom-toms thus comes from their experiences in colonial Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) or South India. The term "tom-tom" also has variants in the Telugu and Hindi languages, but only in Sri Lanka is there an indigenous drum with the same name (thammattama). Perhaps because of Westerners' lack of experience with Asian cultures, the term is often misattributed to the Chinese, given that "tam-tam" in Western classical music refers to a Chinese gong.
The first American drum set toms had no rims and were usually what were referred to as "Chinese" tom toms. The pigskin heads were tacked to the wooden shells with metal tacks. Through close collaboration with Gene Krupa's concept of fully tunable toms, the Slingerland drum and banjo company were the first, in 1936, to begin offering fully tunable tom-toms (top and bottom heads) with metal or wooden rims, tension rods, and lugs. Most Chinese toms were 10 to 14 inches in diameter, but the American drum companies were eventually producing a wider range of diameters and depths. These drums were usually clamped to the bass drum rims or sat in cradles as floor stand drums. The sizes that Krupa chose became the "standard" for many decades and they were 13 × 9″ (mounted) and 16 × 16″ (floor). Later, mounted on three (or, if larger than 16 × 16″, four) legs were attached to the floor tom designs. Together with a snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, the combination of the four drums became a "set". (The term "kit" did not appear until the mid 1960s.)
Later,[when?] the mounted toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.
A wide variety of configurations have been available and in use at all levels from advanced student kits upwards.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was common to have only a single hanging tom (a 13") and a single floor tom (16").
A basic rock configuration consists of 12" and 13" hanging toms, and a 16" floor tom with diameter × depth in inches used throughout this article. For a more detailed description of the conventions and their usage, see drum size conventions.