Kettledrum

Kettledrum (Fr.: timbale; Ger.: Pauke; It.: timpano), membranophone with a vessel-shaped body that acts as resonator and as distributor of vibrations, of definite pitch. Very shallow specimens are called bowl drums. The kettledrum cannot lay claim to great antiquity, as the earliest record of its existence is a Pers. relief of ca. 600 A.C., on which a bowl drum is represented, struck with 1 or perhaps 2 sticks. The larger type does not appear until the 12th c., when it is found in Mesopotamian…