Construction
This instrument consists of a piece of vellum stretched tightly over a hemispherical shell or pan of copper or brace, by means of screws working on an iron ring which fits closely round the head of the drum. The vellum is slackened or tightened at will, thus producing any one note within its compass of an octave. As each drum can give but one note at a time and it takes some little time to alter all the screws, two or three kettledrums, often more, each tuned to a different note, are used in an orchestra or band.

Various mechanisms have been tried to facilitate the changing of pitch, such as working the screws by means of a pedal, but the simpler model is generally used in orchestras.

This is the only instrument of the drum family that can be tuned to any definite musical sound and its notes are as nearly definite as the pizzicato tones of the double pass.

Production of Sound
Two sticks are used to play the kettledrum and these are of various kinds. The best are made of whalebone for elasticity with a small wooden button at the end, covered with a thin piece of fine sponge. Others have a felt or rubber knobs. Some are even made with a wooden uncovered knob but are only used in exceptional cases to produce a harsh, noisy tone. The kettledrum is struck at about one quarter of the diameter from the ring.

Quality of Tone and Possibilities
The tone of a good drum in all but its extreme notes is sonorous, rich and powerful. A harsh overpowering quality can be obtained when noise rather than music is required by using uncovered drumsticks.

The drums can be covered or muffled by placing a piece of clothe over the vellum to deaden the sound; this device produces a mournful tone most effective in orchestration.

By judicious scoring for this instrument, beautiful effects can be obtained in rolls, in crescendo and diminuendo, or in forte and pianissimo passages. A great variety of rhythmical figures on either one note or several notes can be produced.

Passages in double notes such as the following, as well as many more complicated, will give an idea of the capabilities of an instrument whose technique is even now developing.

Origin
From Egyptian, Assyrian and Indian sculptures we have full evidence of the great popularity of drums of all kinds among the ancients. How the kettledrum reached Europe is a matter of some conjecture; some suggest through the Romans, as the Greeks knew the side drum, which they called tympanum. They or the Romans may also have known the kettledrum. Others attribute its introduction to the Moors of Spain. It was used in Germany from early times. The first mention of its use in England appears to be in Froissart’s description of the entry of Edward III into Calais in 1347.

The earlier manner of bearing the instrument was to suspend it from the neck of a man, who on the march bore it on his back in front of the drummer. In a miniature of an illustrated manuscript at the British Museum, an Eastern banquet is depicted in which the potentate is enjoying the music of various instruments, and among them two kettledrums strapped to the back of a Nubian slave. This manuscript dates from the fourteenth century and is by a skilled Genoese. The kettledrum was first used in an orchestra by Lulli, in the reign of Louis XIV, and it has kept has place ever since.

Kettledrum with instantaneous system of tuning
The kettledrum in this form differs substantially from the ordinary drums.

Construction
The construction differs from that of the kettledrum tuned by means of screws in the following particulars: A simple mechanism in the interior, consisting of a system of cords regulated by screws and rods, is worked from the outside by means of a handle. Some kettledrums have a little dial on whose face are 28 notches, each numbered, enabling the performer to tune the drum instantly to any note within its compass, by remembering the number that corresponds to each note, and pointing the indicator to it on the face of the dial. Of course the cords may stretch in time, flattening the pitch and causing the representative numbers to change. Temperature has a similar effect upon the pitch. Should a performer therefore find at a concert, for instance, that the heated atmosphere has put his drum out of tune, he need only turn the handle one or more notches to the right to bring his instrument back to pitch.

Each drumhead is capable of giving a compass of about half an octave; it will, therefore, be seen that each note has more than one notch at its service. Should the indicator point to No. 28 and yet by reason of the stretching of the cords the instrument be not sharp enough, another turn or two to the right, beginning again at No. 1 can be given, which will have the desired effect. To slacken the head, the handle must be turned to the left and a little catch lifted.

As this drum can be tuned in a moment by means of the dial to a certain note, there is no occasion to keep the head taut when the instrument is not in use.

Quality of Tone
The little interior mechanism, which is of an elastic nature, has no detrimental effect on the tone but on the contrary tends to increase its volume and improve its quality. The body of the drum, which acts as a sound box in increasing the tone, has a sound hole underneath.