page_title: Davul
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Davul / Construction
context_page_description: The davul, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of Middle East. These drums have both a deep bass sound and a thin treble sound due to their construction and playing style, where different heads and sticks are used to produce different sounds on the same drum.
context_section_description: The drum shell is made of hard wood, perhaps walnut or chestnut, though many woods may be in use depending on the region where the drum is made.  To make the shell, the wood is boiled in water to make it bendable, and then it is bent into a cylindrical shape and fastened together.  The heads are usually goat skin, and they are shaped into circles by wooden frames.  However, one head may be goat skin to provide a higher tone, while the other head can be sheepskin, calfskin, or even donkey-skin to provide a lower tone.  Some say that wolf skin and even dog skin are preferred.  Rope threaded back and forth across the shell of the drum, from head to head in a zigzag pattern, holds the heads on the drum and provides tension for tuning the drum.  Sometimes metal rings or leather straps join neighboring strands of the rope in order to allow for further tuning.  Two rings are sometimes attached to the main rope where a belt-like rope is threaded through to hold the drum.
  In the former Yugoslavian republics and Bulgaria, the tapan is made in two dimensions, Bulgarian: golem, at about 50 – 55 cm diameter, and Bulgarian: mal or tapanche, at about 30 – 35 cm diameter.
  In Turkey, davuls typically range in size from 60 cm to 90 cm in diameter.  Cow hide is used for the bass pitch drum head side, while goat skin is used for the thin, high pitched side.
  In Greece, daouli can be 12 to 14 inches for the toumbi up to 3 to 4 feet for daouli.  Commonly the drum is about 20 to 30 inches.
caption: Davul in shadow puppet theater. Here, Karagöz is shown with his davul.
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