Talking Drum
notes: label: Caption
content: The Talking Drum is an hourglass-shaped pressure drum so-named because it can imitate spoken language's intonations and rhythms. At either end of the drum’s body, the drum's heads are made of animal hide, fish skin, or another membrane wrapped around the drum's wooden hoop. Leather cords or thongs run the length of the drum's body and are bound around both hoops. The drum player holds the drum under the arm so as to squeeze the cords. When the cords are pressed and the head is tightened, the drum's pitch changes.
label: Caption
content: Skilled talking-drum drummers can imitate African tonal languages' sounds and cadence, and reproduce proverbs and praise songs. The use of the talking-drum was forbidden in the United States during the enslavement era because of its ability to "speak" in an unknown language and possibly incite rebellion. This kind of drum is known as Dundun in Yoruba and Kalangu in the Hausa language.
label: Caption
content: Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner collected this drum in Nigeria in 1951. He was interested in music and language tonalities and how they carry meaning within communities and cultures.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Cite As
content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Anacostia Community Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2003.0032.0362
objectType: label: Type
content: drum
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: wood, animal skin, cloth, leather
label: Dimensions
content: 16 × 7 5/16 × 7 1/16 in. (40.6 × 18.5 × 18 cm) [talking drum]
label: Dimensions
content: 2 3/8 × 1 1/4 × 10 1/16 in. (6 × 3.2 × 25.5 cm) [mallet]