Home > Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music > Tambour Militaire

(Fr.). Small side DRUM used in military bands. It has no definite pitch, but produces a dry, wellarticulated sound in the general TENOR REGISTER.

As a rhythmic instrument it is used in SYMPHONIES, opera, and even CHAMBER MUSIC. Some examples:

CARL NIELSEN gives the tambour militaire an important part in his Fifth Symphony, instructing the player to beat the drum loudly in its own rhythm "as if trying to stop the rest of the orchestra."

A military drum solo introduces the execution by hanging of Till Eulenspiegel in the work of the same title by RICHARD STRAUSS.

Edgard Varèse gives the military drum the leading "tenor" part in his Ionisation.