Home > Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music > Tambourine

(Fr. tambour de basque; It. tamburino, tamburo basco; Ger. Schellentrommel; Port. pandeiro; Sp. pandero). Popular instrument of Spanish origin, consisting of a single drumhead bordered by a shallow wooden ring with a number of metallic jingles. It can be played in a variety of ways: shaking, thumping, plunking, clicking, and striking against the knee or opposing hand. The sound produced by the drumhead is dry and short, with little resonance or reverberation.

The tambourine is regularly used to accompany Spanish dances, notably FLAMENCO. This association is put to good use by GEORGES BIZET (CARMEN), NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (Capriccio Espagnol), CLAUDE DEBUSSY ( Ibèria), and MAURICE RAVEL (Rapsodie espagnole).

A tambourine of biblical times, the timbrel, was furnished with several pairs of bronze jingles, which women shook to attract male attention. One surviving specimen, unearthed in Babylon and dating back to c.2700 B.c., has ten pairs of bronze jingles and is beautifully ornamented with precious stones.