Drum is an ancient percussion instrument. What is its origin?

Drum is an important instrument in African traditional music and modern music. Do you know its origin? Next, let me introduce when the drum was invented. Drum is a traditional percussion instrument in China. According to the Book of Rites, among the early legends of Tang Wei in the Ming Dynasty, there were "earth drums", that is, earth drums. Because the drum has a good vibration function, the louder the sound, the farther it travels, so it has long been used by Chinese people to strengthen the army. According to legend, in the battle of Zhuolu, when the Yellow Emperor conquered Chiyou, "The Yellow Emperor took the skin as a drum to kill the chief, and heard 500" (Taiping Yulan 582 introduced the imperial century).

In ancient times, war drums were all made of crocodile skin. Crocodile skin is used to make drums sound stronger. According to the book Situ, a local official in Zhou Li, there was a special "drummer" in the Zhou Dynasty to manage the drum music system and drums. Drummers' management of drums has many uses, such as thunder drums for sacrifice, spirit drums and golden drums in bands. Among them, the sub-drum is specially used for the military. According to Shuowen, it is an eight-foot-long drum with a four-foot drum face and two doors. In addition, land drums and Jin drums are also used in the military. These war drums later developed into various specifications of war drums and were widely used in the military.

Drums appeared earlier. From the unearthed cultural relics, it can be confirmed that drums have a history of more than 5,000 years in ancient times (taking pottery drums unearthed from Qin 'an Dawan site in Tianshui, Gansu Province as an example). Drums are not only used for sacrifice, music and dance, but also for fighting enemies and driving away animals. It is also a tool for reporting time and alarms. With the development of society, drums are widely used. Ethnic bands, various dramas, folk arts, songs and dances, boating, lion dancing, festival gatherings, labor competitions, etc. Are inseparable from drum instruments. The structure of the drum is relatively simple, consisting of a drum skin and a drum body. Drum skin is the sound body of a drum, usually covered with animal skin, which vibrates by tapping or patting. There are many kinds of drum instruments in China, including waist drum, big drum, bronze drum and Hua Pengu.

China, Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and ancient India are the birthplaces of the earliest drums in the world. Historically, China drums not only absorbed many foreign drums, but also spread to neighboring countries such as North Korea and Japan. In the Central Plains, the traditional China drum is the mainstream. The drums of frontier ethnic minorities are influenced by both traditional drums and foreign drums, especially those in Arabia and India.