History of the Snare Drum

Discover the history of the Snare Drum, beginning with its precursor, the Tabor. Find out how the evolution of the flesh hoops and counter hoops, innovations in drum head technology, paved the way for modern performance.

Before the Snare Drum: The Tabor

The precursor to the rope-tension drum was the Tabor.

Used extensively throughout the Middle Ages, the Tabor varied greatly in size and shape but was a cylinder carried by the drummer. While it would be a logical conclusion to assume that the invention of the snare drum began with the invention of the snares, the most defining and notable feature of the Tabor is the visible snares on the top head in Medieval imagery (for more information, see Blades Percussion Instruments and their History 205-210).

Construction of the Tabor

The Tabor did have two heads, despite the snares being on the top head, and so the construction of the drum is of particular interest to us. Blades explains that some depictions of the tabor indicate that the heads have simply been nailed to the shell, but most often the tabor is depicted with a cord threaded directly into the rawhide head (206).

This method of tensioning the head, with similar braces used by the later side drum, can date back to the ancient Egyptians and is not unique to the tabor or rope-tension snare drum.

Performing on the Tabor

This low-level tension, however, was not a major concern for the tabor drummer as he performed with only one drumstick. Most often, the tabor is depicted as hanging from the wearer’s arm; one hand holds a stick and strikes the drum while the other hand holds a simple pipe. When another person was present performing on the pipe or other melodic instrument, the tabor player held the drum in one hand and played with the other (Blades 205-210).

With only one stick, this ‘one-man band’ could not have performed particularly complicated rhythms and would obviously have never aspired to something as challenging as the double stroke roll.

Blades notes that the tabor was originally associated with “profane music” in the 12th century, but that it became more respectable in the 13th century and Edward III even included a tabor player in his household band (209).

The Tabor and Military Use

When the Tabor was first introduced into European music via the Saracens, it began as a paired instrument. Used extensively throughout the Middle Ages, the Tabor varied greatly in size and shape but was a cylinder carried by the drummer. Most often, the tabor is depicted as hanging from the wearer’s arm; one hand holds a stick and strikes the drum while the other hand holds a simple pipe. When another person was present performing on the pipe or other melodic instrument, the tabor player held the drum in one hand and played with the other.

Although useful for the creation of ‘Noise’ on the battlefield, the Pipe and Tabor would not have been well-suited for the complex military signalling that the later Fife and Drum would provide. With only the three holes, the simple pipe would not be capable of a great melodic range, necessary for creating multiple distinct tunes for the many duty signals. Similarly, the one-handed Tabor would not have the rhythmic complexity to create distinctive enough beatings to indicate a large volume of basic and complex maneuvers. Also, importantly, the small Tabor carried on the wrist could not have projected its sound as well as the larger side drums, which would become more and more necessary as gunpowder dominated the battlefield.

We see evidence that the Swiss’s experimentation with the Pipe and Tabor ultimately led to several major alterations, enough to introduce an essentially brand-new instrument: the military side drum. Replacing the Pipe with the preferred German Flute most likely spurred most of these adjustments to the Tabor – introducing the second hand, spurring developments in drum construction, and eventually allowing for an increase in size. Thus, while the simple Pipe and Tabor were known throughout Europe, both the Fife and the two-handed, military side drum were unique to the Swiss at the turn of the 16^th century. This fact stresses the likely reality that rudimental drumming truly has its origins completely within the 15^th century Swiss Cantons. As the new Swiss tactics spread across Europe, so necessarily did their style of military Fifing and Drumming. With such new instruments and novel usage, it’s inconceivable that foreigners simply picked up the instruments on their own; their governments certainly hired Swiss fifers and drummers to train their new musicians. In this way, we know that the Swiss style of drumming was passed on from them to the major nations and formed the backbone of the original style of drumming across all of Europe.

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[1] Blades 205-210

[2] Blades (209).

The Fife’s Influence & Introduction of the Flesh Hoop

In the early-14th century, the tabor was paired with the fife, which is recorded in the Chronicles of the City of Basle in 1332 (Blades 210).

The Fife allows the drummer to Add a Second Stick

At this point, with the fife being performed by another musician, the tabor drummer was at liberty to add a second drumstick and wear the drum around his neck rather than on his arm or held in his other hand.

Certainly, this new liberty allowed the drummers to consider more challenging rhythms and to attempt two-handed maneuvers never before available to the tabor player. This new freedom undoubtably encouraged experimentation and may have ignited a desire to improve on the tension possible on the drumhead.

the introduction of the flesh hoop

Some of the earliest depictions of military drummers indicate that one such evolution had occurred: the introduction of the flesh hoop. The rawhide head could now be wrapped around a flesh hoop before being placed on the drum, which ensured that the rawhide had already achieved a fairly high degree of tension distributed evenly around the flesh hoop.

We see evidence of such construction in a few early German etchings, such as “Five German Soldiers” by Daniel Hopfer (c1505-1536), “A Flutist and Drummer before a Moated Castle” (1515), and “Zwei Trommler und ein Pfeifer” by Hans Leonhard Schaufelein (c1515).

Examination of the images shows the rawhide head tucked around a flesh hoop; the ropes have been threaded through the head and around the flesh hoop. In this way, when the ropes are braced, the flesh hoop would pull down and create additional tension across the head.

While a counterhoop would distribute the tension more evenly against the flesh hoop, this method certainly created enough tension on the heads to produce at least an open 32nd note double stroke roll, should the drummer be practiced enough.

Development of the Counter Hoop

Picture evidence throughout the 16th century suggests that the counterhoop appears as an additional evolution early in the century, probably originating in Germany in the very early half of the 1500s.

The Dutch Possibly lag behind

Many Dutch images show drums that continue to use the flesh hoop-only design into the latter half of the 16th century. See Jost Amman’s etching of a drummer (c1560s); “Soldaat-tamboer” by Abraham de Bruyn (c1550-1587); “Drummer” by Jacob de Gheyn II (1587), and “Trommelslager” by Hendrick Goltzius (c1580-1600).

German Evidence of Counter Hoops

However, a number of German etchings depict clear signs of both a flesh hoop and counterhoop, with ropes coming up around the counterhoop, beginning in the 1520s. See the three etchings “Trommelaar” produced by Virgillius Solis (c1524-1562).

Also, a woodcut from a German military manual (1555); “The drummer” by Nikolau Solis (c1560-1584); and an etching by Lorenz Strauch (1575).

Counterhoops Originate with Kettle Drums?

It’s possible that the counterhoop originated with the Germans and possibly correlated with the advancements in the kettledrum’s design. Blades notes that large kettledrums spread across Europe during the 15th century (226). Heavily utilized by the military, tabor drummers were certain to be familiar with them, if not constantly in close quarters with these new drums.

At the beginning of the 16th century, kettledrums in Germany developed screw tensioning (Blades 223-235). The skins were lapped around flesh hoops. Then, a counterhoop, tensioned down with screws, presses down over the flesh hoop. Not only does this represent a major advancement towards the modern orchestral timpani, but may also have been the inspiration for early tabor drummers to attempt something similar. Without more research, it’s difficult to say whether the tabor drummer or kettledrummer invented the idea first. Blades does note that Leonardo da Vinci had depicted a similar screw tension device for both kettledrum and the side drum, c1487-1489 (230).

Counter Hoops & Snare Drum Technique

Regardless of which drum first utilized the concept, clear indications of counterhoops appear in several German etchings, confirming the early development of even better techniques for tensioning the snare drum.

This system of applying a counterhoop to the snare drum eventually travels throughout Europe.

By the turn of the 17th century, the counterhoop appears to be a defining feature of the military snare drum. Some of the few extant drums have counterhoops, including Drake’s drum (English; c1570) at the City Museum and Art Gallery in Plymouth and a Swiss side drum (c1575) at Basel’s Historisches Museum.

Dutch artists more consistently paint evidence of counterhoops beginning in the mid-1500s, with images such as “Vaandeldrager, tamboer en een derde man” (c1563), “The Three Soldiers” by Breughel the Elder (1568), Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (1642), and Gillis Congnet’s “Pierson la Hues” (1581).

German artists, likewise, continue to produce etchings and paintings of snare drums with clear depictions of counterhoops.

Additionally, period musical treatises demonstrate the existence of counterhoops as early as the 1580s. Arbeau (1589, p. 19), Mersenne (1636, p. 554-6), and Trichet (1640, p. 188-9) comment on the existence of counterhoops.

Mersenne, Arbeau, and Praetorius (1614-1620) include detailed images of snares drums that have counterhoops.

Modern Snare Drum Appears Throughout the 1500s

Thus, by the end of the 1500s, we see the modern rope-tension snare drum adopted throughout Europe.

The diameters of these drums tend to be slightly larger than the drums of the 18^th century and later, which may have limited their tension.

However, they contain the same basic mechanisms (flesh hoop, counter hoops, and leather braces) and conceivably could achieve reasonably high levels of tension.

Do you have more great sketches, plates, or paintings of drums from the 1700s and before? Please contact me or comment below to share your information.

Most people assume it was impossible to roll or perform difficult beatings on these older drums. Do you have any experience or evidence for or against this concept? Comment below.

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If you want to learn more about Rope-Tension Snare Drums, check out my discussion on:

• Snare Drum Construction
• Snare Drum Materials
• Animal Hide Drumheads
• Drum Slings / Carriages

Or learn about period Drumsticks, including shape and material.

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If you found this interesting, you might also be interested in “When did Drummers Start Rolling?”, “Performing the Double Stroke Roll” or “Understanding Roll Rhythms”.