(Fr.).
A double-headed drum from Provence in the form of a large tabor with a long cylindrical body and a single snare on the upper head (see illustration); it is classified as a membranophone. It is often referred to as tambourin provençal; the variant forms ‘tabour’ and its diminutive ‘tabourin’ are also found in medieval sources. The depth of its shell is approximately 70 cm and the width 35 cm. It was known in the 15th century and is still played with a three-holed pipe known as a galoubet. Characteristically this species of tabor is struck in simple rhythmic sequences, with a single drumstick (see also Pipe and tabor).
The tambourin was scored for by Rameau (Les fêtes d’Hébé, 1739), Berton (Aline, 1803) and later by Ernest Guiraud (L’arlésienne, second suite, ?1876, after Bizet). 20th-century composers who have scored for tambourin de Provence include Milhaud (Suite française, 1944), Copland (Appalachian Spring, 1945) and Roger Sessions (Third Symphony, 1957).
‘Tambourin’ is used in German to denote the tambourine.
JAMES BLADES