A name loosely applied in the West to certain African, Eastern and Amerindian drums, but now generally applied to the cylindrical rod-tensioned drums with wooden shells used in Western jazz and pop bands. In the Hornbostel and Sachs system they are classified as membranophones. Tom-toms are essential to the modern jazz drummer, who uses them in sets of three or more. They may be single- or double-headed and are graduated in size from 25 to 46 cm in diameter. The heads, which are mounted on a hoop, are of plastic, less commonly of calfskin. The drums are normally mounted on stands or frames adjustable for height and angle. In jazz and pop side-drum sticks are used, the tom-toms usually being combined with snare drum, cymbals and foot-pedal bass drum (see Drum kit).
There are several other types. The Chinese tom-tom is a convex-shelled drum with a thick vellum head nailed on, often decorated with Chinese characters, dragons, etc. Drums range in depth from 12 cm to as much as 90 cm; the head diameter is usually between 25 and 45 cm. The Chinese tom-tom was used in early drum sets and is the forerunner of the modern Western instrument. It has a distinctive sound, rather ‘darker’ or ‘flatter’ than that of the later instrument. Concert toms are single-headed drums developed for concert work, usually used in a set of eight; the heads range from 15 to 41 cm in diameter. They are easily transported, as the six smaller drums can be packed into the two largest. Ranges of one or two chromatic octaves have also been made. They have been largely superseded by the more easily tuned Roto-toms, which resemble tunable drum heads: the counter-hoop of each drum (seven sizes are available with head sizes ranging from 15 to 46 cm) is connected by a light frame to a central spindle, and pitch is raised by turning the drumhead clockwise and flattened by turning it anticlockwise. Wood tom-toms have heads of wood (in the Hornbostel and Sachs system they are classified as idiophones). Kolberg makes four sizes, ranging from 25 to 30 cm in diameter. As there is a drum-shell resonator, the sound is darker and less ‘sharp’ than that of a woodblock.
Tom-toms have appeared regularly in orchestral and chamber music: Cage used 12 in She is Asleep (1943); Britten called for three tom-toms, four Chinese tom-toms and a roto-tom tuned to c' in Death in Venice (1973); Tippett used two octaves of roto-toms tuned c–c'' in Byzantium (1990); Henze used six tom-toms in Appassionatamente (1993–4); and Birtwistle called for seven conventional tom-toms, seven high tom-toms and four very low ones in The Mask of Orpheus (1973–84).
JAMES BLADES/JAMES HOLLAND