Tongue Drum

The tongue drum is a traditional African, Asian and South American percussive instrument which is considered to be the oldest one, right after human voice. It was originally made from a hollow wood trunk and produced only few tones being struck with sticks. Our ancestors used tongue drums to transmit messages over a long distance. There even existed a special language based on different pitches. Now this drum usually has a shape of a wooden (or sometimes steel) box, with lots of precisely tuned tongues, and can be played by hands. It belongs to the family of idiophones, instruments which produce sound by means of whole body vibration, not only of strings or membrane. The most famous instruments in this group that can be compared to the tongue drum are xylophone, Hang and other pan drums, vibraphone, marimba, tubular bells (chimes).

Credits: Artwork and photo by Rodrigo Avila.