This favorite instrument of Italian peasants, in whose festivities it plays an important role, is of excellent effect when employed in masses to stress the rhythm of a lively dance - similary to the cymbals or together with them. In the orchestra it is employed solo only to characterize peoples habitually using it, such as Gypsies, Basques, Italians from the Campagna, the Abruzzi and Calabria. It produces three very different kinds of sound. If it is simply strnck with the hand, its sound is of little
value and (except in masses) is audible only when not combined with other instruments. If the skin is rubbed with the fingertips, this causes a roll in which the sound of the jingles fastened around the edge of the instrument
can be only of short duration because the finger rubbing the skin soon reaches the edge, which stops its action. A roll like this one, for instance, would be impossible:
Finally rubbing the skin with the whole thumb, without quitting contact with the skin, produces a wild, strangely ratiling and rather ugly sound, which might be used in special cases, e.g. in a masquerade scene.
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