Playable BooksHector Berlioz · section 52 of 67
The Side Drum
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The drums proper are used almost exclusively in large bands. Their effect increases and becomes more noble in proportion to the number of drums employed. A single ‘drum - particulary if used in an ordinary orchestra - has always appeared to me to sound low and vulgar. Yet it cannot be denied that Meyerbeer produced a peculiar and terrible effect through the combination of one drum with the kettledrums in the famous crescendo roll in the Consecration of the Swords in his “Huguenots;’. But eight, ten, twelve or still more drums executing rhythmic accompaniments or crescendo rolls in a military march serve as magnificent and powerful auxiliaries for the wind instruments. Simple rhythms without melody, harmony or key ( i.e. without the elements which constitute
music) but simply marking the step of soldiers, can have
a stirring effect if executed by forty or fifty drums alone. This is probably the proper occasion to point out the peculiar charm to the ear created by a great number of instruments of the same kind played in unison or si-
multaneously producing a noise. In watching the drill of infantry soldiers, one can make the observation that at such commands as “shoulder arms” or “order arms” the slight click of the metal and the dull thud of the butts dropping to the ground are not cbnspicuous at all if only one, two, three or even ten or twenty men are exercising; but if the command is carried out by a thousand men, the thousandfold unison of a sound insignificant in itself produces a brilliant effect. It stirs and captivates the attention, it is not unpleasant; and I even find a vague and mysterious kind of harmony in it.
Droms are also used muffed, like the kettledxums. Instead of covering the head with a cloth, drummers simply loosen the snares or put a leather strap between them and the lower skin, thereby checking the vibration. This gives the drums a dim and hollow sound similar to that produced by muffling the upper skin — a sound appropriate only for compositions of a mournful or aweinspiring character.