by Bachikaze » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:23 pm
This is a fascinating discussion (except for the Desi Arnaz argument).
In the Cuban world, I can't keep up with you folks in specific drum terminology, though I can hold my own when it comes to Brazil and Japan. But, as a linguist, I do know that there is a cultural difference when it comes to assigning exact labels on things, and that cultural distinction can frustrate musical scholars.
Some cultures love to categorize and label. They are more comfortable when they can give something a permanent name that never varies. The lines that divide one named category from another might be measured in centimeters/inches. They also often argue about the "real" names for things.
Many of the cultures that they study, however, are not quite so strict in their nomenclature. It seems that they don't draw such carefully defined lines between things, certainly not with a ruler. I imagine they have a hard time understanding the cultures that study them and their obsession with affixing names, carefully cataloged and indexed. They probably find it amusing.
I imagine the people who posted here are dead-on when they say that terminology is based on use and role, rather than size. When you're dealing with backyard construction, often originally made from barrels and packing boxes, it's pretty tough to assign standards. To further complicate things, names vary from region-to-region, town-to-town, ward-to-ward.
Brazil is a case in point. The instrument we call "surdo" is today made in a variety of sizes with standard heads to fit US drum company mass-production standards (i.e. measured in inches). They evolved from either alfaias (northeastern bombos) or the enlargement of repiniques (tenor "calling" drums) in the industrial cities. They acquired their name from the word for "deaf" and were distinguished soly on their role as a bass instrument, since they weren't much bigger than other, medium-pitched, drums. In the US, we today classify them based on their head diameters. In contrast, the Brazilians classify them by their role in a bateria, or drum ensemble. That is either primera, segundo, and tercero (in Rio) or fundo I, fundo II, virado I, virado II (in Bahia). Another Bahia group in the next neighborhood might use fundo I, fundo II, dobra I, dobra II. In all cases, the drums are named by their roles and relative pitch, not by size. They can be as small as 14"/16"/18" or as large as 24"/26"/29" in diameter.
Edited By Bachikaze on 1196822165