STORY OF THE DURM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 282, 18 February 1928, Page 11

STORY OF THE DURM

prehistoric origin gradually disappearing The dram is a musical instrument o£ pttt antiquity. In fact, it is of such a ncient origin that its inventor is unknown. However, Bacchus, the Roman of wine and of the vintage, promoter of civilisation, law-giver and over of peace, is said to be the inventor of the old instrument. It is known that drums of all kinds were popular in the most ancient civfli»tions. Representations of various •vpes of this instrument have been found on monuments and paintings in jwpt, Assyria, India and Persia. Perhaps the first soldiers to march to the of the drums, were the Janizaries, ;he Christians in the service nf the Turks. At any rate, drums were uge d in the battle of Halidon Hill in Tympanums, or kettle-drums, were n use among the Greeks and Romans and were introduced into western liurope through the Roman civilisation, i Some writers claim that drums were , introduced by the Crusaders, but the j instrument was known in England ; long before the Crusades. Drums were not used in the British army, however, until the 16th century. Until the reign of Elizabeth the instrument was much larger than it is now, and was Md horizontally and beaten on one hekd only. Likewise, it is not known at what date the snare drum made its appearance. An instrument of this type belonging to the ancient Egyptians was found in the excavations at Thebes in 1823. The Spanish conquerors are said to have found drums m South American temples. Drake’s Drum Besides being ancient, the history of the drum is honourable. The Puritans of New England used the drum as a church bell. The drum also figured prominently and romantically all Jtrough the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars. To-day, however, the drum has fallen into bad grace in a number of places and its doom is threatened. Although it is hard to imagine a military band without a srngie drum, its days in such bands are likely to be numbered. It is interesting to note that the famous drum of the great sea fighter, Sir Francis Drake, was his constant companion his career. On it he beat the signals on his flagship wfefen he scattered the Spanish Armada. It went with him on the first British ship that ever sailed around the world, and it sounded taps when, after his death in the West Indies, his body \v&B committed to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Just before his death he gave the old drum to his brother, a captain in the British fleet, to bo taken to England and hung in the hall at Buckland Abbey, the ancestral home of the Drakes, near Plymouth. According to one story, the drum was to be funded when danger threatened England and Drake’s spirit would enter into the commander of the British fleet.