Talking drum

A West African hourglass-shaped drum whose pitch changes when a player squeezes its tension cords. Skilled players use these tonal changes to imitate speech and communicate.

Hourglass drum: A drum with a narrow waist and two wider ends, often laced so its membrane tension can be adjusted. The talking drum is a pitch-flexible member of this broad drum form.
Tonal language: A language in which differences in pitch can distinguish word meanings. Its pitch contrasts give talking-drum phrases a structure they can imitate.
Yoruba people: A West African ethnic group concentrated in southwestern Nigeria and neighboring countries. The dùndún talking-drum ensemble is closely associated with Yoruba musical life.
Djembe: A goblet-shaped West African drum played with the hands. The djembe is hand-struck but lacks the talking drum’s squeeze-controlled pitch.
Drumhead: A membrane stretched across a drum opening that vibrates when struck. The vibrating head produces the sound whose pitch the cords alter.
Yoruba language: A Niger-Congo language spoken chiefly in southwestern Nigeria and neighboring regions. Yoruba talking-drum performance can reproduce tonal and rhythmic features of its speech.
Dùndún: A Yoruba hourglass-shaped pressure drum and, by extension, an ensemble of related drums. This is the Yoruba name for a major talking-drum tradition.
Bata drum: A double-headed, hourglass-shaped Yoruba drum with distinct head sizes and playing roles. Bata shares Yoruba musical contexts but is not defined by pitch changes from squeezed cords.
Tension cord: A cord that adjusts the tension of a drum membrane when tightened or pressed. Squeezing the lacing changes membrane tension and raises the drum’s pitch.
Drum language: A system of communication that uses percussion sounds to convey linguistic or conventional messages. The talking drum is a prominent instrument for transmitting spoken-language patterns.

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