THE ROLE OF TURKISH PERCUSSION IN THE HISTORY AND ...

Interestingly, the symbolism behind the instrument’s appearance seems as significant
as its musical contribution to the ensemble of Turkish percussion instruments. For instance,
the quantity of plumes indicated the military rank of each band’s ambitious leader. Also, one
of the numerous crescents in each Janissary band was reserved to carry inside its bells the
names of the soldiers within that unit. 19
The tambourine is a small single-headed frame drum with round metal discs called
jingles hung loosely in openings around a shallow wooden shell. Tambourines historically
appear four different ways: (1) with small brass bells attached, (2) with metal discs called
jingles, (3) with a snare across the head with either pellet bells or jingles, and (4) as a circular
frame without its drum head. The Turkish model from the eighteenth-century had several sets
of jingles arranged in pairs, but no snare across the diameter of its frame. Medieval
iconography as seen in Figure 7 sometimes shows a thin snare running either above or below
the head. 20
The tambourine dates back to antiquity. Highlights of its colorful history include
mention in the Old Testament and its use by medieval minstrels and Spanish gypsies. It is
still popular today in Italy as a folk and dance instrument. The Sumerians, Assyrians,
Egyptians, Hebrews, Romans, and the Arabs used some form of the tambourine.
19 Bayard, “Timpani Clinic: The Neo-Janizaries,” 35; Peters, Treatise on Percussion, 97.
20 Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, 196-97; James Blades and Jeremy Montagu, Early
Percussion Instruments from the Middle Ages to the Baroque (London: oxford University Press, 1976), 14-18;
Gangware, The History and Use of Percussion Instruments in Orchestration, 9-10, 116-17, 21, 25, 35-36, 41-42,
56-59; Peinkofer and Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments, 97, 100-02; Schneider, “Percussion
Instruments of the Middle Ages,” Percussive Notes (1978): 109; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (2001), s.v. “Tambourine.”
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