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

Years after Berlioz composed for two players to play simultaneously on one drum in
his Requiem, Bela Bartók reverted back to a similar playing style widely seen during his
travels researching folk music of the Orient and Europe. 6 In The Miraculous Mandarin
(1919), both sides of the bass drum were played with small sticks and mallets, reminiscent of
the “stick and switch” performance practice from the bass drum’s military use.
Like Berlioz and Bartok, Gustav Mahler in his compositions scored for a wide array of
percussion instruments such as tambourine, cowbells, chimes, glockenspiel, and celeste. It is
interesting to note, however, that only the bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and gong (in addition
to timpani) appear in each of his nine symphonies. In his Third Symphony (1895), Mahler
combines the bass drum and cymbal parts to be played by one performer, instructing that the
shell of the bass drum be struck with a ruthe. In both his Symphony No. 6 (1904) and
Symphony No. 7 (1905), Mahler scored for the bass drum to be struck with the beater and
ruthe. 7
The subtle, yet effective use of the bass drum roll is also evidenced in L’Apprenti-
Sorcier by Paul Dukas (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, 1897). As seen in Figure 24, Dukas
instructs the player to roll on one head of the drum with a double-headed beater. A rapid
oscillating movement of the wrist of one hand brings both heads of the stick into contact with
the drumhead to produce the single-handed roll. 8
6 Peinkofer, Handbook of Percussion Instruments, 96.
7 Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, 328; Reginald Smith Brindle, Contemporary Percussion.
(London: Oxford University Press, 1975), 236-37.
8 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2 nd ed., (2001), s.v. “Bass Drum.”
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