Featuring Tuned to Scale Tongue Drums Handcrafted by Steve Roberts  steve@tonguedrum.com

History of the Tongue Drum

The tongue drum is one of the worlds oldest known instruments. They have been a part of African, Asian, and South American cultures for thousands and thousands of years. The only instrument older is the human voice itself.

Tongue drums had a wide variety of functions within these cultures, from story telling to beating out war cries over long distances.

These drums were first made from hollowed out trees which were struck with sticks to create tones.

It is thought the earliest of the tongue drums were made to produce very low tones which traveled great distances when played.

In some African cultures, a tongue drum language developed. This language was based on different pitches, intensities, and variations of sounds.

The tongue drum is in the musical instrument category of idiophones. An idiophone is any rigid solid bodied instrument that vibrates completely when played.

The tongue drum may also be considered a lamellaphone since the tongues vibrate at one end and are connected to a base at the other end.

Over time, these drums have developed into the modern versions found today, and now include fine tuning with intervals and specific pitches. Tongue drums are also being made out of many different materials including the original wood versions, steel, and even cast bronze.

Well crafted tongue drums feature a primal melodic sound found in no other instrument and remain an acoustic marvel.