The rute (also spelled ruthe, from the German for 'rod' or 'switch'), also known as a multi-rod, is a

beater Beater may refer to: Music *Any of various types of percussion mallets ** A rute ** The striking part of a Bass drum pedal ** The cipín used for playing the bodhrán Fiction *A position in the fictional game of Quidditch from the ''Harry Potte ...

for

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s. Commercially made rutes are usually made of a bundle of thin birch dowels or thin canes attached to a

drum stick A drum stick (or drumstick) is a type of percussion mallet used particularly for playing snare drum, drum kit, and some other percussion instruments, and particularly for playing unpitched percussion. Specialized beaters used on some other pe ...

handle. These often have a movable band to adjust how tightly the dowels are bound toward the tip. A rute may also be made of a bundle of twigs attached to a drum stick handle. These types of rutes are used for a variety of effects with various musical ensembles. A rute may also be a cylindrical bunch of pieces of cane or twigs, bound at one end, like a small

besom A besom () is a broom, a household implement used for sweeping. The term is mostly reserved for a traditional broom constructed from a bundle of twigs tied to a stout pole. The twigs used could be broom (i.e. '' Genista'', from which comes the ...

without a handle. The rute is used to play on the head of the

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

."Anatomy of the Orchestra", Norman Del Mar Rute are also constructed from a solid rod thinly split partway down.

Etymology

The name of the instruments derives from German '' Rute'' (rod). The final ''e'' is pronounced, making the pronunciation 'ROOT-eh'.

Orchestral usage

In orchestral music, rute (or ruthe) first appeared in the music of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, in his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K. 384 (1782). The setting of the opera is Turkey, and rute were imported from Turkish Janissary music, the martial music of the Sultan's royal guard, very much in vogue at the time. (

James Blades James Blades OBE (9 September 190119 May 1999) was an English percussionist. He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with a long and varied career. His book ''Percussion Instruments and their History'' (1971) is a s ...

, "Percussion Instruments and their History" 1992) The rute were played by the bass drum player, with a mallet striking on downbeats and rute being struck on offbeats. A typical pattern in this style would generally go, in 4/4 time, boom-tap-tap-tap boom-tap-tap-tap, the taps representing strikes of the rute. Mozart's contemporaries and immediate successors used the rute in a similar fashion for military effect. Gustav Mahler's use of the rute in the third movement of his Symphony No. 2 completely broke away from the traditional military writing of the implementation, instead focusing more on its coloristic possibilities than on the rhythmic role. It is also present in the fifth and final movement of his Symphony No. 7 where it coincides with an English horn solo. This application was continued by Edgard Varese in his coloristic use of percussion. Michael Giacchino uses rute in his 2009 score to Star Trek.

Drum kit usage

Widespread usage of the rute in kit drumming dates from US

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

4535671, 20 August 1985, where

Pro-Mark D'Addario () is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. D'Addario is the world’s largest musical instrument access ...

described their new ''Hot Rod'' rute-type drumstick intended for drum kit use. Variations such as ''Lightning Rods'' (seven canes, as opposed to nineteen for the Hot Rod), ''Thunder Rods'' (seven thicker canes giving the same weight as the Hot Rod) and ''Cool Rods'' (nineteen thin canes giving a similar weight to the Lightning Rod) soon followed from Pro-Mark. The rute stick for drum kit is now produced by most major drum stick manufacturers including also

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets. He was also known for his association ...

and Vater.

Grip techniques

The rute stick is held in the same way as a drum stick, and therefore is usually held either with a

matched grip In percussion, grip refers to the manner in which the player holds the Drum stick, sticks or Percussion mallet, mallets, whether drum sticks or other mallets. For some instruments, such as triangle (musical instrument), triangles and gongs, on ...

or a traditional grip. The "handle" of the rute is the plastic area, as the drum or cymbal is struck with the wooden "rutes" or bundles of wooden stick.

References

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