Snare drum

The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of wires, cords, or both; held under tension against the lower head. Snare drums are often used in orchestras, concert bands, marching bands, parades, drumlines, drum corps, and more. It is one of the central pieces in a drum set, a collection of percussion instruments designed to be played by a seated drummer and used in many genres of music. Because basic rhythms are very easy to learn to play on a snare drum even for children, the instrument is also suitable for the music education for young children and for a rhythm band.

Snare drums are usually played with drum sticks, but other beaters, such as the brush or the rute, can be used to achieve different tones. The snare drum is a versatile and expressive percussion instrument due to its sensitivity and responsiveness. The sensitivity of the snare drum allows it to respond audibly to the softest strokes, even with a wire brush. It can be used for complex rhythmic patterns and engaging solos at moderate volumes. Its high dynamic range allows the player to produce powerful accents with vigorous strokes and a loud metallic click with the rimshot.

The snare drum originates from the tabor, a drum first used to accompany the flute. The tabor evolved into more modern versions, such as the kit snare (the type usually included in a drum kit), marching snare, tarol snare, soprano snare, and piccolo snare. Each type is a different size, and there are different playing styles associated with each of them. The snare drum that one might see in a popular music concert is usually used in a backbeat style. In marching bands, it can do the same but is used mostly for a front beat.

The rope-tension field drum is the tallest and heaviest kind. The kit and the concert snare drums are each generally 14" across and 5" to 8" deep, while the soprano snare is about 7" deep but only 12" across. The piccolo snare has a shell 13" to 14" across but only around 4" tall and a higher pitch than the others, excepting the occasionally seen "firecracker" snare, an even smaller, auxiliary snare drum as shallow as the piccolo and just 10" to 12" across. The snare drum is easily recognizable by its loud cracking sound when struck firmly with a drumstick or mallet. The depth of the sound varies from one drum to another because of the different playing techniques and types of beaters used, as well as differences in the drum's construction, as in head material and tension, dimensions, and rim and drum shell materials and manufacture.

The snare drum is constructed of two heads—both usually made of Mylar plastic in modern drums but historically made from calf or goat skin—along with a rattle of beads (metal, plastic, nylon, or gut) called "snares" in close contact with it, on the bottom head, which vibrate when the drum is struck. The snares can also be on the top, as in the tarol snare drum, or on both heads as in the case of the Highland snare drum. The top head is typically called the batter head because that is where the drummer strikes it; the bottom head can also be called the snare head if the snares are located there. The tension of each head is held constant by tension rods. Tension rod adjustment allows the pitch and tonal character of the drum to be customized by the player. Most snare drums have a lever (the strainer) to engage or disengage contact between the snares and the head, which also permits adjustment of the snare tension. When the snares are disengaged, the sound of the drum resembles that of a floor tom-tom. The rim is the metal or wooden ring around the batter head that holds the head onto the drum and provides tension to the head; the rim can also be used in some playing techniques, notably the rimshot, in which the head and rim are struck together with a single stick to create a strong, accented tone, and the cross-stick, in which the rim is struck with a stick held across the head to produce a high-pitched click.