View source for Rototom

{{Short description|Type of drum}}
{{For|the reggae festival|Rototom Sunsplash}}
[[File:Rototom 1.jpg|right|thumb|Rototom on a standard mounting bar]]
The '''rototom''' is a shell-less [[drum]] developed by Al Payson and [[Michael Colgrass]] that is able to change pitch by rotating its [[drumhead]] around a threaded metal ring.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strain |first=James Allen |url= |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8108-8693-3 |page=156 |oclc=974035735}}</ref> Unlike many types of drums, rototoms are designed to have a variable [[definite pitch]] leading composers to write specific [[Musical note|notes]] for them as [[Pitched percussion instrument|pitched percussion instruments]]. They are also often used to extend the [[Tom drum|tom]] range of a standard [[drum kit]].
==Description==
=== Tuning ===
Rototoms can be tuned quickly by rotating the drumhead, which sits in a threaded metal ring. Rotation raises or lowers the tension hoop relative to the rim, which increases or decreases the pitch of the drum by increasing or decreasing the tension of the drumhead.
=== Sizes ===
Drum company [[Remo]] has historically offered rototoms in seven diameters: {{Convert|6|in|cm}}, {{Convert|8|in|cm}}, {{Convert|10|in|cm}}, {{Convert|12|in|cm}}, {{Convert|14|in|cm}}, {{Convert|16|in|cm}}, and {{Convert|18|in|cm}}. However, as of 2023, Remo only offers rototoms ranging from a 6 to 10 inch diameter as part of a set that includes a mounting rail and stand. All other sizes have been discontinued. Each one is tunable over an octave's range or more, although the company notes that the practical range is approximately a [[Interval (music)#Main intervals|sixth]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Remo Inc. |date=1981 |title=Remo RotoToms |url=http://www.drumarchive.com/Remo/Remo_Roto_Toms.pdf |page=2}}</ref>
==Applications==
[[File:Early days ross royce.jpg|right|thumb|200 px|Three small rototoms on a mounting bar]]
Rototoms can replace more specialized drums such as tenor timpani owing to their clear, pitched nature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Beck |first=John H. |title=Encyclopedia of Percussion |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-415971-23-2 |edition=Second |pages=77 |oclc=939052116 |author-link=John H. Beck}}</ref> Jazz, rock and studio performers use rototoms both as a solo voice and as conventional tom-toms; they can be rapidly tuned to produce [[glissando]] effects and can be arrayed for a virtual percussion keyboard. For [[concert band|concert]] and [[marching band]] programs, rototoms combine rapid tuning with portability and sound quality, working both as concert tom-toms and as practice timpani. For stage bands and [[jazz band|jazz ensemble]]s, [[drum kit]]s are fitted out with batter heads. When tuned to the mid-range, they have an indefinite pitch with fewer harmonic overtones than conventional tom-toms; tuned to the high range, they produce a sound not unlike [[timbales]].
Rototoms can assist students in [[ear training]] and in developing their timpani techniques and— because of their portability, storability and relatively low cost— are often used by professional performers as practice instruments. They are also used as definite-pitched instruments in elementary music programs, such as [[Orff Schulwerk]], where their sound quality, [[Pitch (music)|pitch stability]] and [[musical tuning|rapid tuning]] are assets.<ref name="Remo">[http://www.drumarchive.com/Remo/Remo_Roto_Toms.pdf Remo RotoToms], Remo Inc., 1981. Accessed 11 December 2018.</ref>
== Repertoire ==
English composer [[Michael Tippett]] used a total of 38 rototoms— tuned chromatically, spanning across three octaves— in his last large-scale orchestral work, ''The Rose Lake'' (1993), based on a lake he spotted suddenly transforming from light green to translucent pink while on holiday in Senegal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holland |first=James |title=Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4616-7063-6 |edition=Revised |pages=40 |oclc=681550519}}</ref> In 1979, percussionist [[William Kraft]] published ''Encounters VI'', a [[Concertino (composition)|concertino]] for rototoms and percussion quartet.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Holland |first=James |date=August 1979 |title=Percussion Ensembles–Reviewed Works: Encounters VI, Concertino for RotoToms and Percussion Quartet by William Kraft; Rota for Percussion Quartet by Robert Capanna; Patterns for Percussion Op.44 by Robert Keys Clark |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/962500 |journal=[[The Musical Times]] |volume=120 |issue=1638 |pages=665–666 |doi=10.2307/962500|jstor=962500 }}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Official website|https://remo.com/products/product/rototom/}}{{Percussion}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Drums]]
[[Category:Drum kit components]]
[[Category:Pitched percussion instruments]]
[[Category:20th-century percussion instruments]]