Mallet hardness and strike position shape a drum’s brightness

Evidence

Percussion instruments that make use of bars, membranes or plates as their vibrating system (described in Section 4.4), which are struck, have a distinct timbral quality of their own. This is due to the nonharmonic relationship between the frequencies of their natural modes, which provides a clear acoustic cue to their family identity. It gives the characteristic “clanginess” to this class of instruments, which endows them with a timbral quality of their own. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1479 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Strike placement on a drum excites modes by their amplitude at that point; Mallet hardness and size shape a kettledrum’s spectral output; Nonharmonic natural modes give struck percussion instruments their clangy identity — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1479 (+3 more)

Related

• Differing tensions on paired drum heads deliberately spread nonharmonic modes to sound nonpitched (similarity 0.88)
• Where you strike a percussion instrument governs which modes sound (similarity 0.87)
• Mallet hardness and strike location shape which drum modes get excited (similarity 0.87)
• Drum-kit drums are deliberately tuned non-pitched so they fit any musical key (similarity 0.86)
• Nonharmonic natural modes give struck percussion instruments their clangy identity (similarity 0.84)
• Higher drum modes self-compensate and leave kettle volume unchanged (similarity 0.82)
• Percussion excitation is a short impulse rather than a sustained tone (similarity 0.82)
• A free-edged cymbal plate produces inharmonic, mixed modes (similarity 0.82)
• Kettledrum tone quality depends on strike position relative to nodal rings (similarity 0.81)
• The kettledrum bowl lowers its head modes toward harmonic ratios (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Mallet hardness and size shape a kettledrum’s spectral output #expands (0.95)
• Nonharmonic natural modes give struck percussion instruments their clangy identity #expands (0.75) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1479
• Differing tensions on paired drum heads deliberately spread nonharmonic modes to sound nonpitched #complicates (0.72)