no THE PIPE AND TABOR 



It may not be generally known that the French 

 for the snare of a drum is timbre ; this is the 

 original meaning of the word, and its famihar use 

 to mean the characteristic tone of a musical sound 

 is later. According to Darmstetter the word 

 'timbre' is own brother to 'tambour,' both being 

 derived from a low Latin form of tympanum. 



The tabor-stick has changed since the early 

 centuries. In some of the old drawings the 

 taborer is striking his instrument with a bludgeon, 

 instead of the light and elegant sticks such as are 

 to be seen in Mr. Manning's collection at Oxford. 

 Such implements were doubtless treasured by the 

 taborer. Valmajour, the tabourinaire in Daudet's 

 Numa Roumestan, possessed a drum-stick which 

 had been in the family for 200 years. 



The way of holding the drum has not always 

 been the same. Nowadays we are told to hang it 

 from the thumb or wrist. But in many early 

 drawings it is apparently firmly strapped or tied 

 to the forearm, or even above the elbow. ^ The 

 Lincoln Angel and Luca's boy have tabors sup- 

 ported by a string round the neck, and this I find 

 to be the best method. 



I hope that the drum may long survive in 

 Provence with its ancient companion the pipe.* 

 A diiferent instrument, however, supplies an 

 accompaniment to the galoubet in the Basque 

 provinces. It is a rough sort of lyre with six or 



^ A German writer has suggested that this position allows the 

 musician to beat the drum with his head ! 



^ According to Mahillon, Catalogue iii., p. 377, to play the tabor 

 and pipe is called in Provencal " tutupomponeyer." 



