Drumming Carried Messages Before the Telegraph
A drum is a percussion instrument with a stretched skin. Across several continents drums carried language itself.
A drum is a percussion instrument made of a skin stretched over a frame, and also any cylindrical container. Talking drums of West Africa do more than signal: they imitate the pitch and rhythm of spoken language, so a skilled player can send whole sentences. European visitors were astonished to find news travelling faster by drum than by messenger. *Drum up* meaning to gather support comes from beating a drum to attract a crowd, and *drum out* from the ceremony of expulsion from a regiment.
- A percussion instrument. *A bass drum.*
- A cylindrical container. *An oil drum.*
- To beat repeatedly. *Rain drummed on the roof.*
- Drum up — gather support. *Drum up business.*
- Middle Dutch — *tromme*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | drum | A drum. |
| Plural | drums | Drums. |
| Verb | drum | Drumming. |
| Agent | drummer | A drummer. |
| Compound | eardrum | The eardrum. |
- He played the drum steadily.Music.
- An empty oil drum.Container.
- Talking drums carry sentences.Fact.
How a talking drum works
- Many West African languages are tonal, where pitch changes meaning
- The drum reproduces those pitches rather than letters
- Cords along the body are squeezed to raise or lower the note
- Stock phrases add redundancy so a message survives distortion
- Messages could travel far faster than a runner
Middle Dutch *tromme*, of imitative origin, recorded in English from the 1500s.
How do talking drums send words?
They reproduce the pitch and rhythm of tonal speech, so listeners hear phrases rather than a code of signals.
Where does drum up support come from?
From beating a drum in public to gather a crowd, whether for recruitment or for a market seller.