ourin de Provence_ is a small drum with a long cylinder of
narrow diameter used in the Basque provinces with a small pipe
(_galoubet_) having three holes. The drum is beaten with one stick only,
the performer steadying it with the hand which fingers the pipe. The
tambourin and galoubet are in fact a survival of the pipe and tabor
(q.v.).

The popularity of all kinds of drums in the most ancient civilizations
is established beyond a doubt by the numerous representations of the
instrument in a variety of shapes and sizes on the monuments and
paintings of Egypt, Assyria, India and Persia. The _tympanon_, under
which name seem to have been included tambourines and kettledrums, as
well as the dulcimer (during the middle ages), was in use among Greeks
and Romans chiefly in the worship of Cybele and Bacchus; it was
introduced through the medium of the Roman civilization into western
Europe. It is often said that the drum was introduced by the crusaders,
but it was certainly known in England long before the crusades, for Bede
(_Musica practica_) mentions it in his list of instruments, and
Cassiodorus (ii. p. 507) describes it. The side drum was, until the
reign of Elizabeth, of a much larger size than now and was held
horizontally and beaten on one head only. It is not known at what date
snares were added; Praetorius (_Syntagma musicum_, 1618) and Mersenne
(_L'Harmonie universelle_, Paris, 1636) both mention them. A drawing of
a side drum showing a snare appears in a book[2] from the printing press
of J. Badius Ascensius (1510); the instrument also has cords and braces.
Another woodcut of the same century is given as frontispiece to an
edition of Flavius Vegetius Renatus.[3] An actual side drum with two
curved drumsticks belonging to the ancient Egyptians was found during
the excavations conducted at Thebes in 1823.[4] It measured 1-1/2 ft. in
height by 2 ft. in diameter; the tension of the heads was regulated by
cords braced by means of catgut encircling both ends of the drum, and
wound separately round each cord so that these could be tightened or
slackened at will by pulling the catgut bands closer together or pushing
them farther apart. The Berlin Museum possesses some ancient Egyptian
straight drumsticks with handle and knob. Drums were used at the battle
of Halidon Hill (1333). An old ballad celebrating Edward III.'s victory
on this occasion appears in a chronicle of the 14th century, preserved
in the British Museum (Harl