DABBOUS — Sonorous Substances. Turkey. A rattle used by dervishes. A knobbed stick is hung with chains finished with bits of metal, that strike together when the stick is whirled.
DA-DAIKO — Vibrating Membranes. Japan. This drum was used upon the most momentous occasions. It was erected upon a special platform gaily draped and tasseled and provided with a gold railing and steps. Much skill was requisite in the drummer. He stood in front of the drum with his left foot on the platform and his right on the upper step to give him more force in striking. The drum was surrounded with a broad rim ornamented with phoenixes and dragons and having an edge of irregular points painted red to represent red flames. This was surmounted by a black lacquer pole supporting a golden sun one foot in diameter with rays 18 inches long. There are none now in existence. One sent to the Vienna exposition was lost in shipwreck.
The phoenix is very popular for use in the decoration of Japanese musical instruments and is usually represented as surrounded by red flames. Its story is typical of Oriental romanticism. The phoenix is a mythical bird known through-out the Orient and is supposed to have lived in the Arabian wilderness for 500 or 600 years when it built for itself a funeral-pyre of aromatic woods which the bird fanned with its wings causing flames to break forth. However from the ashes the phoenix sprang to fresh and vigorous life again. From this it has grown to be considered the insignia of immortality.
DAFF — Vibrating Membranes. Arabia. A hand drum with a square frame of wood and two heads of skin. DAHAREH — See dayere.
DAIRI — Vibrating Membranes. Turkey. This Turkish tambourine has either a circular or an angular frame. It is often furnished with small rings and bells of metal. See tambourine.
DALDYOSHI — Vibrating Membranes. Japan. The name signifies " grand time beater," the instrument being used upon special occasions. It is beaten with one knobbed stick, and is supported on a lacquered stand. Its skin heads are over a foot in diameter.
DALUKA --- Vibrating Membranes. Africa. Soudan. A small cylindrical shell with heads of skin.
DAMAM — Vibrating Membranes. India. A drum made of two human skulls, fastened together at the crown, the lower parts being cut away and the cavity covered with human skin. This ghastly affair is beaten in the temples.
DARABOUKKEH — Vibrating Membranes. Syria. A bottle-shaped hand drum, made of pottery or wood, which is held on the lap with the head projecting forward, and played with the flat of the fingers.
DAVIDHARFE — See spitzharfe.
DAYERE or DAHAREH — Vibrating Membranes. Asiatic Russia, Persia. A tambourine with a frame of wood, covered with a head of skin. Small rings and bells fastened to the interior add to the effect when played.
DEFF — Vibrating Membranes. Africa. Algiers. A square frame of wood covered on both sides with parchment, which is struck with the hands.
DEN-DEN-DAIKO — Vibrating Membranes. Japan. The fan drum. A wooden hoop covered with skin and having a short handle. It is used by the mendicant priests of Hokke, a Buddhist sect.
DERVISH DRUM — Vibrating Membranes. Egypt. A shell of metal or pottery covered with skin, and sometimes beaten with a leather strap. It is used by the dervishes. A modern one is seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The dervish drum is similar to the daraboukkeh still used in Arabia.
DESSUS — Bowed Strings. Europe. The French word meaning " above," which was applied to the treble viol and later was used in reference to the violin because of its high pitch.
DHOLA — Vibrating Membranes. India. A shell bored from a solid block of wood, with heads of skin stretched over the opening, and held by leather strips fastened round hempen hooks. It is played with both hands or with a stick, and is sometimes equipped upon the side with metal rings, which are struck by sticks. The dhola is heard at weddings and upon other festive occasions. The dholaka is similar.
DHOLAKA — See dhola.
DIFFERO — Double-Beating Reed. Europe. A name formerly given to a small variety of oboe not now in use. See oboe.
DIMPLIPITO or NAGARE — Vibrating Membranes. Persia. These hand drums have bowl-shaped shells and heads of skin, braced with cords.
DITAL HARP See harp-lute.
DJOUWAK — See chebeb.
DOBACHI — Sonorous Substances. Japan. A large cup-shaped gong, about a foot in diameter, used in the temples, where it is placed on a cushion on a lacquered stand. It is struck with a short stick covered with leather. Its best tone, which is indeed beautiful, is produced by means of an upward stroke.
DO- BYOSHI — Sonorous Substances. Japan. These are brass cymbals slightly conical in shape, and of different sizes. An embossed band and a heavy silk cord serve as decorations.
DOHOL — Vibrating Membranes. Persia. A hand drum with a shell of wood or metal, which appears in many shapes. The heads are of skin.
DOMBEG — Vibrating Membranes. Persia. A hand drum whose shell is of wood; and is shaped like a goblet. It has a skin head.
DORA — Sonorous Substances. Japan. An ordinary gong imported from China, where it is used by night watch-men. The shallow, circular plate of metal is about a foot in diameter.
DORJE — See drilbu.
DOSA — See sona rappa.
DOSHO — Vertical Flute. Japan. Cane Flute. This was designed as a toy, but was seriously adopted, and bound with ornamental strings. It has never proved popular.
DOTEKU — Sonorous Substances. Japan. An antique bronze bell over a foot in height, struck with a wooden mallet.
DOUBLE BASS — See contrabass.
DRAGON FLUTE — See yoko-fuye.
DRILBU or DORJE — Sonorous substances. India. The name signifies thunderbolt. This bronze bell is engraved with characters, and the handle is often carved to represent a deity. The priests sound it during prayer.
DUDUK — See duduki.
DUDUKI, DUDUK, SOUFFARAH — Vertical Flute. Turkey. This short flute is made in various lengths, and has six or seven finger-holes.
DUFF — Vibrating Membranes. India. A tambourine with a head of skin stretched over a wooden frame, having several angles.
DULCIMER — Struck Strings. Europe. This ancient instrument is known in the East by the name of santir. Its trapeze-shaped sounding board generally has two sound holes. The strings are stretched from pegs placed in each side of the sound board, and pass over two bridges. The strings are struck between the bridges with little hammers. This places the dulcimer as a predecessor of the piano. The tone when forte is harsh, and there is no way of damping the strings when one has been used and another is to be struck. The dulcimer has gone out of use except among gypsies, and it is often heard in traveling Hungarian gypsy bands. The dulcimer is about three feet at the greatest width, and has from two to five strings of brass or iron wire to each note. The compass varies from two to three octaves.
DUNG-CH'EN — Cup Mouthpiece. China. A trumpet with a shallow cup-piece, originally coming from Thibet.
DUPLEX HORN — Cup Mouthpiece. Europe. Pelitti, of Milan, in the middle of the Nineteenth Century, made sets of duplex instruments, in which two instruments were combined in one. Each had a separate bell, but a common mouthpiece. They' were furnished with a small valve in the center, by means of which the air could be directed into either form of instrument at the will of the operator.
