History

In 1964, Yamaha Music went from being an organ producing company to a world renowned drum manufacturer. In the beginning of Yamaha drums, they didn’t have many original designs and most of them were knock offs of higher brands such as Ludwig (Atkinson). But after a few years, they started producing their own original products and they were then considered one of the greats. Today, they have a factory located in Osaka, Japan. This factory is where all of Yamaha’s very high quality drums are made. The other low end drums are made in their enormous Indonesian factory.


Snare drums on the other hand, originated hundreds of years ago. Around 1300, an ancient version of the snare drum called the Tabor was used to accompany the three holed pipe flute in European folk music. The Tabor was a double headed drum that had one snare strung across the bottom (Robinson). It wasn’t until the 1400s that the snare drum was starting to be used as a military device. The Swiss armies used it to relay signals to other regiments. In the 17th century, the snare drum was refitted with different hardware to allow for the popping sound we now have today. It was no longer a loose rattling from the snare’s gut (Robinson). By the 1800s, it became the classic military sound and everyone new that an army was approaching if they heard this song.