Donated by Bob Bloom, 2008-03-04 and 2008-03-05

Chinese tom-toms, manufactured in China and imported by Ludwig. Note the mount on the smaller drum, and the Ludwig label on the larger drum.

Chinese tom-toms were imported and marketed in the West with numerous other small “traps”—such as temple blocks, cymbals, woodblocks, triangles, tambourines, and castanets—as accessory instruments to the basic snare drum and bass drum for early drum “outfits.” Each of the various instruments lent itself to a particular ethnic style of dance, theater, or concert music during the early decades of the 20th Century. Often, pieces that utilized Chinese tom-toms, woodblocks, or temple blocks would be characterized as “an Oriental number.”

These toms, manufactured by the Haw Chong Company of Fatshan (Foshan or Namhoi), located in the Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province of China, and imported by the Ludwig Drum Company ca. 1928, are typical instruments of the period, designed not only to sound authentic, but to also serve as elaborate decorations for the “show drummer” when on stage. Each shell is constructed in a shallow “barrel” design with two pigskin heads, one for each side, tacked to the shell. The shell is painted bright red, and the heads are elaborately decorated with colorful, traditional Chinese symbols: the dragon and the phoenix.

A small mount in the shell of the tom-tom suspends the drum on a special attachment connected to the rim of a bass drum. This allows the drum to be suspended with either head facing up. In addition, the drums feature “rings” with an internal wire, which often rattled when played.

The larger drum measures 15 x 7 1 / 2 inches and the smaller drum is 9 x 4 inches in size. A small, gold Ludwig label is attached to the outside of the shell on the larger tom.

Detail showing the name and location of the manufacturer.	Dragon design of the larger drum
Phoenix design of the smaller drum	.

— Otice C. Sircy, PAS Museum Curator and Librarian, and James A. Strain, PAS Historian