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A tom drum (also known as a tom-tom) is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language.Oxford English Dictionary, 1st Edition, Oxford: OUP, 1928 It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though can go as large as .
The British colonists complained loudly about the noise generated by the "tom-toms" of the natives throughout South Asia. It is likely that the term tom-toms thus comes from their experiences in colonial Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) or South India. The term "tom-tom" also has variants in the Telugu and Hindi languages, but only in Sri Lanka is there an indigenous drum with the same name (thammattama). Perhaps because of Westerners' lack of experience with , the term is often misattributed to the Chinese, given that "tam-tam" in Western classical music refers to a Chinese gong.
The first American drum set toms had no rims and were usually what were referred to as "Chinese" tom toms. The pigskin heads were tacked to the wooden shells with metal tacks. Through close collaboration with Gene Krupa's concept of fully tunable toms, the Slingerland drum and banjo company were the first, in 1936, to begin offering fully tunable tom-toms (top and bottom heads) with metal or wooden rims, tension rods, and lugs. Most Chinese toms were 10 to 14 inches in diameter, but the American drum companies were eventually producing a wider range of diameters and depths. These drums were usually clamped to the bass drum rims or sat in cradles as floor stand drums. The sizes that Krupa chose became the "standard" for many decades and they were 13 × 9″ (mounted) and 16 × 16″ (floor). Later, mounted on three (or, if larger than 16 × 16″, four) legs were attached to the floor tom designs. Together with a snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, the combination of the four drums became a "set". (The term "kit" did not appear until the mid 1960s. (2025). 9781888408102, Rebeats Press. ISBN 9781888408102 (1993). 9780931759741, Centerstream Publications. ISBN 9780931759741)
Later, the mounted toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.
A basic rock configuration consists of 12" and 13" hanging toms, and a 16" floor tom with diameter × depth in inches used throughout this article. For a more detailed description of the conventions and their usage, see drum size conventions.
A basic fusion configuration refers to a set-up which has 10", 12" and 14" diameter toms. Note that these terms do not imply drum depths, so for example, the 14" in a fusion setup could have depth 10, 11, 12, or could be a 14×14 floor tom.
The terms "fusion" and "rock" are marketing terms invented by drum manufacturing companies, and there is no absolute definition for them; more a case of an accepted norm.
"FAST" sizes are 10×8, 12×9, 13×10, etc., a marketing term used by DW, although not unique to DW, but with all drum manufacturers. The "New standard" sizes - 10×9, 12×10, 13×11, etc. are 2" deeper than what was considered "standard" in the 1950s. "Power" toms are one inch deeper than standard, with sizes of 10×9 or 10×10, 12×11, 13×12, which overtook the classic setup in popularity during the 1980s. Square - 10×10, 12×12, 13×13, etc., have been common in the 1980s and 1990s. Hyperdrive are shallow depths made popular initially by Tama: 10×6.5, 12×7, 13×7.5, etc.
The term concert tom has also been used to describe double- or single-headed tom-tom drums designed for use in a concert band rather than in a drum kit.
Tom-toms can be fitted with an adjustable mounting for a floor stand, or attachment to a bass drum or marching rig. They can be single- or double-headed.
Shells are often constructed of 6–8 wood plies (often using different woods e. g. mahogany and falkata — birch or maple are commonly used for single-wood plies), solid wood (turned) or man-made materials (e. g. fibreglass, pressed steel, acrylic glass, resin-composite). Wood or composite shells can be finished by laminating in plastic in a large variety of colours and effects (e. g. sparkle or polychromatic); natural wood may be stained or left natural and painted with clear lacquer. Steel is usually chromed, fibreglass self-coloured and acrylic glass tinted or clear.
Mounting systems vary greatly, from a simple cast block on the shell which accepts and clamps to a rod attached to a clamp or holder to much more sophisticated arrangements where there is no attachment to the shell, instead a frame clamps to the tuning lugs.
Another sort of rod clamp system allows attachment of the drum to the tom holder without the need of a hole in the drum shell for the rod to pass through. The clamp is attached to the shell at the nodal point with two bolts so as to allow the shell to vibrate freely without degrading the shell's dynamic range and sustain. The nodal point is the location on a shell with the least amount of vibration allowing for the mount to have minimal effect on the resonance of the shell.
Some drummers use a snare stand to hold and to make it easier to position the tom.
| + Audio samples | ||
| 12-inch rack tom | ||
| Floor tom | ||
| See the page at Wikimedia Commons for more | ||
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