Tongue Drums

Idiophones are one of the oldest types of musical instruments based on archaeological finds. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors throughout Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania carved or constructed these instruments out of bamboo or wood. These “slit drums” look like a box and have one or more slits on the top. Two examples of this type of instrument are the African log drum and the Aztec teponaztli drum, the oldest ancestors of the tongue drum.