The Complete Dümbek:
A Comprehensive Resource on
Origins, Acoustics, and Playing Techniques

The Complete Dümbek begins with an exploration of the origins and history of this versatile drum, citing archeological evidence from numerous authoritative sources. This impressive guide investigates the traditional and modern cultural perspective of the dümbek from ancient to modern times, and the spread of the dümbek via diasporas of Armenian, Lebanese, and Arab peoples. A brief analysis of the development of the presence and use of the dümbek in musical ensembles, development of the live ensemble for dance, turn-of-the-century bands, and café ensembles, concludes the discussion on origins and context.

The second section of The Complete Dümbek explores the various shapes, models, and physical characteristics of this instrument from the archaic Egyptian dümbek, to the central Asian Altai dümbek, the southeast Asian thon, and the Persian tombak (or zarb). The dümbek in the current era includes Orientalist drums, Turkish concave dümbeks, Afghanistan zirabaghali, and modern metallic and synthetic dümbeks.

This section also includes a discourse on the acoustics of the physical drum. A resonance-tuned musical instrument, the physical components of the dümbek influence its sound. The theory and mechanism of vibration, including pitch and tone color of the dümbek, are discussed. The instrument’s overall acoustical interaction—performance space acoustics, drumhead, bearing edge, and resonator and draft tube generative shapes—is analyzed. A survey of drumheads—the materials of which they are made (organic and synthetic), varieties and tones, pitches and timbres, affixation methods, tuning, maintenance, and modifications—is investigated, along with the material aspects of the parts of the drum body, including methods of construction.

An extensive discourse on choosing a drum and playing techniques—
including holding/playing positions; hand placement; tonal zones; a primer on rhythm theory; and a section on developing rhythm skills for performance playing, including a drum-note lexicon and a compendium of rhythms from the Greater Middle East with details on the provenance and variations (with citations)—rounds out the book.

The Complete Dümbek includes comprehensive appendices encompassing a rhythmic skills notation guide, historical timeline, list of alternate names for the instrument, an instrument collection, and detailed endnotes for further study and research. Includes a complete bibliography, glossary, index, and audio-visual resources.

Richard Adrian Steiger has been a musician since 1966, and earned his M.A. in ethnomusicology from San Diego State University in 1988. Richard studied and performed Balinese, Javanese, Sumatran, and North and South Indian music with master musicians from each of these cultures. Between 1975 and 1986, he worked with the Indian fusion ensemble Thakara, and was in the microtonal instrument Harry Partch Ensemble with Danlee Mitchell. Beginning in 1981, he began learning and playing music in the Iranian community in San Diego, continuing into the present.

Richard Adrian Steiger has also performed with the Rinaldi String Quartet (’89–91), the John Kaizan Neptune Ensemble (’92), Suddenly Finnish (’94), and for Titanya Dahlin’s Scheherazade: The Veil Behind the Blade (1998, 2005). He performed at venues as diverse as the ASID 1996 showcase, San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, La Jolla Museum of Modern Art, Hotel del Coronado, La Jolla Cove Lawn, Irvine’s Persian Yalda, San Diego State University, UCLA, UCSD, InCarnation, Paramount Ranch, the SD Japanese Friendship Gardens, and twice in Oklahoma City (including Iranian New Year at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame). He rejoined the SDSU Javanese gamelan for the A Night at the Kraton extravaganza at UCLA in 1994. During 2000 and 2001, he performed with the traditional Persian ensemble, Darvak, at Pomona College, SDSU, and USD. He also drummed on the limited-edition Darvak 2000 CD Homayoun/Afshari by Farhad Bahrami. Richard also worked as a recording engineer and mixer, and performed on the Mystic Renaissance and Fhantom Love Hoard projects. First broadcast January 12TH 2001, Richard served as musical advisor and is featured in the video production Belly Dancing in America, produced by Tim Wayne, for Cox Cable public access programming.

Richard is an accomplished sound recording engineer and has composed several electronic-music CDs. Richard currently works as a drum accompanist for belly dancers in the southern California region. He lectures and writes informational articles for several publications, including an article with Marguerite Kusuhara in Habibi Journal (19:2, 2002). Richard also teaches drumming (since January of 2003) at the Muzik/Muzik store in El Cajon, CA.