The Brazilian samba tamborim has evolved from a quadrangular drum with a skin head, and no jingles. This little 6" samba frame drum can be made of metal, wood or plastic and is played with a special flexible stick called a vareta or baqueta.

In samba school baterias the tamborim is used to highlight the strongest parts of a tune, providing punctuation for the melody. It is used widely in other types of Brazilian percussion and is very popular in childrens samba bands and groups.

Today in modern samba bands tamborins have a synthetic head and metal or synthetic body, creating a high piercing sound which can be heard over the other drums of a samba band. Wooden tamborins are still used in small group settings but they are heavier and have a less cutting sound, and we do not recommend them for use in lar ge drum ensembles. Wooden tamborims are best with hide skins, sounding very mellow (though quiet!) and ar great for stage work in small samba groups.

. Inferior tamborins can be bought (though not from us) with the lugs hooked around the tamborim, but this type of tamborim can only be tuned up a finite number of times before the clips start to seperate. Go for bolts.