Rute

As Printed on a Score

Appears in a percussion part as a beater instruction (mit Rute, older Ruthe) or as the instrument named over a bass-drum staff; the notes are then played with a bundle of twigs on the drum’s head or shell, until the part names another beater.

Also spelled: Ruthe

How Composers Use It

A Rute is a bundle of birch twigs or thin canes; struck on the head or wooden shell of a bass drum it gives a dry, rustling crack instead of a boom. It descends from the 18th-century ‘Turkish’ bass drum, played with a heavy beater on strong beats and a switch on weak ones, and Mahler revived it in several symphonies for a rustic or military-band colour. Say which surface to strike; a multi-rod beater is the usual substitute.

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