Tam-tam

As Printed on a Score

Labels the tam-tam line (Tam-tam, Tamtam; T.-t. later), on a single line. Because the sound swells after the stroke and lasts many seconds, parts often add l.v. or a tie into empty space, and an explicit damping instruction where the sound must stop.

Abbreviations: T.-t., Tam-t.

Also spelled: Tamtam, Tam tam, Tamtams

How Composers Use It

A large, flat bronze disc of no definite pitch whose roar builds after it is struck and dies very slowly, so a single soft stroke can darken a whole passage. In Romantic scores it carries death and solemnity: Tchaikovsky marks the coda of the Pathétique’s finale with one soft stroke. Specify the beater and dynamic and leave room for the decay; many scores write gong when they mean this instrument.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement (Trauermarsch), staff label: “Tamtam.” — the unhyphenated spelling usual in German scores, printed in full on later systems too.

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