Acoustics of snare drums
Thomas D. Rossing, Ingolf Bork, Huan Qi Zhao, Dell O. Fystrom · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1992
Modes of vibration, of a snare drum, as observed by holographic interferometry, impulsive modal analysis, and scanning with accelerometers, are related to vibrations of the drum heads, the shell, and the support stand. A simple two-mass model correctly describes the lowest modes of vibration, but at the higher frequencies the drum heads vibrate more or less independently. Each mode of vibration radiates sound in a characteristic pattern which may have dipole, quadrupole, and higher multipole components. The snares move in a complex way, being in contact with the snare head during part of its cycle but losing contact at a later time and returning to strike the head.