At first glance, the tambourine may seem like a simple instrument. A single headed drum with jingles around its perimeter, the tambourine is one percussion instrument that can be found throughout the world, from North America to the Middle East . The most basic tambourine technique involves shaking the instrument from side to side, sometimes striking the hand. In a rock or pop band, the tambourine often keeps the same strict pattern throughout each song, either keeping up a steady stream of eighth notes or sixteenth notes , or falling on beats two and four. In some types of music, the tambourine may be struck on each beat or on beats one and three. In all of these more popular cases, the purpose of the tambourine is to keep the beat and encourage the audience to clap in time to the music. PHOTO: svenko.net The tambourine roll can be executed a number of ways. The percussion player may flick their wrist back and forth rapidly creating a stream of thirty-second notes or ...