Rute (music)

The rute (also spelled ruthe, from the German for 'rod' or 'switch') is a beater for drums. Commercially-made rutes are usually made of a bundle of thin birch dowels or thin canes attached to a drumstick handle. These often have a movable band to adjust how tightly the dowels are bound toward the tip. A rute may also be made of a bundle of twigs attached to a drumstick handle. These types of rutes are used for a variety of effects with various musical ensembles. A rute may also be a cylindrical bunch of pieces of cane or twigs, bound at one end, like a small besom without a handle, and used to play on the shell of the bass drum in an orchestra. The rute is rarely called for in the standard repertoire but Gustav Mahler used it for several of his symphonies.

The Rute stick for Drum Ki9t is produced by most major Drum Stick manufacturers such as Vic Firth, Vater and Pro-Mark.

Holding the Beater

The Rute stick is held in the same way as a Drum stick, and therefore is usually held either with a Matched grip, or a Traditional grip. The "handle" of the rute is the plastic area, as the drum of cymbal is struck with the wooden "rutes" or bundles of wooden stick.

External links

* [http://www.vicfirth.com/products/brushes.html A page with rutes for sale]