Abstract: Percussion instrument including a tensioning mechanism for the head, comprising a number of threaded bushings mounted about the periphery of the instrument wall, each with a screw adjustable therein acting on a hoop holding the skins; each bushing has on its circumference a tangential slot which a peripheral section of a spring ring engages under tension; each screw has on its shank a peripheral catch surface for that peripheral section of the spring ring which lies in the slot of the bushing.