A Month of Love: Drums

I have fond and not so fond memories surrounding each of my drums. Fond includes the joy I experience when drumming. Not-so-fond includes the process of choosing the hide and in the case of my Buffalo Hide Drum, the stringing.

My first - untreated deer hide - see the picture?

How to make a drum? First you get a hide. My first drum had an untreated deer hide. What that meant was it wasn’t bleached so when wet (which is an essential part of drum making) it smelled. And that would still be true if it got wet.

The night before you want to make your drum, you soak it. Back then I had a bathtub. OMG: the next morning the house smelled like wet deer hide (think wet doggy smell permeating your entire house).

My elk hide drum painted by Heather Jeffris

Since I was making this drum with the other women in my circle, I managed to get my hide into a large plastic bag and out to the car. Wet hides are Heavy! Driving with my windows down (you can guess why), I made it the thirty minute drive to our meeting place.

What followed was the process of making a drum. We each had a wooden frame, marked and cut the hide to fit the frame plus a couple of inches. Next came making the “string” which entailed cutting the hide into a long, narrow strip – yards long!

Buffalo hide drum

After punching the holes in the hide at the prescribed intervals, we began the stringing process. The first time we do anything has its challenges and this was no exception. Finishing the stringing, making the handhold did not mean the drum was complete.

It had to dry. The hide stretch tight across the frame before the true sound of the drum come to life.

Since that first drum, I’ve made several more.

I’ve an elk hide drum and that hide was large enough that my friend and I both have a drum from the same hide.

I’ve a horse hide drum and, again, my friend and I have drums from the same hide. 

Horse - my great granddaughter's favorite

The last drum I made for myself was the Buffalo Hide Drum. My friend and I shared the hide and the drum making process. Our buffalo hide was thick and the holes closed up almost as fast as we made them. By the time we finished our hands were swollen but we were elated (although swore we’d never make another drum from buffalo hide).

My buffalo drum between the elk hide drums of my granddaughters

My granddaughters have drums made from the same deer hide. My best friend in Ohio made a drum from the same elk hide (we got 3 drums out of that one hide) as mine. I’ve had one drum painted by one of my circle sisters. The drum I take to Ceremonies and that gets played the most is my horse drum. It has the deepest tone and is also the biggest.

Sometimes there is no better medicine than picking up a drum and just beating it as hard or soft, as fast or slow as we want until whatever drove me to start in the first place is gone.

For other ideas of how healing drums can be, check out Hunter: The Dancer and The Drum. Hunter has learned that for her movement and the beat of a drum helps her find answers to problems and thus peace of mind.

What instrument or music helps soothe you in times of trouble?

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