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The drum is a deep and sacred part of Native American culture. The beat of the drum is in sync with the heartbeat of mother earth. It is the healing rhythm that we hear when singing, dancing, or walking through the world. The round form of the drum represents the circle of life and the whole universe. Its steady strong beat is the pulse, or the heartbeat, at the center of our world.
Perhaps no other people have attached a greater significance to the spirit of the drum than the Indian tribes of North America. The drum has played an inherent role in the lives of Native Americans for centuries. prior to battle, the beat of the drum aroused a sense of strength and solidarity. in gatherings of celebration, it created a sense of social and spiritual harmony. The Indian Nations continue to express their deep spiritual awareness through ceremonial dances accompanied by the resonant pulsation of the drum.
Different tribes have different traditions about their drums and how to play them. For larger dance or powwow type drums, the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with rawhide buckskin or elk skin stretched out across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of singers who sit around them in a circle. For smaller single-sided hand drums, a thinner frame or shell is used, and a rawhide surface is string onto only one side, with lacing across the other. |
