Yes yesterdays picture was of my hand drum. I made it two summers ago under the teachings of Mary Lou Smoke. It is a 12 sided drum, so made of 12 pieces of wood, rawhide, and artificial sinew. The wood for these drums needs to be sanded by hand, and rubbed with bear grease for protection. The rawhide is soaked and applied to the wooden frame wet, and then sewn by hand to pull it tight for drying. This one does have a dream catcher type background complete with bellybutton and umbilical cord. Each drum sounds as unique as its creator. Each piece was individually smudged during assembly and then activated, given its voice, by ceremony. It was a very moving experience as a group of women gave voice to their drums.
Here is Mary Lou singing the Water Song which we sang during our drum making. (This video does nothing for the sound of the drum tho thats gets lost in recording) My children love this song!!! Anytime we are doing a repetitive task this song appears to make the time pass. I can remember stringing electric fencing with my DD and singing at the top of our lungs out in the fields...and last week while doing dishes.
The first song I sang on my own for the group was this one...
3 comments:
SO cool thanks for sharing.
What a lovely drum and the story on how it is crafted and given a voice is beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us. I listened to both videos. I can't help myself but I become emotional when I listen to native music. It must be my ancestors pulling on my heart. I have always wanted to explore my native side - sounds like you have.
Wow, it's beautiful! I was going to guess dream catcher when I saw the first pic. Wonderful job on making it, wow, very cool :)
Post a Comment