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Andrea for Zerotodrum.com has written an article about Native American Drumming. It’s a fantastic read and posted below is an excerpt from the article. There is a link below to read the full article.
Zerotodrum:
Whenever we talk about Native American Music, the first thing that comes to our mind is the sounds made from their drums. Residents are very enthusiastic about the instruments because, besides being musical instruments, they are also spiritual guardians, a reference to their past, and a living custom.
Native Americans are drumbeat lovers. The chants and the songs that go along with drumming bring people together, creating an ideal environment for passing stories. Indigenous people played drums in powwows (celebratory gatherings), religious ceremonies, and spiritual events for thousands of years.
Residents believed that the drums’ sounds resembled the heartbeat of humans and Mother Earth. It’s clear to us that to Native American people, drum-beating is more than playing music.
Native American Drums History
Different tribes play various instruments during celebratory gatherings and religious functions. Even so, drums beat them all!
In Native American history, music has played a significant part in tribes’ socialization, storytelling, and spiritual meditation engagements.
Low beats are an essential feature within these practices, helping to accompany the communication, and Native American drums are ideal for this purpose.
The history of the use of drums by Native Americans is so vast that one can’t pinpoint when they were made or used for the first time—even the archaeological evidence talks of thousands of years.
In history, Native American drums involve various indigenous people and tribes with different traditions. For decades, natives have employed drums in sharing their stories, entertainment, trance induction, and medication.
Furthermore, the custom of healing ceremonies has been there for decades, and they are among the most exciting drumming practices in Native American communities. These tribes that beat drums would ease communication with their gods, and consequently, their healing requests and prayers would have an instant answer.
The famous Native American instrument, struck idiophone, is a teponaztli log drum consisting of a wooden frame or a hollowed-out log (carved) and hides from buffalo, elk, horse, or deer. The animal skin is tightly stretched by sinew thongs across the opening. The diameter of these drums is usually 2-3 feet. Their hollow and carved parts produce different tones. While the hides are soaked in water, the hollowed-out logs are cut into suitable sizes to form the drum’s frame or base. They are played using sticks or hands. Eight men handle the construction of a Native American drum.
These instruments are played in a gathering where participants sit or stand in circular formations known as Native American drumming circles. They could be a few or thousands.
Full article: HERE