Types of Drums
There are many types of Native American drums, most with different purposes. They are made of different materials and processes. I will showcase two of the more unusual here.
Water Drum
Made from a Cypress tree, it is taken from the portion of the tree called the “knee,” or the bend in the tree. There is bark, but no branches and the “knee” is hollow. “They were put on this earth by the Creator for Indians to make drums from. When they use that drum the Creator can hear it being beaten” (Voegelin). After burning out the inside of the Cypress knee there would be charcoal and water put inside the drum when it was to be used. “Charcoal is put in the drum because charcoal stands for fire; fire and water will make anything move, but man must guide it. The fire in the drum lights everything up; the spirits and the Creator can see it” (Voegelin). Then a deerskin would be stretched over the top and usually a single drum stick would be used. (Voegelin). The Cherokee makes their water drum from a clay pot or perhaps a kettle. 1-2 inches of water is poured into the bottom and an animal skin is stretched over the top. Again played with only one drumstick, this creates a particular sound very different from other drum types (Cartee).
Peyote Drum
Used only at a Peyote meeting, these were most often made from a 3-legged No 6 cast iron pot. Inside the kettle is water, charcoal and several peyote buttons, all covered with a hide that has been well soaked in water. The skin is then tied on with 21 feet of rope,where the two ends of this rope are tied together and the rope is wrapped around 18 small round pebbles which project at intervals like knobs from under the free hanging edge of the drum head. When tied, the rope forms a star-shaped design on the bottom of the kettle. One tribe tried to use a 4-legged brass pot once, but the sound wasn’t right so they abandoned that idea. The sound it produced was “like that of beating two pieces of iron together. It didn’t give any bass at all. Brass sounds the same all the way through, but cast iron gives a good change during [the course of] a song, (Voegelin).”
