How to Make Drums, Tomtoms and Rattles by Bernard Mason

Author:Bernard Mason [Mason, Bernard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486156064
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-11T04:00:00+00:00

Fig. 61—Detail of hanger for the Dream-dance Drum.

When finished the four sticks are placed side by side and lashed together securely, then placed under water and allowed to soak for twenty-four hours. Thus soaked they will bend easily—the best way to accomplish this is to drive two stout, short poles in the ground a foot apart, place the ends of the bound sticks against one pole and pull the sticks against the other pole until the desired amount of curve has been produced, then drive another pole in the ground near the other end to hold them in this position. After remaining thus for twenty-four hours or until thoroughly dry, the curve will be permanently fixed. Figure 61 indicates the distance the poles should be bent.

Smooth up the curved sticks with sandpaper and they are ready for the beading. The beads are merely strung on a thread and wrapped around the stick so as to cover it solidly—there should be yellow beads for a distance of six inches at the end, then four-inch sections of each of the following colors in turn: blue, green, red, white. Below the white beading and just above the notch there is a four-inch section that is wrapped with one-inch strips of the blue and red cloth used in the skirt.

At the end of each curved stick a white-and-black tipped eagle feather is attached. The quill ends of the feathers are prepared with a leather strip covered with colored wool cloth as shown in D, Figure 61, following the same plan as used in preparing feathers for a headdress. Two are wrapped with blue cloth for the blue side of the drum, and two with red for the red side. They are then tied to the end of the stick with string so as to hang down and blow in the breeze. Occasionally one sees one of these drum hangers with the eagle feathers set up on top of the sticks so that they stand erect. In this case the feather is attached in a little wooden tube as for use on a roach and the tube attached to the top of the curved standard. The more common practice is to allow the feathers to hang down as in Figure 61.

The two-by-fours in the bottom frame are twenty-seven and a half inches long, each having a section cut out at the center one inch deep and four inches wide so that the two pieces will fit together without the use of nails, and can be separated for convenient storing when not in use. A hole is bored two and three-quarters inches from each end to receive the upright. Half of this two-by-four frame is painted blue for the blue half of the drum and the other half red for the red side of the drum.

If the hangers are made to the dimensions stated, and the handles are of such length that they extend two and one-half inches above the drum, the top of the drum should hang at the proper distance above the floor—sixteen to seventeen inches.

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