Shamanic Music - Shaman's Drum

Shaman's Drum

The single headed frame drum is widely used in shamanic ritual, often with metallic ritual objects dangling inside, held by an interior wooden cross-piece, and played with a special beater that may also itself be a rattle. The drum will be made of consecrated materials, a specially chosen tree and the skin of a carefully chosen animal, sometimes by a specialist drum-maker. It will also have been 'enlivened' usually by a more powerful shaman so as to give it its spiritual properties. The head is sometimes decorated with a graphic typically representing the division of the cosmos into upper, middle and lower worlds. A shamanic ritual often begins with heating the drum head over a fire to bring it up to the desired pitch. A number of theories have been advanced to explain the importance of percussion in ritual music in general. One line of explanation is psychoacoustic, whereby the tempo of the drum enables the Shaman to enter the desired brain wave state, which corresponds to the number of beats per second of the drum. However, in the case of shamanism, it seems that the portable drum is highly suited for a performance in which action and gesture are the top line. The physical gesture of playing the drum is often integrated into a shamanic dance. For this reason the drumming is not restricted to regular tempo but may speed up and slow down with irregular accents. In some regions, the skin of a shaman's drum should be cut after his/her death. In others, not.