Stuff Around My Home -- Hoop Drum

I made this hoop drum in Winnipeg in the summer of 1997, about six months before I moved to Edmonton. A local feminist artist and respected indigenous elder, Mae Louise Campbell, facilitated a women's drumming circle with which I drummed for a couple of years. Every once in awhile, she would host a workshop where we could each make our own drum and drumstick.

My drum is made out of deer hide which, of course, was sopping wet during the process in order to be pliable. From the round edge of the large circular hide, we cut long thin strips which became our lacing cords. Then, using an awl and hammer, we punched out a specified number of holes at even spaces around the hide's edge.

Mae Louise then showed us how to lace and secure the hide to the wooden hoop around which it was stretched. This part of the process took the longest and was the most difficult to do. My work was a little uneven but it got the job done, LOL!

Here's what the back of my drum looks like -- 

The wooden hoop inside the drum is cedar from British Columbia. It's the most expensive hoop material to use but it is the best because it will never, ever warp. Other woods can (and often do) warp from the wetness and then your drum is ruined once dry. Here's a view of the cedar hoop --

Every step of the drum-making process was accompanied with smudging and other rituals to honour the deer, the cedar, the completed drum, life, and ourselves as makers and drummers. In the final ritual, we scattered loose tobacco on top of the wet drumhead to honour the drum. The tobacco remained there until the drum was fully dry about a week later. Once removed, small permanent brown stains remain on the drumhead, indicating that it is a sacred drum used for spiritual drumming.

We also constructed a drumstick out of a peeled red willow branch and a suede leather pouch stuffed with cotton and glue. On my own later, I added the decorative suede thongs on the drumstick's head and handle, finishing off each one with blue-and-white pony beads. As you can see in the previous photos, I added similar suede and bead accents to the four cardinal points of the drum itself. Some women painted their drumheads when dry, but I left mine in its natural state so as to keep the tobacco marks visible.

I've had many years of enjoyable drumming with this drum in a variety of settings -- various drumming circles (pagan or otherwise), Earth Day drumming circles, shamanic drumming, and on one memorable night, a candlelit labyrinth walk. My drum got its most regular use, of course, during the thirteen years I facilitated my own women's spirituality drumming circle here in Edmonton. Although that drumming circle is in the past now, I still drum with my personal drum every now and then on special occasions.

Oh, and when I do have to transport my drum to an event, here is its large tote bag!

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, May 2021]