When my Mother first asked me if I would like to come to a
Drum-making workshop, I was excited at the prospect of being able to make my
own musical instrument but a part of me was thinking about 3 broken djembe
drums at school that I might possibly be able to fix myself if I attended the
workshop. Yes, you've caught me on it-an ulterior motive was lurking.
Arriving at the Scout-hut on the Sunday with my Mum, I
wasn’t sure what to expect. The workshop was run by Jambeats https://www.facebook.com/pages/JamBeats/214036119292. We met out
tutors, husband and wife team from Canvey Island in Essex who make drums and
lead drum circle workshops in Essex. I was quite surprised that there were only
4 of us on the course but you do need the amount of attention, so I understand
now. They had already bought drum frames, we all picked the size we wanted- my
Mum chose the smallest size and I chose the biggest!
Before we started, we had a sort of introduction or
meditation moment where something or other was burned and we had a moment of
quiet thought and listened to the sound of Native American flute playing.
Then we were handed our frames. We burned any small designs we wanted to go
inside the frame using the wood burning tool which I found rather difficult to
handle. I simply drew an Ichtus (Christian fish symbol) and my initial “K” and
some dots. The others all drew some sort of symbols.
The next stage was to fetch our skins. These were deer skins
from Scotland and they had already been cut to size and a long strip of skin
for the tying. These had been soaking
overnight as the skins are hard and rigid unless wet and impossible to work
with. Thus, we worked on top of an old
towel.
The skin I chose was incredibly thick, whereas the one my Mum received was very thin. Next we had to place the frame in the middle of the circular skin and measure the places to punch the holes so it reached the rim of the drum – this was complicated as the pencil marks kept rubbing away between drawing them and picking up the hole-punching tool. I struggled with the punching as the skin was so thick and the tool was quite hard to manouvere compounded with a very weak right wrist. Nonetheless,eventually I succeeded.
All three of us ladies struggled with it, but eventually got through.
The skin I chose was incredibly thick, whereas the one my Mum received was very thin. Next we had to place the frame in the middle of the circular skin and measure the places to punch the holes so it reached the rim of the drum – this was complicated as the pencil marks kept rubbing away between drawing them and picking up the hole-punching tool. I struggled with the punching as the skin was so thick and the tool was quite hard to manouvere compounded with a very weak right wrist. Nonetheless,eventually I succeeded.
All three of us ladies struggled with it, but eventually got through.
Once our holes were cut, the next stage was to stretch the long length of deer-skin that had (thankfully) already been cut for us in order to make it long enough to bind the skin to the frame. Again, this needed lots of strength in the wrists. Every so often, it was important to spray our skins with water in order that they stayed flexible and didn't dry out.
Have you ever done those maths patterns were you join dots 180 degrees across a circle with lines and then move onto the next pair of dots to make a pattern? threading the skin through the hole was just like this.
It felt rather strange to think I was handling a large damp deer skin.
Eventually all holes were connected with the skin.
The next stage was to tighten the skin, going round from the beginning hole to the end, round and round, tightening it more each time. This took a good 40minutes or more- it's surprising how there is always more give in the skin and it's important your skin is nice and tight to ensure the drum has a good tone.
I did need a bit of help with this part as my wrists were aching lots by now and my right wrist seizes up all the time- a lot of strength was needed.
The next stage was to bind three strings in 90 degree angle together, this involved wrapping the remaining string around the sttrings and going back to the top.
Here you can see when I had bound three quarters of the cords/strings together
You had to ensure that the cross that you made (for holding the drum to play it, like a bodhran) was a comfortable size for YOUR specific hand as it would be awful to make your own personal drum that hurts you hand because it is too big/small.
After tying your final cord, the next stage was to neaten up the edges since the skin will dry in the messy looking position unless you tame/train it to tuck itself against the wood. We did this by gently banging drawing pins into the skin (these would be taken out a few days after the workshop)
Here's Mum hammering.
You can see the detail of my skin here- there was a clear outline of the vertebrae of the deer. I'm sorry to any vegetarians but apparently, most of these deer skins are just chucked away unless a tanner will take them and 'process' them. The tanning is the part which adds considerably to the cost of a possibly free deer skin. My teacher is currently learning tanning skills.
The drum was left to dry.
The next stage was to make a beater. We were each given a silver birch stick which had been debarked. Our teachers always make sure that their sticks/wood are always 'windfalls' as it were and these came from a holiday in Cumbria apparently.
You can see a piece of red suede which was already cut and sewn into a little boxing glove shape for us. They tend to search for suede and leather items in charity shops which can be cut up for their drum workshops so I like the fact they are trying to be sustainable.
We sanded any rough bits from the stick and then began stuffing wadding into the 'glove' whilst stuffing the stick in to get it in the correct position. You had to really stuff it tight in order to make a nice solid beater
After applying a little superglue to seal the edges of the glove to the beater stick, we wrapped waxed cord around the beater to secure it.
As a final cosmetic detail, we used the wood burner to add detail to our stick. I tried to start making an attractive chevron and dot pattern which due to my inability to use the tool properly, became rather messy. I also put a cheeky K on the very end of the stick.Wish I'd tried to draw a dalek!
And here you can see my finished drum and beater. Oh how I wish I could have played it BUT it was important to let the drum dry out of natural light for 3 weeks, turning it to ensure every surface and piece of skin got completely dry.
And here we all were with our drums!
I honestly didn't realise it would be such an incredible experience- I actually felt quite emotional about it- I feel completely hippy saying this but the connection you made to this instrument through making it is amazing.
And finally, here is the sound of my beautiful drum. I think she needs a name.
xxx
I did need a bit of help with this part as my wrists were aching lots by now and my right wrist seizes up all the time- a lot of strength was needed.
The next stage was to bind three strings in 90 degree angle together, this involved wrapping the remaining string around the sttrings and going back to the top.
Here you can see when I had bound three quarters of the cords/strings together
You had to ensure that the cross that you made (for holding the drum to play it, like a bodhran) was a comfortable size for YOUR specific hand as it would be awful to make your own personal drum that hurts you hand because it is too big/small.
After tying your final cord, the next stage was to neaten up the edges since the skin will dry in the messy looking position unless you tame/train it to tuck itself against the wood. We did this by gently banging drawing pins into the skin (these would be taken out a few days after the workshop)
Here's Mum hammering.
You can see the detail of my skin here- there was a clear outline of the vertebrae of the deer. I'm sorry to any vegetarians but apparently, most of these deer skins are just chucked away unless a tanner will take them and 'process' them. The tanning is the part which adds considerably to the cost of a possibly free deer skin. My teacher is currently learning tanning skills.
The drum was left to dry.
The next stage was to make a beater. We were each given a silver birch stick which had been debarked. Our teachers always make sure that their sticks/wood are always 'windfalls' as it were and these came from a holiday in Cumbria apparently.
You can see a piece of red suede which was already cut and sewn into a little boxing glove shape for us. They tend to search for suede and leather items in charity shops which can be cut up for their drum workshops so I like the fact they are trying to be sustainable.
We sanded any rough bits from the stick and then began stuffing wadding into the 'glove' whilst stuffing the stick in to get it in the correct position. You had to really stuff it tight in order to make a nice solid beater
After applying a little superglue to seal the edges of the glove to the beater stick, we wrapped waxed cord around the beater to secure it.
As a final cosmetic detail, we used the wood burner to add detail to our stick. I tried to start making an attractive chevron and dot pattern which due to my inability to use the tool properly, became rather messy. I also put a cheeky K on the very end of the stick.Wish I'd tried to draw a dalek!
And here you can see my finished drum and beater. Oh how I wish I could have played it BUT it was important to let the drum dry out of natural light for 3 weeks, turning it to ensure every surface and piece of skin got completely dry.
And here we all were with our drums!
I honestly didn't realise it would be such an incredible experience- I actually felt quite emotional about it- I feel completely hippy saying this but the connection you made to this instrument through making it is amazing.
And finally, here is the sound of my beautiful drum. I think she needs a name.
There's an irritating buzz on the video- there are still a few drawing pins stuck in-hoping it is them!
xxx
