A Drum is Born

On Saturday, I had the privilege of attending a drum birthing workshop with wonderful, local shamanic drummer and practitioner, Sally Smiles.

I’ve never made my own drum before but I knew it would be special.

The day started with Sally creating a beautiful sacred space for us by calling in the elements and the directions. There was a lovely altar and she had brought with her a herbal smudge stick I had given her, made with local herbs I’d gathered at the Summer Solstice, which was so lovely!

Once we were held within the sacred circle, we chose our drum hoop sizes and hides. The animal hides were treated with utmost reverence. I spent a large part of my younger years following a vegan diet/lifestyle and my diet is predominantly vegetarian now, so the idea of animal skin drums is not something I take lightly or for granted. I gave it a lot of thought before deciding I wanted to and would be able to work with animal hide, as all my other drums are all synthetic.

These days I feel more strongly that I want to prioritise the use of 100% natural, ethical, recyclable materials as much as possible in whatever I do, buy or create – materials that come from and can be returned to the Earth with respect and reciprocity.

These hides are ethically sourced and the animals are honoured and the drum is made in partnership with the animal as well as the spirit of the drum that will come forward.

This quote from author Paul Beyerl encapsulates my own feelings about working with animal hide:

“Leather is a gift of the creatures of the Earth. It represents the physical existence, the body. The body is the temple for the soul, and must be treated with reverence. Leather is the exterior of the temple within. Making an amulet of leather [or equally as here, a drum…] is not to be lightly undertaken, for it is a symbol of the wisdom of being at one with all creatures. It represents life… and it also represents death… Two of the most powerful mysteries of all being.”

This in between, liminal place representing life and death feels so appropriate for shamanic drum journeying.

I had always wondered why the phrase drum ‘birthing’ was used for frame drum making and now I understand! It really did feel as though you are helping to bring something special and new into being. This especially makes sense from the shamanic, animist point of view that the hide is still carrying the essence and spirit of the animal, as well as the spirit of the drum that is coming into form.

Sally told us that the process of drum birthing has the ability to bring up and mirror aspects of ourselves as we create with it. She said inner child aspects can come up and it was so interesting how just quickly I could see what she meant!

Within a few minutes of having to mark and cut the hide, I could feel all my habitual fears of making a mistake rear up. Fears of ‘getting it wrong’ started to surface and I found myself ‘freezing’ rather than cutting. I was checking and double checking my marks, not having the confidence to move forward and trust myself to cut it out. I couldn’t believe how quickly I was being shown my fears and shadow self!

With Sally’s encouragement and intuitive process we were guided step by step until we had our drum heads cut, the eyelets stamped out, and all the lacing cut out in long strips from the same piece of hide, connecting to the spirit of the drum to come, ourselves and the sacredness of the hide for the whole process.

The next stage was where the big lesson began for me. I hadn’t realised how strenuous drum making would be, which was a bit of a silly oversight! The hide was wet and heavy and after lacing loosely, we then had to pull it tighter and tighter around the hoop.

As I have fibromyalgia, I realised after a while that I didn’t quite have the strength required to pull the lacing taut enough. I currently have some inflammation in my shoulder too and I was soon feeling pain traveling down my arms and I could feel my energy levels fading as I worked. Not wanting to cause a fuss or be any trouble, I pushed on, forgetting to connect to the drum at that point, focussing only on myself and pushing through what I felt was my own weakness.

That’s when the drum stepped in with an important lesson: As I pulled the lacing as tight as I could, stretching myself beyond the capacity I had, an eyelet snapped!

I instantly felt the fear of having made a ‘mistake’ rise up. Sally reassured me it was no problem at all and offered to show the group how to skilfully and invisibly repair it. As she unlaced the drum I realised I didn’t have enough energy or strength left to re-lace it and pull it all taut again. So the message from the drum become very clear: I needed to stop and ask for help!

I had ignored my needs and pushed through, over-stretching my body, overriding self-compassion and the drum mirrored that and snapped, forcing me to stop, literally snapping me out of it!

I was marvelling at how profound and helpful a teacher the drum already was! I was so glad that Sally was willing and able to finish my drum for me while I watched her work and connected to the drum with gratitude for its teaching.

I had brought a special stone from the Malvern Hills with me to the workshop. It’s a dark piece of pillow lava that always feels very grounding and as though it contains ancient, ancestral wisdom.

Sally skilfully wove its unusual shape into the centre for me. The shape of the stone also reminds me of the form of the hills themselves and the beautiful view I have of them from my window at home.

The very last job was cutting the last bits of lacing from the finished handle. This felt like a ceremonial cutting of the ‘umbilical cord’, now the drum was fully formed and in the world!

After the drums were all finished, Sally rattled for us, to journey to meet the spirit of our drums. This is an ongoing process of connection and this was first step on our journey to working with the drum.

In part of my journey I was surprised (always a very good sign in a journey I think!) to find myself at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. A chestnut horse was drinking from the river there. There were caves behind us that I knew went far and deep into the rocks. Then a clear message: “There is work to do together.” The symbolism of the bottom of the canyon, the water, many caves leading off – felt very clear to me about ‘exploring depths’.

The drum will take two weeks to dry completely before it can be played and will keep transforming as it dries. There were so many interesting shapes and patterns in the hide when it was wet. It is currently a beautiful amber colour and all the lacing has completely shrunk and stiffened. It will continue to shape-shift until it is ready.

It was such a special day and I was lucky enough to share it with two lovely ladies and I’m so grateful to Sally for her beautiful space-holding, teaching, guidance and assistance so my drum could be born!

If you’re in and around Worcester and would like to find out about drum birthing and the lovely drum and plant spirit circles Sally holds, do visit her website at www.sallysmiles.co.uk

I’m really excited to play my drum for the first time at Samhain and to use it for some of my Reiki Drum sessions.