At the time the first edition of this book appeared in 1980, it was difficult to find appropriate drums for shamanic work. One of the few types of suitable drums that could be easily obtained was the two-headed Taos Indian type from New Mexico, made from a hollowed-out cottonwood log and covered with rawhide. This is the kind shown in the preceding illustrations. Although heavy and cumbersome, it is the type I occasionally still use to obtain a deep tone.
Drums
Today drums suitable for shamanic work are much more readily available, including many excellent ones that resemble the classic shamanic drums of Siberia and the Northwest Coast of North America. These are lightweight, round frame drums with a single head, held in one hand. They are easy to support when standing, moving, or drumming for a long period of time, and often have more resonance indoors than the double-headed Taos drums. These are the ones I recommend for your use, and they are the ones I also mainly use myself. I suggest single-headed round frame drums that are 16” to 17” in diameter. They are large enough to provide adequate volume, but not so large as to be too heavy to support with one arm for an extended time.
Of these single-headed round frame drums, there are two basic kinds: (I) those with a synthetic, or mylar, head; and (2) those with a traditional rawhide or leather head. The mylar-covered single-headed round frame drum is relatively inexpensive, widely-available, and a good beginning drum. Also its head is relatively unaffected by changes in temperature and humidity, unlike skin-covered drums.
The mylar-headed drum is manufactured under the label, “REMO Pre-Tuned Hand Drum,” and can be ordered through most musical instrument stores in North America. I recommend the 16” one (#PTS 8516 HD). You will need to drill 4 to 6 holes in the frame and pass a leather thong or cord back and forth between the holes to create a “web” to grasp with one hand. This improves the resonance. As a beater, I suggest a tympani mallet, such as the “Sonor 8,” also available through musical instrument stores.
As you become more experienced in shamanic work, you may wish to obtain a more expensive rawhide or leather-covered single-headed round frame drum. Unlike the mylar-headed type, this kind of drum should be protected from excessive heat, dryness, and extreme moisture. It is a good idea to consult the maker on the specific care of such a drum. Many craftspersons now construct them, and a list of them can be obtained from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies at the address given below.
If you enjoy working with your hands, you may eventually wish to make your own drum. To guide you in this, I highly recommend the paperback book, How to Make Drums, Tomtoms and Rattles: Primitive Percussion Instruments for Modern Use by Bernard S. Mason, published by Dover Publications, 180 Varick Street, New York, New York 10014.
Rattles
The Hopi, Zuni, and Rio Grande Puebloan peoples of the Southwestern United States make excellent, beautifully decorated rattles from dried gourds. These can usually be found for sale in Native American crafts stores in Santa Fe, New Mexico. An easier and less expensive way to get a rattle is through your local musical instrument store. I recommend the “Professional Maraca” (LP 281), manufactured by Latin Percussion. Although made of plastic and not particularly attractive, it is superior to the majority of commercially-sold maracas, having the strong, sharp sound of many tribal shaman’s rattles.
If you wish to make a rattle, you can cut the narrow end off a gourd, put in very small pebbles, glass beads, or bird shot, and epoxy a wooden handle onto the gourd. The book by Mason, mentioned above, can provide you with additional advice. If you wish to grow your own, seeds for a wide variety of gourds are listed in the catalog of the Park Seed Company, Greenwood, South Carolina 20647.
Drumming Cassettes
Drumming cassettes, if specifically created for shamanic journeying, can provide excellent sonic support when properly used. A single side of a cassette, for example, can furnish half an hour of journeying time, a substantially longer period than live drumming usually lasts.
I first developed a drumming tape in 1979 to help readers of the 1980 edition of this book who lacked drums. However, I never expected the cassette to be as effective as a live drum. Then, in the early 1980s, while working with shamanic counseling clients using the tape, I discovered an improved way to journey with the drumming tape, a technique now called “simultaneous narration.” In this method, the recumbent journeyer, with eyes covered in a darkened room, and playing the drumming tape through headphones, describes the journey aloud simultaneously as he or she experiences it. Surprisingly, the technique usually makes journeying easier and often at least twice as vivid as when the person simply remains silent.
A supplementary innovation is for the journeyer to wear a lapel microphone connected to a tape recorder (separate from the tape player providing the drumming through headphones) and to make a recording of the simultaneous narration. This not only provides the person with a permanent taped record of the journey experience, but also permits an immediate review and analysis of the experience and of the information gained. Workshops and courses providing training in this method are given by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in its Shamanic Counseling Training programs (see below).
In my experience, using headphones to obtain this sonic driving input is generally more effective than employing a speaker system, and is less disturbing to housemates and neighbors. In addition, headphones are essential if the simultaneous narration technique is used, since the sound of speakers tends to drown out the recording of the narration.
The classic cassette for use with this book is Drumming for the Shamanic Journey, produced by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and available from the Foundation or book stores carrying New Age music. The drumming cassette should be used with stereo cassette players having the Dolby noise reduction system to reduce hiss, which can be distracting when journeying. The Foundation cassettes have the callback signal, described for live drumming in this book, at the end of the approximately one-half hour that constitutes one side. If only a fifteen-minute journey is desired, simply start the tape midway in order to get the callback signal.
The Foundation also has available high-quality compact discs and shamanic journey drumming.
Shamanic Training Workshops and Programs
If you wish to obtain first-hand training in shamanism and shamanic healing, a schedule of workshops and training programs given by me and my associates at various locations in the United States and elsewhere is available from:
The Foundation for Shamanic Studies
P.O. Box 1939
Mill Valley, California 94942
Telephone: (415) 380-8282
This non-profit organization also supports—with the income from workshops, memberships, and donations—programs to preserve, transmit, and apply shamanic knowledge to contemporary problems of the Planet. These programs include Urgent Tribal Assistance (UTA), Shamanism and Health (SAH), and Shamanism for Healing the Earth (SHE).