Drumming

The Grandfather Pow wow drum and the original deer drum on a dewy morning beneath the majestic Whitehorse Mountain, in the Cascade range of Washington State. The drums sit below our former home of two years, where the drums were heard echoing across the valley.

The Magic Grandfather Drum

We have a 40x42 inch grandfather pow wow drum, made of cow hide, a 24" buffalo pow wow drum and a 22" cow pow wow drum along with numerous hand drums. We also have many cow and buffalo rattles that we bring to events, hosted by others or at homes we have lived in. I say homes plural as we have been a very nomadic clan in the past 20 years and the drums have been in many states to share their energies.. No one has ever walked away from drumming with the grandfather drum unaffected. We can only describe the reason for this as Magic. We have had the pleasure of this magic in our family since late 1989 and it is a gift for us to be able to share it.

Honoring the Cow

We in the western world have used the cow to nourish ourselves, with no thought of the service cow provided, in spite of our inhumane treatment of them. The cow, however, has been honored in the eastern cultures and they continue to come to us in unlimited numbers. They are the ultimate servants to humankind. They willingly sacrifice themselves for us. We are now given the opportunity to honor cow through the drum. When buffalo were no longer honored, they stopped incarnating here. Now, as man remembers the specialness of the buffalo's gifts, they are increasing in number once again. Our pow wow drums of cow and buffalo were created to bring unity. Cow, as nurturer, has been joined by buffalo to show the way to abundance through prayer and the right use of our service.

Drumming with Intent

The drum is the heartbeat of the Earth Mother. We always drum with intent. The energy of the intent is sent through the drum into the earth and is returned to us with our intent purified by the Earth Mother. Drumming without an intent for the energy we are creating would be a waste of the drum’s magic energy. With intent focused through the drum incredible things have happened.

Drumming your own Tradition

There are different traditions connected with the drum. We only received one piece of advice on this from the drum maker, that was, “drum your own tradition”, and so we have. We allowed the drum itself to show our family the way it wanted us to share it’s energy.

Many traditions call upon the Ancients and Spirit helpers to join in prior to drumming. When the drumming is completed, a series of beats to let spirit know they are finished are used. As example the Lakota tradition is a 4 beat closure, while the Sauk-Suiattle use 8 beats to tell spirit that they may take their leave. Our family tradition is but a single beat to honor those of the spirit world who have joined us and thank them for their participation.

The drum showed us two traditions that we honor as a family and in our gatherings with the drum. The first were ancient beats of Teotihuacan, in central Mexico. This tradition had six drummers, three men and three women playing three beats simultaneously. One male and one female playing each beat across from one another. We only had three in our family at the time so we had to adapt, but the beats themselves were incredibly powerful and awoke in us the power of the drum.

The second tradition and the one that we use in groups is what we call free form. We start a basic single or double beat until everyone comes into sync and begins to feel the energy of the drum. Once this point of unity is achieved (about 5 minutes) everyone is free to find his or her own beat within the current beat. Within a short time there can be 15 or more beats going on between all the pow wow drums and hand drums, all in perfect harmony. With a large group, those who are getting tired arms release their beaters to someone else and the beat continues.

As time progresses and people change positions, the beat tends to transition. (Usually at least once during a single drumming session) During the transition it can sometimes seem chaotic, but don’t be fooled, within a minute or two the group is back in harmony with a whole new energy emerging. Often times the beat will accelerate as it reaches it’s conclusion and this can be quite a feeling of ecstasy and empowerment for those involved.

After this session conclusion people are ready for food and drink and then begin again with a whole new drumming session. When we had a country home in the Darrington area of Washington State we would begin to gather around noon for a potluck and drumming, and the last of the people would leave around 10pm. Well at least on the occasions that no one stayed overnight, which was not uncommon. Many of non-drummers stayed over to experience the drum, one on one, the next morning

The Drum Beaters

The drum beaters we made for the drums are made of natural woods and layers of leather. They are quite hard and not much pressure is needed to create sound with the drums. Hide is sensitive and could break if abused. Many people have been to pow wows and have watched the intensity with which the Indian tribes drum. It is important to understand that the modern beaters used by the tribes are made of fiberglass material that is flexible and takes a great deal of the pressure of their intensity and has a relatively soft lambskin head. If you used that intensity with the inflexible stick and hard heads of our beaters the drum would be damaged. Don’t worry though there is plenty of intensity! The beaters have many types of fur on them to bring forth the totem energies of the animals. We encourage people to choose a beater carefully to find an animal they feel aligned with.

Heal the Heartbeat The Tape

The tape was made in 1991 and contains 22 beats, 3 with chants that were given to us by spirit and earth. We started to teach some friends the beats & chants and they wanted us to make a tape so they could enjoy the drum between drumming events. We had no idea how we could afford this, but spirit provided the way and the result is Heal The Heartbeat. It is not a "technical" tape. It was a one take wonder filled with heart. No extra charge for the wondrous imperfections!

Through the mists of time comes the heartbeat of the Earth Mother. The haunting drum beats she brings forth, transport us back to a simpler time. Allow your soul memory to revisit this time with those known as Condatatiata (Bev), Puchahawa (Randy), and Tatiacha (Engtovo)

Through our own personal Journeys within, we came to know a place of peace and harmony, known as Teotihuacan. From the depths of our souls came forth the heartbeat of the time, the heartbeat of the aboriginal people of central Mexico. Through these inner learning we have come to know that skin color and blood lineage are of no consequence to the soul. All that is true, is there within our hearts.

Want to see more photos of the drums and rattles or hear some other sounds? Check out the Healing Sounds Page.

Hear the heartbeat of the mother when Great Spirit walks the land.
Now her labor pains are starting and Great Spirit holds her hand.
White Buffalo Women walks together with Great Spirit for the plan.
Hear the Heartbeat of the mother, now Great Spirit walks the land.
Walk the path of love and beauty, aid the mother and the plan.
Stand as one with the Great Spirit now we all must walk our talk.
We are one now with the heartbeat when Great Spirit walks the land.
Hear the heartbeat of the mother oh Great Spirit bless this walk.
As her labor now progresses oh Great Spirit hold our hand.
All is different yet the same now as the mother labors on.
Mother bringing forth the Phoenix oh Great Spirit heal this land.
In a moment birth pangs over now the mothers pain is gone.
Phoenix flies free from the mother the Great Spirit holds her hand.
Now time is moving forward time that Phoenix takes her stand.
Time for living in the heartbeat aid the mother as we can.
Honoring truths of the Great Spirit walking freely upon this land.
Healing of the Phoenix mother this is the Great Spirit's plan.

In the next two chants the small letters are a soft sound and capital letters are a long sound

Clicking on the main link will stream the mp3 file in your default media player. The songs can be downloaded on the blog download page

Heal the Heartbeat