Indian Drums

Tuning Native Drums

If your drum tone sounds flat and dull then it needs tuning, before we go into the "How to Tune" part, lets discuss factors that affect rawhide. Rawhide by its nature shrinks or expands depending on certain conditions. In cold, moist and humid weather or these types of environments rawhide expands. In hot and dry weather or when exposed to a heat source rawhide shrinks.

Now, armed with this knowledge about rawhide we can use it to our advantage to tune our drum to that perfect tone we want. When your drum tone is flat and dull and the rawhide appears to be loose then you need to get the rawhide to tighten. We now know that exposing our drum to a heat source shrinks the rawhide.

Warning! Over exposing your drum to heat can lead to permanent damage. Please re-read that again, because whatever heat source you use it's important to know this. So don't place your drum in front or next to a heat source and walk away and forget about it. Ok, now that we have got that out of the way let us look at some different methods we can use to heat our drum which causes the rawhide to shrink and gives us a better tune/tone from our drum.

One of the most popular percussion instruments in the rich musical culture of South Asia is the tabla drums. It originated as far as 300 years ago. Its name came from the Arabic word tabla meaning drum. It is said to be a mixture of characteristics of pre-existing drums such as dholak, naqqara, and pakhawa but its exact history is still unclear. This instrument is commonly used in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

When it comes to Native American hoop drums, there are many different types and styles available. Different Native Americans made different types of drums and for different purposes. Most often the drums were used in ceremonies and rituals or celebrations of some type. Rawhide drums were very common in most Native American cultures and used in many different types of hand drums. Each of these types of Native American drums is beautiful in its own way and serves an important purpose within the families and tribes, but in general it is the hoop drum that is common to all. The wonder and beauty of Native American hoop drums is not only reserved for Native Americans today, as they are sharing their work with other people of the world. Some of the most famous hoop drums are Tarahumara Indian drums. Their drum festivals draw people from around the world.