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| Native American water drum with elaborate lacing typical of water drums used in the Native American Church. |
In honour of
Thanksgiving Day, I think it's appropriate to have a Native American topic.
Drums are an important and well known part of Native American/First Nations
musical culture, and yet they feature a variety and subtlety that is not
generally known or appreciated. I am not an expert on Native American/First
Nations musical instruments, but, in my former position as Curator of North
America at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, I developed and oversaw –
with the help of the amazing team of consultants (thank you, Maria Williams!) –
a number of exhibits of Native American/First Nations musical instruments; about
a third of the gallery space and probably the largest such display in the
world.
I think my favourite
instrument in the gallery was the water drum. They were originally associated
with the Iroquois (also known as the Haudenosaunee) and Ojibwe people, but the
water drum has spread to many Native American communities, in a manner similar
to the powwow drum, which was originally confined to Plains Native American
groups (and northern plains at that), but is now used by practically all Native
Americans/First Nations people. In recent times the water drum has become
particularly associated with the Native American Church.
At first, the water
drum doesn’t appear very impressive; it looks a lot like many other small,
hand-held, single headed drums played with a beater. North-eastern Native
American water drums are traditionally made from wood, typically a hollowed-out
log, and topped with a tanned-hide playing head. But amongst different peoples,
there is a wide variance in materials, with clay pots and small cast-iron
kettles and other re-purposed objects being used; I was told by more than one
person that the sawn-off bottom of an oxygen tank made the perfect body for a water
drum. The head is attached to the body either by lacing or a pressure fitted
rim (typically wrapped in strips of cloth to more evenly distribute the
tightening pressure). The lacing designs on water drums used in the Native
American church can be quite elaborate and beautiful. But what makes the water
drum different is, surprise, water. The instrument is played with the hide
drumhead thoroughly wet. The drum itself is filled with a small quantity of
water, which allows the player to modify the sound as he (and as far as I’m
aware, it is almost always a he) tilts the drum at various angles while
playing. The resulting sound is like no other drum; a wavering, continuously
pitch-shifting, piccolo timpani. The effect is quite subtle, and is best
appreciated close-up. Although water has no set form (other than the container
it is in), it is actually quite hard and dense (think of the pain of a
belly-flop dive), making it a good reflector of sound.
There are other
instruments in the world with the name “water drum” that should not be confused
with the Native American water drum; two that spring to mind are an African
instrument consisting of an upturned gourd sitting in a larger water-filled
gourd and an instrument from Oceania that consists of a large upright log
handled by two people which is used to strike the surface of water. Metal and/or
ceramic bowls filled with water, often moved or tilted for a pitch-shifting
effect, are sometimes called water drums as well.
The Native American water
drum perfectly embodies the adaption/adoption principle found in musical
instrument dissemination the world over; an instrument designed and used in one
place, spreads to and gets adopted by other peoples, with its construction and
playing technique correspondingly adapted and changed for local conditions and
traditions. In terms of organological classification, I believe the water drum may
possibly be the only example of a hydro-membranophone, a category of instrument which,
if it didn’t exist, would certainly need to be invented.
