The Native American Water Drum

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.