| The music of the drum is probably one of the most | | | | this was not the norm. Additionally, certain cultures |
| common ideas associated with the native peoples of | | | | produced drums with tonal-adjusting snares stretched |
| North America, or Native Americans. These cultures | | | | across the skinhead. The other widely used drum in |
| used drums in politics, religion and social applications, | | | | this area was, and still is, the powwow drum. These |
| often combining them with dancing and singing. | | | | instruments were two-headed and could be up to over |
| Because so many of these cultures were tragically | | | | eight feet in diameter. They were usually suspended |
| damaged by the arrival of Europeans, it is all the more | | | | on poles or placed on a blanket and were meant to be |
| important to learn about and recognize the importance | | | | played by a group of people. |
| of the drum to the native peoples of North America. | | | | To the east, the Iroquois traditionally use water drums |
| The tribes of North America were and are varied and | | | | in some of their ceremonial practices. This instrument is |
| complex societies, and it would be impossible to cover | | | | created by filling the chamber of the drum with a |
| them all in depth. The following is therefore only a basic | | | | certain amount of water. The distinctive sound of the |
| explanation of some of the different styles of drums | | | | drum is determined by the amount of water in it. |
| used by a few of these peoples. | | | | Water drums are usually played with a thick drumstick |
| Some of the most common drums used by the Native | | | | that has a loop on the end. Although the most sacred |
| Americans were frame drums. These were could be | | | | of water drums are made from the wood of special |
| small and designed for use by a single person or large | | | | trees, these instruments can also be made of iron, |
| and meant to be played by a group. They are still used | | | | brass or copper. Such metal water drums are much |
| by tribes today, usually during religious and social | | | | more common. |
| occasions. A frame drum's diameter is greater than its | | | | In the north, the Arctic people's drums have large, light |
| depth, and among the Native Americans, it is made by | | | | frames with stretched hide like those of the more |
| stretching rawhide over a shell of bent wood that has | | | | southern groups. But instead of striking the drumhead |
| been jointed together. Historically, most regions and | | | | while playing the instrument, the rim is usually struck. |
| cultures across the country had frame drums. | | | | These drums are made from a variety of materials |
| The sizes and styles of North American drums vary | | | | such as deer skin, caribou, mountain sheep or even |
| by region. For the native people of the plains, hand-held | | | | whale or walrus intestines. Originally, these people |
| drums come in many sizes, ranging from 12 to 30 | | | | made much smaller frames from baleen, a specific |
| inches in diameter. These usually had just one | | | | kind of whale bone. Today they use wooden frames, |
| drumhead stretched across the wooden frame and | | | | a material that has become readily available. |
| were two or three inches deep. Occasionally, drum | | | | Drumsticks are antler, bone or wood. |
| makers also crafted two-headed hand-held drums, but | | | | |