
One of the most common questions we receive about our drums is… “Which hide is best?”
What an enormous can of worms that question is. But sure, let’s dive into it. We are going to break this answer into two categories of drums: Hand Drums & Powwow Drums, because they are two very different beasts.
So to begin with: We offer wild Deer, Moose & Bear, farmed Buffalo/Bison, farmed Elk.
Thickness of the Hides:
Deer is the thinnest of our hides. Of course there are variations depending upon the age of the Deer but also on the hide on which we cut the circle. Obviously a young deer will be thinner than an older buck. But also the thickest part of the hide on a deer (and with all animals) is straight down the spine. Especially a drum made with the neck (between the shoulders) is thickest.
You might have noticed that we cut all of our rawhide circles extra large (diameter) so that they wrap all the way over the frame to the back of the hide. This pulling method makes a much more stable drum. More protected for humidity changes AND less likely for the hide to crack. Drums made with rawhide only wrapped halfway obviously allows the drum maker to produce more drums out a single hide…but makes a much poorer quality drum. What you also don’t see is that in our selection of rawhide for our drums we always cut our rawhide straight down the spine to take advantage of the thickest part of the skin to make you the best possible drum we can.
We call deer our singing, drum circle drums. They are great as part of a group and great to support singing. They ring loud and true. They are higher in tone generally. Deer is the easiest drum to pull so the vast majority of our Drum Kits are made with deer because even a complete newbie can pull a great deer drum.
Elk is a little thicker than deer but still fall into the category of a singing drum. The tone is a little lower but really supports a drum group or performance singing.
Buffalo is a funny hide. There is a huge variety of thickness on a buffalo. SO we work with that thickness in the variety of sizes of drums we offer. The thicker part of a buffalo (between the shoulders) absolutely does not work on smaller drums. A 12″ or 14 drum made with neck hide….will produce a THUD THUD sound. But a neck drum on a 17″ is pure blissful magic. We prefer to select thinner flank/tummy/ hide for these smaller drums which are designed for sweatlodge or high humidity situations. A 17″ drum is not appropriate in a lodge…it will most certainly go flat. A 17″ drum used primarily outdoors, late at night in the summer will also have humidity challenges….a smaller size is better (15″ or 14″). If you play mostly indoors, in performance, in dry situations, then our 17″ is magic. All of our Buffalo hides are farmed. Buffalo hides are the most pretty and interesting of all our hides. The patterns have an alligator vibe to it and the colour is tan/brown.
Moose is a remarkably stable hide. The colour and texture is very even, light cream….and perhaps boring. Nothing exciting here…not like Buffalo. BUT moose are wild animals and make amazing drums. Like buffalo we have to carefully select the appropriate thickness for the size of the drum. Smaller drums need flank cut circles, while our large drums we cut more from down the spine.
And then there is Black Bear. Bear drums are medicine drums. They carry an energy that is special. The tone is very even and mellow. Bear drums are not the best sounding drums….but playing them is special. The vibe is different from all the other hides….cuz….it’s a bear.
Next week: Which Hide is best for a Powwow Drum?