Drum Making: A Guide for Apprentices

It is recommended that before attempting to complex art of drum making apprentices be not only well versed in theory but have practical experience of repairing broken drums, and making drums from discarded objects in the manner of children. This serves several purposes. It allows them to gain an understanding of how drums work, and how the various parts of a drum come together to make differing sounds depending on the materials used and the way in which they are used. Also, and perhaps more importantly, it gives them the knowledge necessary to fix the mistakes they will inevitably make.

Like any instruments, a drum starts out with a plan. When planning a drum, there are some very important questions you need to ask yourself:

Why?

Why are you making this drum? What is it going to be used for? The answer to this question will usually dictate the size and style of drum, and sometimes the materials used.

What?

What materials are you going to use for the drum? Different types of wood make different sounds, for example. This question will sometimes be answered by your answer to the above question. And more and more often it is being answered by whatever is available, a sad side effect of our current situation.

So from those two questions, you should now know:

What the drum is going to be used for
What size and style it will be
What materials you're going to make it from

When you tick off everything on the above checklist, move on.

The first thing you will prepare when making a drum is the hide. The first step in preparing the hide is very simple, though I'm sure some of you less competent apprentices will still find a way to screw it up. Soak the hide for at least twenty-four hours. Some hides will benefit from longer, and through practice you will gain the ability to tell how long any given hide needs.

Once the hide has been soaked for the appropriate period of time, it is stretched out over a flat frame. I am sure during your time at the Hall you have already seen these, and prior to attempting to build a drum you must be knowledgeable enough to use one.

What follows is one of the most time-consuming, meticulous, processes involved in the making of a drum. All hair must be carefully removed from the hide with a metal scraper designed for this purpose. Do not, and I repeat do not, use a knife or any other tool. That is just asking for trouble. Any hair left behind on the hide will alter the sound quality, and often the look, of the drum. Small nicks will have the same affect, and of course any nick big enough to go all the way through ruins the hide and you must start again. When the hide is finished to a suitable standard, you may turn to the frame.

There are two main ways to construct the frame, or body, of a drum. It can be carved out of a solid piece of wood, or built by piecing together specially cut pieces of wood. I will talk briefly about the former method before moving on to deal with the more common latter method.

Unlike with many instruments, when carving the body of a drum from a log, it is better to start with fresh, wet, wood whenever possible. You will find it is very soft and carves extremely easily. If you allow it to start drying out, this rapidly changes however. The first thing you should do is rub wax over the outside of the wood. This helps seal any little holes and cracks. The inside should then be hollowed out as quickly as possible, otherwise the outside will start to crack and rupture as it tries to shrink to a smaller size than the core wood will allow. If you are successful, you will end up with a hollowed out body with no, or very few, cracks. The drum is then ready for finishing and decorating, before the hide is applied.

For the following method, I am going to describe to you the building of a small hand drum. These drums are very common, though they require some skill to play correctly.

You will several large stew pots, which should be filled with water and brought to the boil. You will also need a ladle.

Take the plank of wood you have selected, and bend it into a large C shape. Use your hands, and feet, to achieve this. Take a clamped strap especially for the purpose, and put this C into the loop that it forms. Use the boiling water to keep the wood hot, while slowly tightening the clamp and thus drawing the two ends of the C shape together.

Eventually, after much patience, the two ends will meet and form an O shape. At this point you must apply wood glue to their inner surfaces and clamp them against each other. It is important to note that if you tighten the clamps too fast, you will end up with an odd shape, warped wood, or worse. Patience is the key word here.

After a few days, release the clamps and the O shape should stay together. The body is now ready for finishing; decorating, and then it's time to come back to the hide.

The hide, which should still be on the frame where you left it, should be removed from the frame but not allowed to slack. This is usually a two-person job. Place the hide over the body of the drum, pulling it tight across and downward. Once you are satisfied with the tightness of the hide, attach it to the body and remove any excess. With the exception of any additional finishing, decorating or general tidying up you need to do, you should now have a finished drum. Congratulations. If you have shown talent, and enjoyed this experience, there may well be a bright future ahead of you in the Instrument Crafting subcraft. Your teacher will advise you on how to proceeded from here. Those of you who are, for whatever reason, consulting this guide under their own steam may also wish to read Intermediate Drum Making: A Guide, which can be found in the Hall's collection.

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Written by Master Yitzchak, SouCon MUSH

Emblems are copyright of Anne McCaffrey and drawn by Belan.