Making Powwow Drums is a great challenge and a serious responsibility. We wish to honor and give thanks to our teachers who have guided us to bring these Drums to the people. The Drum is sacred to our people, and when the voices of our ancestors are brought back to us through the Drum we thank the Singers who are healing our people and Mother Earth. Please visit our e-commerce site for Native Powwow Hand Drum Music and to purchase our drums: www.tribalspiritmusic.com!!

We know Drum Groups. We work hard to respond to their needs and requirements. We personally build each and every one of our Drums with prayer and love. The vast majority of our Drums can be found somewhere out on the Powwow Trail on Turtle Island working for the people.

Over the past few years we have built many Drums and we are extremely honored to have some of the best groups playing on our Drums, not to mention some of the best groups coming up. Tribal Spirit Music is our Native American music label.  Functioning like a co-op we record and produce Native Music with the singers!!

Construction

We build our Drums to travel, which means that we over-build their frames (translation: massively strong). Our big Drums (22" to 36") have 1.25" thick frames. All our Drums are jointed with 2" biscuits running the length of each joint. This ensures that they can resist the wear and tear of travel but still give the deep, rich sound that only thick, solid wood can provide.

We choose to build our Drums in this manner because, not only does it make them resilient to travel, we can guarantee them without concern of "comebacks". Each of our Drums leaves us with a guarantee that, within reason, if anything ever happens to the hide of the Drum we will restring it.

Sizes

We build a wide range of Drum sizes. Our 24", 26" and 28" diameter are the smaller of our large Drums, and groups who have "travel challenged" vehicles tend to select these Drums. Our 30" or 32" diameter is preferred by Drum Groups with large numbers. Our 28", 30" &  32" Drums are available in depths of 16" and 18". We do build larger Drums upon request.

We also build smaller Drums (22" diameter, 16" depth) because we have received requests from many youth groups who are just learning and gathering their songs. They aren't ready for a big Drum, but need to work their way into it. Several groups have chosen the smaller Drum because it is easily portable, yet still gives a very strong and powerful sound. If you are flying across the country for a powwow, this Drum moves easily — we actually have one singer who travels to powwows from Ontario to Arizona with his Drum on his back.

Covering/Hides

We are currently covering our Drums with Moose, Buffalo and Steer. We work with a very old tannery and order hides processed to our specifications, using limited bleach and chemicals. Each year during hunting season we gather Moose and Deer hides from local hunters for our Drums and leather work. Last year we gathered 140 Moose and 700 Deer hides.

The choice between the three hides is very personal and we often see groups struggle with this issue for months. Here are a few observations from our experience:

• Generally, Buffalo does not respond as well to humid situations as Moose (there are always exceptions).
• Moose tends to hang in there late into the night, no matter how hard it is raining—if it has been raining since Grand Entry on Friday, the only Drum not flat by Saturday night will probably be a Moose hide drum.

Tuning

The tension of each Drum determines its pitch and voice. It is impossible to build a Drum which will sound the same every day in every different weather situation. A Drum built on the east coast will behave differently at an eastern powwow than at one in the southwest, and vice versa. A Drum which was pulled in Sells, Arizona and has a nice deep, rich voice throughout the southwest will likely be flat if played at Schemitzun in Connecticut in late August.

It is important for the Drum maker to know where the drum is going to live, generally, in order to get a sense of the tension required. And it is important for Drum Keepers to understand these issues and learn how to tune their Drums.

Cost

Oh such a tricky subject...

From our experience, our Drums are the least expensive of the great Powwow Drums that we have seen on the Trail. We invite you to contact us so we can talk about your needs, designs and sizes.

After having made hundreds of Drums our quality is very high. We cover our cost and time and keep our prices as low as we can. 

Prices
18" x 12"     $350
22" x 16"     $450
24" x 16"     $500
26" x 16"     $650
28" x 16"     $750
30" x 16"     $850
32" x 16"     $950
32" x 16"     $1200

Add $50 for 18" deep drum and add $200 for Cherry wood or butternut wood frame. These prices include a drum stand and a 2 year guarantee.