Magic of the Drum

From my own native teachers, I have learned that the drum is coming into power again to awaken our hearts, for we must now learn to live from the heart. The heart is the place of balancing and awakening to our wholeness; the heartbeat is one of the reasons people so naturally and strongly connect to the drum. After all, each of us comes into the world having spent nine months listening to a heart drum in the womb. We are imprinted with rhythm from the very start and rhythm is the heartbeat of life. ~ Michael Drake




Estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 years old, shamanic drumming is considered one of the oldest methods for healing. Practiced in diverse cultures around the planet, this technique is strikingly similar the world over. Shamanic drumming uses a single, repetitive rhythm played at a tempo of three to four beats per second. Although sounding quite simple and redundant, the unique connection between the drum and the shaman gives this drumming great power, richness, and depth.

The sound of the drum is very important. It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shaman to communicate with the spiritual realm. Part of the shaman's training involves learning to hear and interpret a larger range of frequencies than the normal person can. The shaman listens and finds the right tone, the right sound to which the spirits will respond. Through the many tones, pitches, and harmonics of the drum, the shaman communes with the subtle and normally unseen energies of the spirit world.

The primary cross-cultural function of shamanic drumming is to induce altered states of consciousness for both journey and embodiment trances. Shamanism is the intentional effort to acquire and nurture ongoing relationships with personal helping spirits by journeying into realms where the spirits dwell. The reason for developing personal relationships with spirit helpers is to gain wisdom, healing techniques, and other vital information that can benefit the community.

When a spirit is invoked, there is often an accompanying rhythm that evolves. Shamans frequently use specific rhythms to summon their helping spirits for the work at hand. Shamans may have a repertory of established healing rhythms to treat a variety of conditions, or improvise a new rhythm, uniquely indicated for the situation.

Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole. Although the function or intent may differ from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and therapeutic effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum. The sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind, and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves, and spiritual energy patterns begin to vibrate in response.

Science is now verifying the therapeutic effects of drumming. Recent medical research studies indicate that drumming boosts the immune system and produces natural pleasurable experiences, enhanced awareness of preconscious dynamics, a release of emotional trauma, and reintegration of self. Other studies have demonstrated the calming, focusing, and healing effects of drumming on Alzheimer's patients, autistic children, emotionally disturbed teens, substance abusers, trauma patients, and prison and homeless populations. Study results demonstrate that drumming is a valuable treatment for stress, fatigue, anxiety, hypertension, headaches, asthma, chronic pain, arthritis, and sleep and emotional disorders.

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