Shamanic drumming is drumming for the purpose of shamanic journeying. Although the sounds from quite a few different sources can be used for journeying---drums, rattles voice, didgeridu, bells, and so on---drumming seems to be the one most often used throughout the world.
Not just any drumming will do. Shamanic journeying is trance work, and not all drumming helps people go into trance. Then, too. there are a lot of kinds of sound that people can use to trance out, that are not good for shamanic journeying. So what kinds of sound are good?
Best beat for shamanic journeying
Rapid, steady, even (monotone) drumming with a padded beater is the best for journeying. It is not music. It is just a fast steady beat.
There are a lot of ideas floating around about what would "logically" work best. Most of those are not helpful.
Some people recommend a slow, steady one beat per second. While that may be calming for some people, it is not good for shamanic journeying. As one Houston shamanic practitioner, Jill Graham (then known as Jill Sullivan) expressed it, "It makes me feel weighted down; it actually feels like it keeps me from journeying." That is the way I feel about it, too.
Others recommend a sound like a human heartbeat. Again, that may be calming, but it is not helpful for journeying---except in the sense that it is helpful to be calm and relaxed before you start.
I think the confusion comes from statements by indigenous people that drumming is the heartbeat of the earth. That does not mean that shamanic drumming is the same as a human heartbeat. Not at all.
I have even known people who want to drum like movie Indians---DUM-dum-dum-dum, DUM-dum-dum-dum, DUM-dum-dum-dum. That's movie music, folks. I don't know if any any Indians ever drummed that way, but even if they did, for whatever purpose, it does not work well for shamanic journeying.
For many of us, it has the psychological disadvantage of having been used to represent war drumming in the Indian wars. And considering the racist nature of most of the old cowboy-and-Indian movies, that old cliche sound is doubly disturbing.
Michael Drake, who wrote a great little book called The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming, recommends a speed he calls Eagle Heartbeat, which is about 180 to 220 beats a minute. Using it in shamanist groups over the years, we have found that it works very well.
To drum at that speed, think about drumming 3 beats a second. (You can count seconds by saying one-thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand, ...). Try keeping time with one hit of the drum for each syllable (one-thou-sand, two-thou-sand, three-thou-sand). Practice, and you will soon get the hang of it.
Harmonic drumming
When I took the Foundation for Shamanic Studies basic course, where there were a lot of people with different hoop drums, I noticed that the easiest drumming to journey to was drumming with strong harmonics, the high humming sound made by some drums when beaten at certain speeds.
If you drum too slowly, the harmonics do not start. If a group of people drum randomly, the harmonics are cancelled out. Only fast, unison drumming creates and maintains those wonderful harmonics.
Harmonics are the common characteristic in many kinds of sounds used for journeying: throat-singing, rattling, drumming, bells, and didgeridu. Once you learn to hear the harmonics, you can find many sounds and instruments to journey to---as long as they are played properly to create harmonics.
Next time: How to choose a shamanic drum.
Comments
Excellent article. The tempo, type of drum, and the type of mallet/stick/beater you use can have a dramatic impact one the outcome of your drumming if it's for any sort of shamanic or altered state practice. In most modalities the goal is to raise your vibration (or that of the planet, another person, etc.) so an incredibly slow rate would, as you mentioned, be detrimental to the overall purpose of drumming.
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