An Elder Speaks

Hello Nephew. How nice to hear from you. I hope you are doing very well. I feel grateful and humbled that you asked me these questions about the drum. I will do my best to explain to you about the drum the way my family taught me.

The drum is a holy, sacred instrument.
Its beat represents the heart-beat of the Mother Earth and touches creation.
It is the rhythm of life, which we otherwise cannot hear but we feel and we know it's there.
The drum beat alone can heal and bring many blessings to the people.
Therefore, when we stand up sing, we stand up in prayer to bless the people.
We are not important when we sing.
The song is what is important, and works in harmony with the drum beat.
When singing, we do not alter the song or the drum beat.
We keep it as close to the original as we can.
We do not speed it up or slow it down.
We do not "bang" on the drum.
We caress it.
Those songs are sacred, coming down to us from up above.
Many are ancient.
Even those we hear when we are out, alone in wilderness, or waking up from a dream.
The elders often say they had heard that song before, many years ago when they were young. The song is just coming down to a new person.