Sandra’s Suggested Resources for Buying Drums and Rattles

You want to find a drum that has the sound you like. Some people like a higher pitched sound, many like myself like a low pitched sound. Drums that are made of animal skins are sensitive to weather and humidity changes. When the weather is hot and dry the drum head gets very tight so you end up with a high and tinny sound. When the weather is cold and or humid the drum head gets loose and sounds dead. In this case you can use a hairdryer or put your drum in the sun or by a fire to tighten the head. But don’t tighten it so much that the skin splits.

Remo drums are made out of synthetic materials. The positive about buying a drum made by Remo is that they are not too expensive and they sound good. The drum head is not effected by any weather changes so the sound remains consistent.

There are multiple styles of Remo drums. The drum I suggest is the style called the Buffalo Drum. The drum comes in many sizes. The 14” is light and sounds good.  Many people love this size. The pitch is a little too high for me personally. I use a 16” drum as it is easy for me to carry on an airplane, and I like the sound. Some people love the 22” drum which does have a great sound. It can be heavy to hold while drumming for a long time. And it will not fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane.

You can find a Remo drum by searching the web. There are multiple distributors of Remo Drums and you can buy a drum from the Remo website. You can buy Remo drums off of Amazon. And you can also visit www.remo.com to find more distributors.

There are so many wonderful drummakers!!! My list below is very limited. I am sharing with you names of people who make and sell drums who I have only heard good things about from my students.

Cedar Mountain Drums https://cedarmountaindrums.com/ (they also sell rattles and other shamanic supplies).

Kermit and Alexandra Bennet westrancher@gmail.com 

Nikiah Seeds http://www.nikiahseeds.com/red-drums.html

Rick Scrivens rickscrivens@comcast.net 

Centralia Fur and Hide www.furandhide.com 

Ann Keller www.annsdrums.com 

Sean Mah  www.etsy.com/shop/TheRattleMaker

Mike Innantuano 503 806-9125  Michael@fivemoonswisdom.com

Earth and Spirit Gallery  https://earthandspiritgallery.com/special-order-drums  (Shari who owns this gallery is a  brilliant artist. She has painted two of my drums and the paintings are fabulous!)

www.shamandrums.com  Erik and Susanne make stunning drums, rattles, and also what they call Northern Light Bell Rattles/Aurora rattles. I love the Northern Light Bell Rattle I ordered from them.

Christine Stevens of UpBeat Drum Circles, author, Music Medicine, the science and spirit of healing yourself with sound. Christine has developed some light weight drums for traveling. www.ubdrumcircles.com

Drummaker from Australia:  http://www.shamanicdrums.com.au