Pow Wow and Drum Resources

About Pow Wow Drums and Singing

Drum Etiquette:

The drum is seen by many Native tribes as a living being. The beat of the drum can be thought of as a heart beat while the song being sung is the soul. The circular shape represents our world.  In a dance arena at a pow wow the dancers dance in a circle, in a clockwise direction. This practice is known as a “good way” or “life way”.

Every new session on the drum is always opened and closed with a prayer. Offerings of sage and tobacco are symbolically laid on the drum during the opening prayer. The drum itself is not what is prayed to. The higher power behind the drum and what it represents is what is prayed to.

Drums are never left unattended. This is considered disrespectful. When not in use they are to be properly stored.

The drum shouldn’t be considered a general noise maker for parties. At this point it goes from a special instrument to a mere toy. At many OA regional and national events, drums aren’t allowed to be used as noise makers partly for this reason.

Drum Songs:

There are two main styles of drum songs. Northern style drum songs are sung with a high falsetto. The drum beats can be quick and loud. Southern style drum songs are more conservative. The songs are sung in a lower pitch and the beats are often more even and moderate. In a nutshell, think of northern style as flashy and southern style as more conservative.

Most references in this article will pertain to northern style drumming.

The words in many drum songs aren’t actually words, but are vocables. This is a series of sounds that form a song. If there are any actual words in the song, then vocables are used to connect the words in a type of rhyme.

For northern style singing, drum song structure begins with the lead singer singing what is known as the lead in. Then the rest of the singers will join in and then continue to sing the body of the song twice through. At the end of the second time singing the body of the song then a closing line is sung. This entire round through the song is known as a pushup. Songs commonly last 4 pushups.

Depending on if the drum song is a northern or southern style, there are 3 to 5 distinct hard beats performed by one of the drummers. These are known as honor beats. This is normally right after the lead in has been sung on the second or third pushup. It all depends on the drum style and the song.

Northern style hand drum songs differ from the type of song that is sung around a large pow wow drum. A double beat is used instead of a straight singular beat. The body of the song is sung 4 times through each pushup. The 4^th time through the body of the song words will then be added and mixed in with some vocables. The ending of the song will remain the same. Sometimes during this section of the song, the drummers will beat only on the drum rim to help emphasize the words being said.

This type of drum song is often used today as a type of romance song for a girl friend or other loved one. Many modern hand drum groups at a pow wow will sing about their girl friends, ex girl friends (uh oh), or other love(d) ones.