Northeast Woodland/Northwestcoast Drums

Northeast Woodland/Northwestcoast Drums

Watercolour,
pencil on paper of Ojibwe Ceremonial Drums by Paul Kane (1810-71).
Presented to Royal Ontario Museum by Raymond A. Willis



Painted Frame Drum
Cree/Nehiyaw Hand drum used for personal and social occasions
Rawhide stretched over wooden frame and elaborately laced at back;
painting includes feathers, moon, sun, and animal footprints Padded beater
similar to those used for powwow drum 41.8 cm. long Wood
and tanned hide Purchased in Winnipeg by Elaine Keillor in 1987.



Octagonal Painted Frame Drum
Ojibwe Hand drum used for personal and social occasions
Painting of stylized bird on rawhide head, and other designs usually
triangular in nature; relatively thick wooden frame wrapped on outside
with white rawhide decorated with beading in groups of three.
Unpadded beater 36 cm. long Carved wood Purchased ca. 1984
at Rama Reserve by Elaine Keillor



Butterfly Painted Frame Drum
Butterfly painted frame drum, single membranophone -
Front Tlingit Rawhide skin painted with butterfly design,
over cedar wood frame and complex rawhide lacing at back Hand drum
used for personal and social occasions Padded beater 33.8 cm. long
Made by Odin Lonning, b. 1953. Purchased by Elaine Keillor
in Vancouver, 1990s.



Frame drum, double membranophone - Side view
Ojibwe, Used in Akwesahne ceremony Scraped rawhide used for heads
but haired skin covers wooden frame and provides the lacings
Purchased 1995 near Cape Croker Reserve, Bruce Peninsula,
by Elaine Keillor Circular beater, wound with tanned leather at beating
end 48 cm long. Made by Rohahes Iain Phillips.



Log Drum
Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation shaped from a solid log of red cedar
Used by a team of skilled singers at the potlatch ceremony.
These singers practice for many hours to learn the special songs
that have been composed the Chief's potlatch ceremony.



Raven Wolf Drum
Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation painted raven and wolf design
used by a team of singers at the potlatch ceremony



Halibut Drum
Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation UCC 88-.07.01 painted halibut design
by George Hunt Jr. of the Kwagu'? First Nation in 1988 used by
some singers at a potlatch ceremony drum made by the Sam family
from Ahousaaht, BC



Sculpin Drum
Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation Sculpin design painted by
Eugene A. Hunt used by singers at a potlatch ceremony.



Iroquois Water Drum
The water drum was used to keep time during songs,
it was traditionally made out of birch wood.
The inside of the drum is filled with water



~U-ne-ga-wa-ya~