The drum is known to be the oldest instrument on earth.  The oldest remains of a drum date approximately 8,000 years, but it is safe to come to the conclusion that wherever there were humans there were drums as well.  In the tradition of Joseph Beautiful Painted Arrow, drums are covered with deer, elk, or buffalo skins; and the frame is often from the wood used and blessed during other sacred ceremonies.  The drum is revered as an altar on which prayers and medicine are placed and sent for the benefit of all people and the galaxy.  The drum is also a doorway to higher level of consciousness.  In Being & Vibration – Entering the New World, Joseph Beautiful Painted Arrow wrote: “The power that is active in the drumming is NAH-MOH-LOH-NAY . . . NAH is the self; MOH is to see the self: LOH within so that the self places itself in NAY, a statement of awareness . . . the power is in the sound . . . all the cellular structure in the physical body is connected to going within.” (p. 95).

Joseph Beautiful Painted Arrow adds: “The vibratory essence of sound affects the inner walls of the nerves and the blood vessels.  The inner walls of each cell resonate, and the power of vibration affects not only the physical cell walls but also the mental, emotional, or spiritual walls imposed by values or belief systems.” (p. 76).  The sound of the drum stick touching the skin of the drum is the masculine aspect of drumming.  The resonating sound vibration being generated by the interaction of stick and skin is the feminine aspect of drumming.  “Drumming, by its own nature, creates lifting energy which moves you very quickly to the next level of consciousness.  That lifting quality is directly connected to the dynamic tension of energy struggling to achieve its highest potential.  The sound that comes out of that awakened potential si the manifestation of a new idea or a new form.” (p.94).

In the tradition of Joseph Beautiful Painted Arrow, drumming is accompanied by chanting during the Sun-Moon Dance and the Drum Dance, dances that were given to the people by Grandfather Joseph.  

Written by Carlo Popolizio, Kuu Pu Leh Hu aka Broini