Care of Your Drum
Each hand made frame drum has been made with entirely natural materials. The skin
in particular is subject to variations in humidity and will become overly taught
and 'ringy' if it gets too dry and flaccid and 'flat' sounding if it gets too wet.
For this reason please make sure that you store your drum away from direct heat
sources such as radiators but in fairly dry conditions.
If your drum has become
floppy from being in an atmosphere that is too damp for it then the quickest way to
dry it out to a playable state is to blow it with a hair-dryer for a few
minutes!
If your drum has become too dry and 'ringy' and you don't like the sound it's making then you can wet your hand a rub a tiny bit of water (a very small amount is all that's needed) around the face of the drum and the tone will drop. It's fine to experiment with varying the humidity of the skin in this way but the drum needs to be stored dry.
Playing outside is obviously one of the pleasures of having a drum;
if you find that the atmospheric conditions are too damp (it's been raining or
it's a bit misty) and the drum has become
'floppy' then this can be easily remedied by holding it near(ish) a fire for a few
minutes. If you are wanting to play outside and there is no fire then your
drum can be brought back to life simply by playing it. It might sound awful
at first but will soon warm up and dry out. Obviously if it's pouring with rain there is little you can do!
There is no amount of wet that your drum cannot
recover from as long as it's not wet for a long period of time, all it needs is
to dry out. However if it becomes very, very over heated and dry it is
just possible that the skin could split. If you have allowed your drum to get
very hot and dry please allow it to adjust to life away from the heat source
for a few moments before playing it. If you are wanting to play your drum in
very hot and arid conditions as a norm then please say so when you are
ordering it. I string my drums very tight for the damp conditions that prevail
in the United Kingdom. I can easily make a drum for a drier climate.
I hope you enjoy your drum and that you make a deep and beautiful connection with The Spirit of The Drum.
