2.-- NATIVE AMERICAN—DRUMS, COMMUNICATION AND SYLLABLES

Now that the kids have become interested in Native American Indian life before the modern conveniences I asked how the Indians communicated long distances without telephones, cell phones, computers or any electrical or battery devices.  It again was very hard for them to conceive of any time when there were no modern devices and they were clueless.

I told them that the braves had to travel long distances to find food such as deer, buffalo, or other game. Each brave went in different directions to scout out the food.  How did they get together to hunt the game when it was spotted? They couldn’t call on the cell phone, how did they do it? No one could figure it out.  Did you ever hear of smoke signals, I asked?  Most had not as cowboy and Indian movies are not on their screens anymore.  I explained the usage of smoke signals and then went on to drums.

Drums can be heard for long distances.  We experimented with distances of people calling with their own voice.  I appointed a child to go into a different room and call out. Could the others hear? We tried many different places to see how far the voice could be heard.  Then I gave the drum to the children to use.  Could it be heard a greater distance? As you can guess the drum could be heard at a much greater distance.

The next question was how was it used? How did the other scouts know what was being said by the drummers.  I drummed “I found deer” by hitting the drum 3 times.  Each word I used was one syllable.  Then I drummed “ I found buffalo”  I found was one syllable each but buffalo was three.  I drummed two beats and 3 quick beats for buffalo.  I explained what syllable meant and how buffalo was three quick ones.  We practiced with many other words until the kids got the idea.

They wanted to make their own drums so they could practice “talking” with the drums.  To make a drum I used coffee cans.  The plastic top of the can is the drumming part.  The metal sides we covered with colored paper. On the art table I put feathers, markers, and beads for the kids to choose what they want. The kids work area had the glue. I do not tell the kids how to design the projects I give. I want them to use their own imagination and to take charge of their own project.  I find children to be more creative than I am and they have more fun than if I directed what they should put on the drum. Leave one day for the glue to dry before allowing  the to kids use their drums.

I showed the kids pictures of the mountains in the southwest and the reservations I had visited. We pretended we were on a hunt for food and the brave who found the food had to drum he found food.  The others drummed back “we are coming (coming two quick drumbeats for two syllables). Then I let the kids make up their own plays.  Some were being attacked by other Indians and using the drum to call for help. One play was getting lost on the mountain and calling to the others for help in getting home.  The kids loved making up scenarios.

 

On U-tube you can find all kinds of Native American music and festivals. The kids love using their drums to beat along to the music.