We solve your fever problems

Tag: North American percussion instruments

  • Lummi stick

    Lummi sticks, named after the Lummi Native American peoples, are hardwood cylindrical sticks, usually roughly 7 inches long and 0.75 inches in diameter, used as percussive musical instruments. They are generally struck against one another, and used frequently in musical education to teach rhythm.

    Another variety, called simply a rhythm stick, is 12 inches long and painted blue. These are generally either cylindrical or fluted, and come in sets containing an equal number of both.

    The sticks are used in elementary school education in the US and Canada.

  • Footed drum

    A footed drum is a class of membranophone, of Native American and Polynesian origin, characterized by an open area at the bottom of the instrument, held by feet. This open area adds resonance to the drum’s sound. It is made out of hollow wood and/or bone.

    Archaeologists have unearthed ‘foot drums’ in several southwestern and central-Californian Native American archaeological sites inhabited, or formally inhabited, by the Miwok, Maidu, Aztec, and Hopi Indian tribes. These drums were often semicircle cross-sectioned hollow logs laid over wood covered ‘resonating’ pits positioned according to custom in kivas or dance houses. The foot drums were played by stomping on top of the hollow log with the structure’s poles used for steadying..