A Bridge to the Spirit World

In oral/aural cultures, sound is regarded as one of the most effective ways of establishing connections with the spirit realm since it travels through space, permeates visual and physical barriers, and conveys information from the unseen world that underlies our physical reality. Tuvan shamans of Siberia believe that the spirits of nature create their own sound world, and it is possible for humans to communicate with them through the sound of the drum. A ritual performance often begins with heating the drumhead over a fire to bring it up to the desired pitch. Shamans may strike certain parts of the drum to summon particular benevolent helping spirits who give them knowledge and assistance. It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shaman to communicate with the spiritual realm. The shaman uses the drum to create a bridge to the spirit world while simultaneously opening the awareness of all the participants to that bridge.

All elements of drum music such as timbre, rhythm, volume and tempo play an important role in shamanic ritual. By using different parts of the drumstick to play on different parts of the drum, different timbres can be produced for transmitting different meanings. Different rhythms transmit different meanings and enable the shaman to contact different beings in different realms of the cosmos. Volume and tempo arouse feelings in the listener and communicate symbolic meanings directly as aural sense experience.