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.
A shaman may have a repertoire of established rhythms or improvise a new rhythm, uniquely indicated for the situation. The drumming is not restricted to a regular tempo, but may pause, speed up, or slow down with irregular accents. The shaman may stop playing altogether, or suddenly hoist the drum skyward and bang it violently, throwing the disease into the heavens and returning it to the spirit world.
The Rattle
Rattles are used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. The shaman's rattle draws the spirit world and its inhabitants into the material world, whereas the drum carries the shaman into the spirit world. Hence, rattles and drums work well together. I often use a drum stick rattle, which is simply a beater with a rawhide rattle attached to the base of the handle opposite the head. When used as a drumstick, the clicking of the rattle adds not only an interesting sound effect, but also produces an offbeat that adds a new dimension to the sonic experience.
The repetitive sound of the rattle, like that of the drum, helps induce trance states. The shaking of rattles creates high-pitched frequencies that complement the low frequencies of drumbeats. The high tones of rattles resonate in the upper parts of the body and head. The low tones of drums act primarily on the abdomen, chest, and organs of balance, while stimulating an impulse toward movement. Rattles stimulate higher frequency nerve pathways in the cerebral cortex than do drums. This higher frequency input supplements the low frequency drumbeats, thereby boosting the total sonic effect.
It is also possible to direct energy with rattles, much like a magician with a magic wand. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, you can create sacred space by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.
Among Iroquois medicine societies, turtle rattles are described as hands of the spirit beings, and the gourd rattle is described as the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.
In South America, the shaman's rattle is a most sacred instrument. The rattle is believed to embody the sacred forces of the cosmos through its sounds, structural features, contents, and connection to shamanic trance. The various parts of the rattle also symbolize the structures of the world. The handle is the vertical axis that ascends into the Celestial Realm. The Upper World is represented by the rattle's great head-gourd, which contains spirits. Joining the head of the rattle to the handle symbolizes the joining of masculine and feminine elements in the universe, an act of fertilization that gives the sound of the instrument creative shamanic power. From a shamanic perspective, caretaking the rattle and playing it properly during ritual fulfills the destiny of the human spirit--to sustain the order of existence.
The Flute
According to Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael, "The flute is an instrument connecting the two worlds, the non-physical with the physical. The breath of the flutist is the breath of God coming through a hollow reed; the sound is that of the invisible lover courting the visible lover, the metaphor of the lover and the beloved."
The flute opens a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The flute is related to the soul, which extends far beyond the physical body, connecting us to the symphony of the universe. Something transcendent happens when you begin to play a flute. You journey deep inside yourself and bring out the cosmic music of your soul. Nothing matters--audience, place, time--you just get lost in the music. You become the music--notes, rhythm, and melody.
The flute is akin to the breath, which is spirit. Its sound is like the wind, which is dispersive, changeable and unpredictable, yet it has the capacity to permeate anything. The flute is also akin to the birds and flight. Its chirp, warble, and bird-like notes make your heart soar. The flute is like the air; you cannot hold it or contain it, and yet you can never separate yourself from it. Everything needs the air and so the flute represents the voice of the soul and the voice of the wind, and the voice of the birds--those things that are free, free to move. So taken all together this trio, the flute, drum and rattle, represents the whole voice of Creation.
Listen to Shamanic Music
I invite you to listen to the song "Heartbeat," from my album, Shaman's Drums. This composition combines all three sacred instruments: the rattle, the flute, and the drum. A steady heartbeat rhythm has a calming and centering affect. It reconnects us to the warmth and safety of the first sound we ever heard--the nurturing pulse of our mother's heartbeat melding with our own. We are imprinted with rhythm from the very start, and rhythm is the heartbeat of life.
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