Dance Drum Item Number: A6901 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Circular, handheld drum made from hide stretched over a wooden frame. Drum has four lengths of wire across the back with cloth covering the centre juncture, forming a handle. Drumstick (part b): head of drumstick covered with black cloth; small section next to head painted green.
Anthropologist William Elmendorf notes that: "The skin drum [had a] single-skin head of uncured deer hide. During the reservation period horsehide came to be preferred for its louder tone. The single head was stretched across a circular frame of wood, usually a vine maple hoop. The head skin covered the side of the wood frame and was held taught by thong lacings. The frame was thin, one to three feet in diameter, three to four inches deep. It was made of a single piece of wood, bent with the aid of hot water (1960:221)."
ceremonial; dancing
The drum and drumstick were acquired by the collector from Robbie Davis of the Esquimalt reserve, prior to 1958. At the time they were sold to the museum (1958), the collector noted that "[Davis] had always danced at the winter dances until last year. He is 76 years old.”