DRUM SONG/Tabletop

The first sound a baby hears in the womb in the heartbeat of the Mother. About ten years ago I read a book by Layne Redmond called When the Drummers Were Women. It focuses on understanding the ancient Goddess religions where drumming was used as a medium of communication and spirituality and as a way of exploring human consciousness in connection to the surrounding world. The drum represents the universal heartbeat of our Mother Earth the universal mother to us all.

The drum is the oldest musical instrument in the world, it is the pulse of the earth and its origins can be found in every society. The drum is most revered in Africa where it is considered the most important musical instrument.  When I started my sculpture Drum Song I had been reading about how are ancestors understood and utilized the power of rhythm and sound to connect with the sacred. Early humans had an instinctive urge to connect to a universal energy through ceremony and ritual, they would rhythmically manipulate noise and move their bodies in dance to the primal heartbeat of creation. The earliest drums were animal skins stretched over a hollowed out section of a tree trunk and struck with bone to produce sound. During the Neolithic period the women performed the rituals and ran the ceremonies while the men handled material affairs. There was an intimate relationship between women and their hand held drums. Drum Song is representative of women and their instinctive knowledge of the rhythms of life.