Patriotic Peace Drum

True confession: I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. Some of you have already suspected that fact. Well now you have the confirmation for your suspicions. Just before we packed up to fly to Auburn last week I had the insight to go on the web & read the description of the workshops that I was presenting there. Much to my chagrin there was a detail in my morning workshop description that said that I was going to talk about making instruments from inexpensive & recycled material. Ooooops. All of those instruments are in my home in Ohio and not with us here in WI where our journey was to originate.

So with less than 12 hours to spare I then had the idea to just make a new peace drum. So here are the 'instructions' for the making of a simple drum. 1. Get some lumber sawed into four sections. This is like a big science experiment. As you vary the width and length of your drum sides -- you alter the sound created by drumming. 2. Paint your lumber. I went patriotic because these were the colors of paint on hand in our kitchen drawer...... and it will be great to have for my upcoming picture book: "Red, White & Blue."

Construct your rectangle of four sides by nailing, or screwing the four sides together. Now here come the actual instructions. To make the drum head use clear 'mailing' tape. Start wrapping your lumber along it's shorter dimention. Wrap one time around the lumber and cut your tape. Overlap the tape by about half, wrap again and cut. Continue with this wrapping, overlapping and cutting until you get all of the way across the drum.

THEN go the other direction, along the length of your drum. Wrap around the lumber, cut. Overlap and continue.

We once made these 'peace drums' at the Childhood League Center. I paid for new lumber and paid a nominal amount for labor to build the drums. Each child at the center painted a drum to take home and one to leave at the center. We created close to 150 drums and spent $200 of our music grant in the process. For a bit over a dollar you've got a great surface for pounding -- musically or therapeutically if necessary. Should your drum head ever need repair it's a quick and inexpensive fix. I first saw this idea when Baba Jubal Harris, African drummer came to the Center. He is a great story-teller/drummer and is part of our Artist in the Schools program.

PRICELESS. Get your drums ready for a parade for the Fourth of July!! Pound away as the band goes down the street. Join the fun.