Wow, what an amazing afternoon! What a fantastic experience. Once in a life time, chance to make authentic Blackfoot drums with Darcy and Frank Turning Robe. Students got to use all five senses and embrace the spirit of these instruments that came directly from nature. The hides have a very distinctive smell. Some students said that it reminded them of wet dog. Have you ever felt a raw elk hide? Some students said it felt like rubber. It is wet, so that you can manipulate the hide, we found though that the strands of elk hide dried quickly as we worked with them. We certainly used our sense of touch to work with the tough and strong elk hide threads.
Darcy told us that for the Blackfoot people drums represent healing and strength. The spirit in the drums comes from nature because all things in nature have a spirit. Frank told us a story about seeing a good luck rabbit on the way to school today in the Blackfoot culture they believe that this rabbit is a spirit delivering a message that something good is about to come. Well, something good did come today and that was this amazing experience.
The drum rim is made from white cedar and the drum skin is from elk hide. This was a legacy project for our first grade four classes at Kenneth D. Taylor school. Imagine the stories these drums will tell in years to come.
Here are some wonderful photos for you to enjoy and talk about at home:
Elder Frank Turning Robe delivers the blessing to begin
 |
| Receiving the gift of tobacco. |
Step 1
|
|
 |
| Darcy Turning Robe explains the techniques. |
 |
| Threading the hide from one side to the other, teamwork. |
 |
| Frank demonstrating the final stage of the stringing. Binding the threads together in the centre of the drum . The natural materials mimic the geometry found in nature. |
 |
| Finished drum. Now all we have to do is wait for it to dry. This will take 4 days. |
 |
| Look at this amazing braiding. Incredibly talented fingers our students have. |
No comments:
Post a Comment