Desire for drum builds into spiritual pursuit

Nelda Goode always wanted a drum as a teenager living on a Navajo reservation in the Four Corners area of the Southwest.

As an adult, she took matters into her own hands and started making ceremonial drums.

"I just wanted a drum and I couldn't afford one," she said. "They're not a toy. They're definitely a musical instrument and they are pricey because they are crafted well."

Her drums are all designed and painted with a Southwestern or Native American theme since that is what Goode has always loved, having lived or worked on several reservations throughout the years.

Plus, there is Cherokee in her family line.

"My heart is Native American and it always will be," she said.

Goode took a class on how to make drums from a Montana woman she met at a drum circle in Pahrump.

Crafting the drums is quite easy for Goode since she has 38 years of experience as an upholsterer and had a business in Pahrump for 18 of those.

"I've always done something creative," she said. "Both my parents were creative people and it's just kind of come down the line."

Goode made her first dress when she was 8 years old when her mother taught her how to sew, follow a pattern and what to do with fabric.

Goode said she has made close to 100 drums and it takes several hours over three days to make one.

She buys a complete hide, such as cow and elk, which is "hard and sharp" and then you need to find a way to cut it to size while dry before soaking it. Goode said this is the most difficult part, "managing the leather". The hide can only be soaked once or there will be problems.

The wooden ring forming the base of the drum is made out of cherrywood, which comes in a tube which she also cuts to size, and sands so it doesn't cut the animal hide.

"The easiest part is giving it its spirit and its voice," she stated. "Every drum has a different voice."

All her drums are hand-painted with an oil-based paint.

The first drum she made depicts the "grandmothers" - based on a Native American expression. Goode symbolically included herself and a late friend as one of the "grandmothers" painted on the drum.

"It means that if the grandmothers could run the world we wouldn't fight," Nelda said.

If you have a drum, you need something to play it. Goode even makes drum beaters from driftwood which has washed down the mountain near her house. Scraping off all the bark and dirt is a lot of work she added.

The beater ends are made out of leather and crafted with her handiwork.

Goode makes ceremonial drums to sell, but said it is much more than that.

"I feel that I have a closer connection with the people (Native Americans). It gives me a spiritual lift or spiritual feeling when I make them," she said.

She has even sold drums to some Native Americans around the area, including Las Vegas and Death Valley.

Goode and her son were recently invited to an event at Stovepipe Wells Village in Death Valley for some visitors from Switzerland. They took drums, rainsticks, and rattles for a man from the Swiss Alps who wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday in the desert. Goode said the group joined in the drumming festivities.

"They just loved it; they just really had a good time," she said.

According to Goode, about 10 years ago there was a group of 350 women drummers in Vegas. They would drum non-stop for two hours.

"It was powerful; I mean that place just rang," Goode said. "It touched everybody's soul."

She used to be part of a now disbanded drum circle in Pahrump organized by her late friend. Goode would like to see another drum circle formed, as would Rhonda Nelson, who met her at a recent craft show.

Nelson has two Native American wooden flutes and joined in accompanying Goode on her drums at the show.

"It was pretty fun and it was interesting," Nelson said.

She said that some of the vendors stopped to say they really enjoyed the music, which was "soothing and calming."

"I would like to meet up with Nelda some other time and just sit around and play the flute and she can play the drum again and I think we would enjoy that," Nelson added.

Goode said a person does not need any type of special training to be a ceremonial drum player. Someone starts with a beat, or cadence and others join in.

"You just kind of stay in rhythm with the other ones, but you don't have to do the same beat, you know," she said. "There's nothing to it and it's a lot of fun."

For more information on Goode's ceremonial drums, having her drum at an event or forming a drum circle email her at: womanami2003@yahoo.com.