Nicholas produces a range of single sided deerskin shamanic frame drums based on traditional shamanic frame drums used by a variety of cultures.

Each is hand made with the finest of materials, and comes ready to use complete with a buck skin wrapped beater and instructions about the upkeep of the drum.

These instructions are available as a pdf file

The drums are unpainted and are available in 13 inch (£99), 15inch (£129), 18 inch (£159), and 20 inch (£179) diameters. Nicholas is willing to negotiate about painting drums for an additional fee.

The drums are laced with deerskin lacing, which goes over the back of the drum to form a cross. This is then wrapped in soft buck skin to make a comfortable handle to hold the drum by. This, and the fact that the drums are not very heavy makes them ideal for long periods of shamanic practice and ceremony.

The tone of these drums is very good, being made with good quality deer skin. The tone varies depending on the size of the drum.

The tone of a skin drum is, just like a stringed instrument, effected by three factors which are part of the laws of physics.

The first factor is the width of the skin. To use the example of a guitar, if a guitarist plays a note high up on the neck his fingers press the string down on a fret which makes the string in effect shorter. The shorter the string is, the higher the note. This is just the same with drums. A wider drum is like having a longer string - it makes a deeper sound.

The second factor is the thickness of the drum skin. Again, to use the example of a guitar, the high notes are played on the thinnest string and the low notes are played on the thickest string. A guitars six strings vary in thickness, each being thicker than the last (from high notes to low notes) across the neck of the instrument. Nicholas uses deerskin that is between 1 - 1.5 mm thick on all of his drums, this is an ideal thickness for this type of drum and produces a good tone.

The last factor is the tension of the drum skin. Again to use the example of a guitar, the instrument is tuned by making the strings tighter or slacker by the cogs called 'machine heads' at the top of the guitars neck. The player will turn the cog to wind in or wind out the string making it tighter (a higher note) or slacker (a lower note) until it is the correct note.

If the string is too slack it will flap about when it is plucked and make no note at all. This is the same with drum skins, the slacker the skin, the deeper the drum's note, until they get to a point where the skin is so slack that the drum sounds more like a cardboard box than a drum when you hit it.

Some drums are able to have their skins tightened like guitars. Timpani, the 'kettle drum' of an orchestra is a good example of one tunable drum.

Traditional shamanic drums do not have a tuning ability however, the skin on these drums is fixed. However skin, being a natural material, moves about a little as it breaths. It takes in dampness from the air and the more damp rawhide is, the bigger it becomes. This is why a drum is made with wet rawhide, as it dries it shrinks and tightens up.

Some types of skin move about a great deal, and are very susceptible to moisture in the air. Generally this is thinner skins such as goat or fish skin. The thicker deerskin which Nicholas uses on his drums makes them more stable, but even they will sound dead and dull in very damp conditions.

To solve this the drum needs to be warmed up, this dries out the skin. Drums can be warmed by putting them in a warm place or left in the sun to dry. A place that is too hot can make the skin dry out too much sometimes resulting in it splitting or even the hoop imploding, but this is rare.

Photo: Southern Siberian Shaman's drum drying in the sun on the roof of a yurt before a ceremony

his gentle drying will not damage the drum skin in anyway, it is a natural part of the relationship you will have with your drum, and if treated with love and good attention there is no reason why your drum should not out live you... a drum is for life!