Hand-Drum; Drum-Stick
date: label: Accession Date
content: 28 Nov 1883
label: Collection Date
content: 1882 to 1883
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Leonhard H. Stejneger
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Hand-drum Cha-yakh (i); Drum stick Tum-ga-shikh (r). From U.S. Govt. Ex. to Commander Island. ... Of the Unungan family. Shell an oval hoop with joints overlapping and nailed; handle notched to fit over the joint; head, the bladder of a fur seal stretched over the hoop and held in the groove on the outsifde of the hoop by a line. A sinew cord is passed four times across the hoop, acting as a snare. Unangan is not a family name, but merely the Aleutian name for themselves. - Dr. L. Black 1/4/1982."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Drum includes drum-stick on loan.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=166, retrieved 5-8-2014: Drum There was a man called Ugdigdang who always had celebrations . . . . He used to say to his people, 'Even when I am dead I shall have celebrations. So when I die, you shall lay me in the cave of my observation hill, putting with me my drum and paints.' - From the story "Ugdigdang" told by Ivan Suvorov of Nikolski in 1910. Drumming accompanied dance and song during the traditional ceremonial season, which extended from December through April. Young men drummed, striking their instruments with wooden sticks, while the women and older men danced. Drums with handles, like this one, were the most common, although in the 1760s Tolstykh saw another type that was held by cross-cords. Dancers dressed in festival hats and clothing, wore masks, and carried rattles made from inflated seal stomachs. It was reported in the 18th century that drums, like masks, were broken after the ceremonial season or placed in caves, never to be used again. As told in the story of Ugdigdang, drums were placed in burial caves with the mummified bodies of chiefs, for use in the afterlife. Shamans beat drums during séances held to communicate with spirits, heal the sick, and foretell the future. Drums were used in war, sounding loudly as raiders attacked a village. Bill Tcheripanoff of Akutan (1902-1991) demonstrated how to make wood-framed drums for the Unalaska City School District, using fox and caribou skin for the covers. He told how men used to compose drumming songs when they were hunting and trapping, returning to perform them in the village. Drums were also traditionally covered with thin seal skin or whale bladder.
label: Notes
content: From Elders' discussions of the drum in 2003 (see web page cited above for the full entries) with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Mary Bourdukofsky: It's a beautiful drum. Daria Dirks: On the top it says "cha-yakh" [in museum catalog record]. Chaiyax^ means "music." Aron Crowell: Do you remember seeing or hearing any drums? Maria Turnpaugh: They used to have them when I was growing up. Mary Bourdukofsky: They hardly used them. They just hung like a souvenir. Maria Turnpaugh: They did at parties. Mary Bourdukofsky: Yes, once in a while they'd take it down and play it, with somebody playing guitar in the house. Aron Crowell: But not with dances or old songs? Mary Bourdukofsky: No. Maria Turnpaugh: Yes, in our town they did, like during Russian Christmas they did. They'd have a program, and they'd have dancing and drums. There'd be old Jenny Galuktinoff, John Goldovoff, Walter Gardayoff, and they'd dance Aleut dances. Aron Crowell: And did they have old songs? Maria Turnpaugh: Yes, they did. Mary Bourdukofsky: What kind of seal bladder is this?
label: Notes
content: Daria Dirks: It says fur seal [in museum catalog record]. Mary Bourdukofsky: Fur seal bladders don't get this big, unless it's a very big fur seal. Vlass Shabolin: Attog^a sanx^o. (Bull fur seal stomach.) Mary Bourdukofsky: Yes, maybe. Daria Dirks: Not like the canvas ones nowadays. Mary Bourdukofsky: In school we were making them out of airplane material. I have one that's made out of reindeer skin. Karen and I made it, and we used reindeer antler for the handle. Put screws through the antler and then just tied it to the stick. Mary Bourdukofsky: They always kept string there [across center]? Aron Crowell: I think it would have made a rattling noise for a snare drum. Vlass Shabolin: Mm-hmm. Mary Bourdukofsky: I've never seen a drum stick like that. Daria Dirks: It's almost as long as the drum itself. It's very thin too. Maria Turnpaugh: That's a different stick than I've ever seen. Vlass Shabolin: It must be a strong piece of wood because look at how thin the handle is. This one is springy where you just tap on it. This backside looks like it'd fit in the palm and with two fingers you just tap it onto the drum. Mary Bourdukofsky: Maybe they used it to make different sounds for each song.
label: Notes
content: Vlass Shabolin: When you tap it right at the end of the stick, you make a loud sound. If you tap it sideways, then you lay it flat and you can make a little light sound.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Aleutian Islands / Commander Islands, Russia, Asia / North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013728
label: USNM Number
content: E73020-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Drum / Drumstick
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 63.5 cm