Lakota Drum Workshop
In 2011, Conscious Alliance began sponsoring a drum workshop on Pine Ridge Reservation. The workshop is designed as a four-week program for 4th – 8th graders, and travels to multiple schools around the reservation throughout the year. Participants of the workshop learn the traditional Lakota way of making a hand drum, and gather and prepare all the necessary materials themselves. They learn to scrap and tan the elk hides that are used for the skin of the drum, and find ash and cottonwood trees to create the frame of the drum. They stretch and lace their own hides to the frame, and decorate their drums with paint made of natural pigments from the earth.
Most importantly, the youth participants learn Lakota life skills through the workshop. As they create their drums, they simultaneously learn about the Lakota language and culture. Instructors teach them traditional Lakota songs and to play the drum in the custom of their ancestors. This clinic is ultimately intended to help the younger generation develop and uphold a strong relationship to their community and culture, and to inspire a positive path throughout their lives.
Follow Us on Facebook
