Insanely Strong Vibrations

When you hit the 16" Bahia Buffalo Drum you will feel a palpable wave of energy flow through your body.  With every drum beat a sphere of energy expands around the drum by 2-3 feet, and quite honestly it feels incredible!

The first time I played my drum I was astonished, surprised, and delighted by the amount of resonance and sound it was putting out.  Remo has outdone themselves with the tone and quality of this instrument.  If you're like me, I was somewhat hesitant to go with a synthetic head because I thought a traditional skin head buffalo drum would be more "authentic".  I'm really glad I went with the synthetic, because it's well engineered, allowing them to fine tune the 16" Bahia Buffalo Drum to resonate beautifully. 

Drum On The Body for Deep Tissue Massage

When I first started playing this drum the most natural thing for me to do was to put the frame directly on my body and roll it up and down my chest and throat while playing.  I'd never seen anyone do this before and I wasn't taught this in sound healing school, but intuitively it just made sense.

You don't have to put the drum on the body in order to feel the vibrations, but when you do it will be like a sonic massage rippling on rhythm through your muscles, facia, and fluids.

I soon started using my Remo buffalo drum on people's back and neck muscles, rolling it up and down each side of the spine and across areas they were complaining about.  It's a totally new experience for most people and they report loving it! 

Usually I will use the buffalo drum to break up stuck energy before switching to weighted Schumann Resonance tuning forks for more subtle vibrations into the body.

Tips for Playing on the Body

1) Consistency of Beat - I've found that a consistent steady beat with a moderate to fast tempo is what clients most enjoy.  Consistency is key so that the client can relax.  If the beats are sporadic and changing it will prevent them from relaxing because they will be anticipating the next surprise change.  

2) Speeds of Beat - The speed of the drum beat basically gives them more vibration or less vibration in a given time.  If you are playing at 50 beats per minute vs. 100 beats per minute, you're going to get twice as much vibration from 100 beats per minute.  You need to use your intuition to find the correct tempo for your clients specific needs in the moment.

 3) Intensity of Hit - How hard you hit the drum will intensify or calm the massaging quality of the sound in the body.  You need to use your judgement to discern how much is sufficient for the needs of the moment.  Always be very careful with clients ears and reduce the intensity of your drum playing if working near the ears.  Loudness doesn't necessarily make an instrument more effective for sound healing.

Using Voice with the Buffalo Drum

The other reason I love the 16" Bahia Buffalo Drum is that it's perfect to accompany your own singing or humming practice.  Adding rhythm to your toning can help enter a trance with brainwave entrainment, or help you express a particular emotion that isn't as easily expressed through the voice.  

The combination of voice and buffalo drum leads perfectly into dance, which ads another layer of vibration and movement to your practice.  Combining these three elements is one of the oldest sound healing techniques in existence.  These help us move stuck energy out of our bodies so that it can't harm us, and it puts us in trance states where we can access different states of consciousness.

Trance States & Shamanic Drumming

Brainwave entrainment, aka changing the speed of your brainwaves to be faster or slower, can be achieved with any external sound rhythm.  The buffalo drum is the perfect instrument for this because it's light weight and easy to play consistently for long periods of time.  

The key to entrainment is a consistent steady beat of 1, 2, 3, 4, and you're hitting the drum on every single count without ceasing.  Drum journeys like this can go for 30 minutes or longer, and there are examples of shamanic drumming that you can play long with such as these Sandra Ingerman recordings.  

Conclusion

I highly recommend the Remo 16" Bahia Buffalo Drum!  I haven't tried out the other sizes of buffalo drums Remo offers, but I'm so satisfied with this drum that I don't feel I need to get another one.  If my current drum ever needs to be replaced I will without question be ordering a new one. 

I hope this article has helped you in some way.  Until next time!