Make A Gourd Water Drum

In this post, Michael Heralda creates a Mayan “Bubalek” Water Drum. A great project for beginning gourd artists.

Michael Heralda is a songwriter, touring artist, storyteller, and poet. Since 1996, he has delivered Aztec Stories presentations to audiences of all ages across the United States.

Indigenous people from Mexico, Africa, the Middle East, and several Native American tribes have used these drums because they produce a deep, sacred, and natural tone. Creating the drums is simple enough for beginning gourd artists, and once you make several, you can enjoy and share a wide range of sounds with others.

The water drum is made from half of a gourd, which is floated in water and played with the hand or a mallet. A gourd is filled with water with another gourd floating in the water and struck with a stick. Before I tell you more watch this video that introduce this instrument.

Now that you are familiar with the instrument,let’s make one!

Gather your tool

The process for creating these drums is really simple. Begin by selecting a canteen gourd. The size of the gourd matters! The tone is determined by the space between the water and the interior dome of the gourd.

A glove and a mask are a must in the project, and begin with cleaning the exterior of the gourd.

“Many people ask me if the size of the water container is what causes the different sounds of the gourds. Amazingly, it is not the container. The container, however, allows the gourd to resonate as it floats in the water. It comes from three characteristics of the gourd: its size, wall thickness, and how much air is trapped between the surface of the water and the inside, or cavity, of the gourd. You can change the pitch slightly (by at least three steps, from a C note to an E note, for example) simply by allowing some of the air to escape from under the gourd – the less air trapped, the higher the pitch, the more air trapped offers the deepest tone the drum can produce.”

The Gourd Water Drum Process

Step 1: Clean the gourd’s exterior.

Step 2:

Then a guideline is drawn below the center of the gourd.

Step 3:

Wearing gloves, place the gourd between your legs and use a hacksaw to cut your line.

Step 4:

Now submerge your gourds in water for 5 to 24 hours to soften the gourds’ interior fibers.

Step 5:

Use the scraping tool to take away the fibers. The gourd needs to be wet enough to scrape easily.

Step 6:

Then use the scrub pad to smooth the interior surface.

Step 7:

Next, let it dry in the sun for a few days until completely dry.

Step 8:

Sand the gourd’s edge to round and smooth. This will prevent it from cracking when dropped.

Step 9:

Seal the interior with a water-based sealer. Beeswax will not work here.

Consider creating a base for your drums. And think about the type of bowl it will sit in.

Creating a Mallet for your Gourd Water Drum

Step 1: Cut a stick and sand off the bark.

Step2:

Use strips of t-shirt material and wrap them around the end. Cover the t-shirt material with felt for a soft sound, or in leather for a percussion sound. Lastly, wrap with a cord or string.