Warasa Garifuna Drum School

Garifuna Drum Making in Belize

Learn all about the way Garifuna drums are made in Belize! Drum making lessons at Warasa show you the basics of making a Garifuna drum. Help us with some of the key steps: chisel, plane and sand a solid log into shape, prepare the ropes, jungle vine rings or wooden pins that fix the  deerskin hide and fix to the drum.  Add the bass or snare wires, and enjoy a quick demonstration of how a finished drum sounds.

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It is an intensive and time-consuming process to make a drum from start to finish.  Book a longer lesson if you want to learn more of the steps.

1005291_589282644466036_1265463871_nWe will show you how Garifuna drum-making is done the traditional way.  Prepare yourself to use or watch your teacher using power tools and get dusty!   You can simply watch or get hands-on.

Prices per person for a 1.5 hour lesson:

2-3 people: $45USD/$90Bz per person

4-8 people: $37.50USD/$75Bz per person

Please note if you are interested in making a quality, playable drum (not a poor quality and sounding imitation) from start to finish you will need to contact us several weeks in advance so we can do our best to secure a suitable log, deerskin and all the other materials, and you will need to be in the area for at least a week to allow time for the deer skin to be properly fitted, dried, the drum to be varnished several times etc.