We are Nelis and Runi and our family. We are at home in the woods of Mecklenburg (NE Germany).
Here is also our workshop, where we are making our own drum frames, mostly from spruce wood, which is light and sturdy. We can make frames of different sizes and shapes.
We are using the hides of animals who hae lived freely here in Mecklenburg. They are either of roe deer, fallow deer, or red deer.
We do not skin the animals ourselves, but we do the cleaning of the skins (removing meat and hair) and the drying.
For making the drum itself, we cut the dried skin to size, soak it, and stretch it over the drum frame using dacron line for the "webbing" and cotton thread for the handlecross.
When the skin has dried again, the drum has come alive.
You can see a variety of our drums here
We would be happy to build a drum specially for you, or to guide you in building your drum yourself. We are offering drum building workshops several times a year, and individual arrangements are possible as well.
Drum Building
In this video we show how we make our drumframes and put a skin on it. It's recorded in our old workshop :-)
Our Drums
Here we present all the drums currently available.
There are recordings of every drum, played by hand, and using a beater. Obviously each recording is an actual recording of the very drum it appears next to!! Then, of course, a drum's sound changes depending on things like humidity, mood, style of play. We can only offer a glimpse into the drum's possibilities.
Prices are excl shipping costs:
€7,50 within Germany, €15 within the EU and €30 to the rest of the world.
Have you found your drum in this list, email us (mail@nelisdrums.de), let us know which drum it is, and best your adress as well. Then everything will turn out fine! We don't have a click-click-buy system! :-)
Have you not found your drum in this list, but think that we should build it, or that you need to build it yourself, contact us (mail@nelisdrums.de), and we will find a way!
rt187
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 56cm, 948g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€266
rtr062
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 554g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€166
rtr071
Reh/Roe Deer, 23cm, 234g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€75
rtr073
Reh/Roe Deer, 32cm, 384g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€111
rtr076
Rothirsch/ Red deer, 42cm, 488g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€166
rt390
Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 352g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€101
rt396
Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 318g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€111
rtr082
Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 358g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€111
rt399
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 360g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr083
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 392g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr084
Reh/Roe Deer, 35cm, 478g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€133
rtr097
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 44cm, 594g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€177
rtr101
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 39cm, 690g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€155
rt429
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 44cm, 784g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€177
rtr107
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 46cm, 640g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€188
rt433
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 58cm, 1162g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€277
rt434
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 46cm, 900g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€188
rtr109
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 44cm, 742g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€177
rt437
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 58cm, 1264g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€277
rtr111
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 48cm, 894g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€199
rt440
Rothirsch/ Red deer, 58cm, 1182g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€277
rtr116
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 48cm, 798g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€199
rtr117
Reh/Roe Deer, 37cm, 320g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€144
rtr118
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 328g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rt443
Reh/Roe Deer, 37cm, 332g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€144
rt444
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 33cm, 332g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr119
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 33cm, 292g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rt445
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 37cm, 360g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€144
rtr120
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 37cm, 332g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€144
rtr121
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 37cm, 374g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€144
rt447
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 284g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rt448
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 422g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rt450
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 298g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rt451
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 33cm, 270g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr122
Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 274g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr123
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 33cm, 364g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€122
rtr125
Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 368g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€113
rt452
Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 710g
Hand
Schlägel/Beater
€166
Flutes
Who doesn't know the hair-raising skwieky noises that recorders produce in the hands of children.
The Native American style flute is everything the recorder should have been.
And yes offcourse she can make skieky noises. But with the first air chamber compensating pressure fluctuations, it is far more easy to make a nice sound with it.
This, together with the pentatonic minor tuning, means that everyone can summon a few satisfying melodies out of the flute in almost no time.
Most think of Slow Floating New Age Indian Music when they think of the NAF, For wich it is actually ideal. But they are much more varied than just that, you can play slowly, quickly, swinging, dragging, but also staccato.
All our flutes are treated with non-toxic tung oil and beeswax.
Prices exclude shipping
€ 6.50 in Germany, outside Germany mostly around € 15
We don't ship to America get your flute from a native when your living there :-)
All of our flutes are a bit different, they are made of wood, so they all look different, but the sound of one is a bit airier, the other is warmer or clearer. that is why we took photos and recorded the sound of every flute.
The audio samples that are next to each flute are from the flute that can also be seen in the picture. The recordings are without effects, so just the raw sound of the flute. Click on the picture to see the rest of the photos of the flute.
We are currently offering weekend workshops at our home (max 7 participants) in the woods. You will build your own drum from roe deer (max 42cm), fallow deer (max 52cm), or red deer hide (max 58cm), and get to know it in a guided journey.
The costs of €285 include all materials, (simple) accomodation, und exquisite food (ecological/wild). Vegetarian upon request. Vegan not possible.
For more information in English (or Dutch) contact us: mail@nelisdrums.de
Workshop Dates
18/ 19/ 20 Oktober.
22/ 23/ 24 November.
FAQ
There are some questions we have answered again and again, so now is the time to collect them here. We will add to this collection whenever we come across some interesting or amusing question. If you have a question that isn't answered here (or isn't answered well enough) do ask us! :-)
Yes, it does.
We're sending a beater along with each drum we make. (Unless you tell us specifically not to!)
Personally I prefer playing by hand, because you can have more dynamics and more emotion in your play when using your hands. Most beaters I've seen with shaman drums are large and unwieldy. Those that we make are simple and light, allowing for greater versatility in play.
Can my drum be tuned?
No, it can't.
Now there are opinions ranging from "drums without tuning possibility are worthless" to "Shamans in old times didn't have tunable drums either". The first opinion is insulting drums, and therefore me personally. The second opinion... oh well. The indians [North American natives] that everyone is so taken with didn't have horses or large cotton teepees before contact with Europeans. And what is the cliché image of an indian?! So what is "original", now?!
Basically, having no tuning options means that the drums will lose tension when you are outdoors in the evening and it gets colder and more humid. Then again, you will probably be having a bonfire when you are foing to play your drum outdoors at night. And that solves the problem.
Tuning options can be useful, but they also mean greater responsibility. I don't want to know how many drums died because their tension has been increased when the evening was humid, and then it has been forgotten to decrease tension before the next hot day.
My drum has completely lost tension. What can I do?
Contact us
We are best reached by email. Our email address is mail@nelisdrums.de
We do have a phone with the number +49 151 456 83 202. But it's usually offline, and/or lying at its designated place which is usually not where we are.
Our post address is:
Försterei 1
17237 Klein Vielen OT Brustorf.
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