Nelisdrums

About us

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
rt263	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 48cm, 774g Hand Schlägel/Beater €195
rt326	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 798g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr062	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 554g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rt335	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 52cm, 990g Hand Schlägel/Beater €222
rt343	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 35cm, 504g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt346	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 638g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rt347	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 820g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr063	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 47cm, 654g Hand Schlägel/Beater €188
rt350	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 34cm, 594g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt354	Reh/Roe Deer, 29cm, 260g Hand Schlägel/Beater €99
rt358	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 59cm, 1018g Hand Schlägel/Beater €277
rtr066	Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 346g Hand Schlägel/Beater €101
rtr067	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 34cm, 434g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr070	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 56cm, 914g Hand Schlägel/Beater €266
rtr071	Reh/Roe Deer, 23cm, 234g Hand Schlägel/Beater €75
rtr073	Reh/Roe Deer, 32cm, 384g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rt366	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 55cm, 1332g Hand Schlägel/Beater €266
rt371	Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 348g Hand Schlägel/Beater €101
rtr076	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 42cm, 488g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr077	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 47cm, 692g Hand Schlägel/Beater €188
rt381	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 58cm, 1298g Hand Schlägel/Beater €277
rt382	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 53cm, 1140g Hand Schlägel/Beater €233
rt387	Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 408g Hand Schlägel/Beater €101
rt390	Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 352g Hand Schlägel/Beater €101
rt391	Reh/Roe Deer, 30cm, 340g Hand Schlägel/Beater €101
rt392	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 41cm, 622g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rt395	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 400g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rt396	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 318g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rtr082	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 358g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rt398	Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 358g Hand Schlägel/Beater €122
rt399	Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 360g Hand Schlägel/Beater €122
rtr083	Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 392g Hand Schlägel/Beater €122
rt401	Reh/Roe Deer, 33cm, 404g Hand Schlägel/Beater €122
rt402	Reh/Roe Deer, 35cm, 466g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr084	Reh/Roe Deer, 35cm, 478g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr085	Reh/Roe Deer, 35cm, 502g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr086	Reh/Roe Deer, 35cm, 448g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt404	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 684g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr090	Reh/Roe Deer, 27cm, 254g Hand Schlägel/Beater €88
rtr091	Reh/Roe Deer, 27cm, 294g Hand Schlägel/Beater €88
rt405	Reh/Roe Deer, 27cm, 256g Hand Schlägel/Beater €88
rt407	Reh/Roe Deer, 27cm, 232g Hand Schlägel/Beater €88
rtr092	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 35cm, 518g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr093	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 34cm, 440g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt408	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 35cm, 488g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt410	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 34cm, 518g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rt414	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 278g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rt415	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 322g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rtr095	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 360g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rtr096	Reh/Roe Deer, 31cm, 280g Hand Schlägel/Beater €111
rt416	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 42cm, 644g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rt417	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 42cm, 614g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr098	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 42cm, 614g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rtr099	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 42cm, 724g Hand Schlägel/Beater €166
rt421	Damhirsch/Fallow deer, 36cm, 442g Hand Schlägel/Beater €133
rtr102	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 45cm, 796g Hand Schlägel/Beater €177
rt422	Rothirsch/ Red deer, 45cm, 896g Hand Schlägel/Beater €177

Workshops

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! :-)

• Does my drum come with a beater?
• Can my drum be tuned?

Does my drum come with a beater?

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.

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';