The drum not only holds the shaman's soul parts but the soul parts of the client as well. Sometimes the diseasecausing spirits are trapped inside the drum and remain their unless the shaman decides to release them to appropriate locations.
Nepalese shaman’s drums (dhyangro) are double headed, and covered by animal hide the drums are made of special wood. The animal hide used nowerdays is either mountain goat, deer or a domesticated goat or sheep. They also have a handle in the shape of a ritual daggger (often known in the West by it’s Tibetan name phurba) which has three sides to its blade, which in its three dimensional way represents all the cosmos.
On one side of this trianglur bladed handle there is the beak of the regal eagle, or perhaps an owl or a horse or a thunderbolt or an elephant. This is the male side of the drum, so when we hold the drum in front of our face, this male side should be facing outside.
The spirits hardly make any difference between a male and a female shaman, as the drum is the universal instrument used by both the sexes it makes no difference.
Some shamans respect the male and female sides of the drum, but some shamans don't, it depends upon the instructions they have received from their teachers and the spirits. If the shaman works with the male and female sides of the drum differently, the male side is used in the beginning of a shaman’s ceremony to call in the spirits. The female side is used towards the end of the ceremony or ritual to send away the helping spirits.
The shaman starts to drum with a 1/4 beat [O O O O O O], during which they will observe their whole body to look for tensions, performing deep breathing in order to relax, They will then invite their spirits and ancestors in to help them, and make their intentions for the ceremony or healing clear. Suddenly the shaman’s drumming will change rhythm to a 4/4 beat [O o o o O o o o O o o o], during which the shaman starts feeling sensations of heat and cold in their body as the spirits come closer and start inspiring them.
When the body of the shaman starts to move and shake, or they start to dance, the rhythm of the drumming becomes very random.
Towards the end of the session the female side of the drum is used, and then the rhythm becomes a 3/4 beat [O o o O o o O o o]. During this time the shaman starts calming and slowing down, and eventually the beat changes to a 2/4 [O o O o O o O o] and eventually a 1/4 [O O O O O O O] before it comes to a stop.
