If you look at http://home.planet.nl/~inibara/djembenl.htm it will answer
virtually all your questions. It is never a problem to tune up your djembe
at any temp or humidity. But take care; when the djembe is moved to another
room (e.g. with air conditioned = dry air) the skin will drying out and
getting smaller with the large risk that it will break. I always detend the
djembe for three "diamonds" or so after playing.
Gerard van Dyk, the Netherlands
[Mods Note: From Gerard's website regarding:
Humidity
Avoid changes in humidity after having tuned up the drum. Humidity will
soften the skin in a few hours and make it vibrate slower. The tone will
go down. If you tune it up to correct this, the skin may tear when air
gets dryer in the hours or days that follow ! Of course a goat-skin can be
replaced by another !
If you are an incidental player or live in an extremely humid house (poor
you) or climate simply tune up the drum untill a reasonable sound the way
described above. Then, each time you want to play, you place your drum
with the goat skin faced to a heating source. You may use an electric
ventilator stove or a hair dryer. The Arabs put a lamp in the inside of
their drums to dry and tune a skin. Lighting a wood fire is somewhat
troublesome (and risky) but it is the way it is done in the rainy seasons
in some parts of Africa. All these ways will result in tensioning a skin
temporarily to a playable tone. Do not exaggerate this either !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Druantia" <lanajackman@cox.net>
To: <djembe-l@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 10:00 PM
Subject: [Djembe-L] Newbie Questions
> Although I've played djembe for a few years now, they were always
> someone else's & always ready to go in whatever situation. I now have
> my own key-tuned djembe, but am not sure exactly when/how it needs
> tuning. I live in New Orleans (HUMID!) So if I were to go outside w/my
> djembe, do I loosen or tighten the head? How do you tell it needs
> adjusting? Should it be as tight as possible at all times?
> Also, does anyone know of any drumming circles/groups/etc., in New
> Orleans?
>
> Thanking you in advance,
> Lana Jackman
