Consider the gourd. By doing so, you will join a long line of humans that have been figuring out how to get something out of a gourd for at least the last 14,000 years or so. Ever since the first person picked up a gourd and wondered what it was, people have found all sorts of interesting uses for them. A dried gourd, rather small in size, with a thick shell and loose seeds inside, is nature’s ready–made rhythmic shaker. Nothing really needs to be done to a gourd to make it into a musical instrument. Give one to a child and you’ll see that shaking it, hitting it with a stick, bouncing it off something, drumming on it with the fingers—those things just seem to come naturally.

In the most basic sense, a gourd is engineered as soon as something is done to it to make it work better for a specific practical use. Removing the seeds to make a hollowed–out container for carrying things is an example of early gourd engineering. There is not much science involved in doing that, but nevertheless; a person had to think about the relationships between the space available inside the gourd, the nature of the inner surface, the strength of the shell, and what was intended to be carried in it, be it solid or liquid. Would it need a handle? Is there something that can be used to coat the surface to make it stronger or more resistant to rot?

Even though the scientific method may not have been used early on to answer such questions and modify gourds for practical uses, it is fair to consider the mere process of asking such questions and coming up with solutions as an early form of engineering. Certainly, modifying a gourd to be more than a simple shaker or something to be hit with a beater is an example of gourd drum engineering.

Gourd Drum Engineering represents the cumulative efforts of makers Joel Newmiller and Philip McIntosh in the realm of gourd percussion instrument design. Our gourd journey started several years ago by getting pretty good at making basic hand drums—ones that lasted, looked good, and played well. After mastering Basic Hand Drums, we began tackling other instruments for which few resources exist. Then we started inventing some new ones.

Our goal is to advance art and science of gourd percussion and to encourage people who have never made their own instruments before to take that first crucial step toward innovation.