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A step-by-step guide to latest method of roping an ikigala
drum |
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The Alfaia Roping Method |
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A step-by-step guide to latest method of roping an ikigala
drum |
Rope Most of the year, my choice is natural hemp. I change it to synthetic
to get tighter heads in the winter. If you are interested in using hemp
on your drum, here are some links to websites for ordering. How Much Rope? |
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Roping the Head to the Drum We start this part of the ikigala construction process assuming you have already cut out and prepared the heads for mounting. The photos in this series, like most of the tiny photos on this page, are thumbnails. Click them for a larger image. |
| Now it's time for the vertical rope. Tie a bowline knot in one end of the rope. Leave a little extra rope hanging from the knot that I will call the "tail". Pass the other end of the rope over the anchoring rope, and pull it all the way through until the bowline knot seats against the rawhide anchoring rope. |  |
| Working to the right or left, whatever strikes your fancy, pass the vertical rope down through the bottom rawhide anchor rope. While you are working, spray the heads to keep them wet. Make sure the vertical rope wraps over the anchoring rope the same way on the top and bottom. I pass it under the anchoring rope and over the top. |  |
| Continue lacing the drum with the vertical rope in a zig-zag pattern all the way around until you reach the bowline knot. |  |
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| Pass the end of the vertical rope through the bowline knot and back down towards the bottom of the drum. |  |
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| Pass the end of the vertical rope around the rawhide anchoring rope at the bottom. This keeps it in place while you tighten the verticals. |  |
| Now, go around the drum again and pull the verticals tight. It's best to go around twice more. You want to tighten it gradually. On the final pass, pull them very tight. |  |
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| Tie the end that you pass under the anchoring rope to the "tail" that you left on the bowline knot. |  |
Tightening with a Lateral Rope Now comes the interesting part. The lateral rope tightens the heads even further. The alfaia method gets the ropes very taut. I have broken an anchoring hole with the leverage it produces. The photos in this series, like most of the tiny photos on this page, are thumbnails. Click them for a larger image. |
You will notice that, in each vertical pair, one is a little higher than the other. It passes over the anchoring rawhide, the other under it. |
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Near the midway point between the top and bottom of the drum, cross the upper vertical over the lower one. |
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Insert the end of the lateral rope from behind and through the point where the two verticals cross. |
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When you release the tension on the lateral rope, you should see something that looks like this. |
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| Gather the next vertical pair. One of these verticals was the farther vertical of the first pair. |  |
Pass the upper vertical over the lower one, just as you did the first pair . . . |
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| . . . and pass the rope between the crossed pairs. |  |
| Again, when you release the tension, the pattern at right if formed. |
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At right is a photo after three vertical pairs have been roped together. |
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The last two vertical pairs will include extra ropes that you made when you tied off the vertical ropes. Just wrap them up in the lateral rope. |
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Go around the drum again twice. After the second pass, the drum will look something like this. |
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On the last time around, pull the lateral very tightly. It will roll the verticals over and actually lock them in a half-twisted position. This is the key to the alfaia method. |
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When you are finished with the last time around, tie off the lateral rope. |
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| Here's a shot of the finished drum, ready to dry. |
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Let us not forget that you will want to keep your drum tuned. They will steadily get lower in pitch as the heads stretch out, especially shortly after they are built. Eventually, you will want to tighten the heads again. With this roping method, you must remove all the rope, resaok the heads, and rerope it all again. One reason I tighten the heads so much when I rope it the first time is to stretch the hide as much as possible. There are other roping methods that do allow you to tune the drum easily. They are dealt with elsewhere on this website. For a quick tightening (one or two day's drying), you can just wet the center of the head. When it dries, it will tighten up a bit. |
