Instruments

You have to be really respectful toward the drum. Don't be careless with it and even with yourself, don't be careless when you have the drum in your presence."

You can leave it by itself but at a powwow a lot of groups hold the universal belief of how to treat the drum. When you're at a powwow you don't leave it sitting by itself. At least one person will stay by the drum at a powwow. It ju st shows the respect for it. It is a tradition. Even within tribe, no one leaves it by itself when it's being used. In the mind and sense it has a soul. Within the tribe, the drum is for everyone. If anyone wants to learn they can. Some groups have a certain person who will hold on to it. Others trade off within the group.

Rattles cannot be understood as one homogenous group-different types of rattles have different functions and sometimes different symbolism.

Whistles are made of wood and decorated with carvings and feathers, and they are symbolic of thunder.

All aspects of the music are significant and full of power, and cannot be detached from the religion, culture, and history of the Arapaho. Arapaho musical instruments are used to accompany singing and sometimes dancing, (for which they provided cues); as toys, and as symbols of sounds of nature and animals. There are no documented examples of solely instrumental music- the instruments always accompanied by singing.

One type of rattle is the container rattle, a rounded rattle made of rawhide, filled with pebbles, and attached to a wooden handle. It is 8-12 inches in length with several inches of feathers as a decoration. Among its other uses, the Dog Society, one of the men's age-grade groups, used the container rattle to accompany singing while approaching an enemy.

Another type of rattle is made from buffalo scrotum and decorated, like the container rattle described above, with feathers. It was carried in battle by the Spear Society and thrown at the enemy, which the warriors followed in a charge.

A more recent creation, a rattle made of gourd and filled with glass beads is used only for the Peyote Ceremony. The sound produced is more swishy than the other two.

The drum remains sacred within the Arapaho nation. The drum, according to the Arapaho, is an animate object. In other words, it is in a sense, "alive." The Arapaho use the same verb form when talking about a drum as they use when talking about people and animals. The drum is not given the same verb form as objects such as a table or chair etc.

Most drum sticks are about one foot long and 1/4 an inch in diameter. Three inches of the drumstick are wrapped with a thin cloth, although in the Ghost Dance the wrapping is thicker and decorated with feathers.

Bullroarer

This instrument is a boy's toy that is said to produce wind because it sounds like the wind. It is part of the Ghost Dance and is sometimes used to start the singing. The instrument should be swung rapidly in a circle by the handle to make a loud noise like distant thunder, the bellowing of a bull, or howling. The Bullroarer is made from a flat piece of bone about 2X4 inches attached to a piece of string and a wooden handle.

Bone-buzzer or hummer

This instrument is used in the Ghost Dance. It is made from bone. The hummer is tied to 2 strings and a wooden handle. The strings round around each other and then when pulled apart rapidly, they cause bone to rotate and produce a buzzing sound

One-tone whistles 

These whistles are usually made from an eagle bone; 4-7 inches long. It is used In Sun Dance and some age-grade ceremonies by dancers. During the Peyote ceremony it is used at midnight to mimic an eagle's cry. The whistle used in the Ghost Dance is 2 times the size of a standard whistle.