Collecting ethnic instruments, the ones made and played by people in their free time, can be very informative and fun. The instruments can be simple or complex, made of wood, metal or pottery. Usually the maker spends a little time embellishing the instruments when the basic sound-making body is complete, using paint, yarn, string, beads or anything else readily available.
So what am I talking about, specifically? Drums are a dancing necessity, so all cultures make some form of drum. There will be large ones to get the bass sound needed for a really good dance, and smaller ones with higher pitches to add frills and flourishes to the basic beat.
Then there are flutes. Nearly every culture has some form of flute or recorder. These instruments have a wider range of sound production and carry the tune of the dance. A hollow tube with finger holes and a mouthpiece are carved into the wood or bamboo. Add bright paint and yarn tassels, and your all set.
Bagpipes. An air reservoir filled with are and then used to produce continuous music while the player continually refills the page. The chantor, a flute-like attachment to the air bag, has finger holes to produce different notes. Related by having an air reservoir are the accordion and squeeze box, a sound you hear in a lot of European folk music.
Gourds are used to make rattles. The long neck provides a great way to shake the gourd, and if the dried seeds inside do not make enough noise, and drill and some small rocks or dried beans can up the volume. Turtle shells are also used to make rattle, as can any hollow, swing-able container. Rain sticks are made from the internal supporting structure of cactus. Add some beans or rocks, and the internal chambers bounce the beans around to make noise. However, the sound is less controllable than single chamber rattle.
Pottery rattles are possible, and the pottery flute, called a ocarina has been around for many years. No doubt it has cropped up in many places as the wooden flute.
Washboards, or a wooden log carved to have a washboard surface, is played using another piece of wood. The sound is quite distinctive: if you have ever heard the buzzing sound produced, you will recognize it when you hear it again. Like a lot of percussion instruments, it is relatively easy to play, although it really needs instruments of other types around it to provide satisfying music. No doubt in the hands of a master it can be made to perform quite creditably.
One unique instruments is the kalimba, the thumb piano of Africa. Metal prongs are anchored at one end, and free end is twanged with one of the players thumbs. The sound is quite unique. Metal is also used to form cymbals and gongs, from tiny finger cymbals used by belly dancers to large ornate gongs .
Even the products of mechanized society can be used for ethnic music. Bottles are collected to form bottle bands. Comb and tissue paper form a low-tech musical instrument, and who can forget the saw players of the past. The 55 gallon drum, and the steel drums that are descended from them make a sound as identifiable as any on earth, and it is an ethnic sound. Whether these actually constitute ethnic instruments would depend on whether it is the material the instrument is made from that counts most, the person who made it, or the style of the music produced is most important. Perhaps the key is that a small group of people made the instruments and use them to make music for their own entertainment.
As you travel, buy locally-made musical instruments, and learn about the cultures that produced them. If you have a good ear, you can probably pick up some of the music or how the instrument is played.
The images on this post are from Stock Xchnge.
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