Articles on Musical Instruments | Topics: instruments, instrument
by Cecania Rogers
Colombian Tiple: The tiple is used in Colombian folk songs and like a lot of Latin American string instruments is iconic of its society. The tiple is made completely from slices and billets of one new single piece of wood of blood red African Padouk (known as Coral wood), apart from for the soundboard and fingerboard. The finish is clear, with no tint at all, so the remarkable color is authentic. This instrument has twelve metal strings set in four triple courses, the first in unisons, but the rest set with a middle wound and an octaved monofilament on each side.
Bajo Sexto Latin Instrument: The baja sexton has six pairs of strings and looks like a twelve-string guitar tuned an octave lower. The weighty gauge strings produce a large string tension, yet the guitar is made lightly. The baja sexton started being used in Texas during the 1920s, where it continues to be used to play the parts that normally would be played by the piano.
Berimbau: This is a single string Latin musical bow with a cored out gourd resonator. Comparable instruments exist in Africa that has been played since prehistoric times, and it is now widely accepted as having originated in Angola. The bow is held in the left hand, which holds a stone or coin. When this stone or coin is pushed against the string, it brings out tone fluctuations such as high tones or buzz tones. The string is played with a slim stick, held in the right hand, which clasps a basket shaker known as caxixi. Opening and closing the gourd varies the pitch of the instrument.
Pandeiro: The Pandeiro is the Latin counterpart to the tambourine. The contemporary orchestral tambourine has been developed to produce a "dazzling" sound to cut though an orchestra without difficulty. The pandiro's jingles are usually made of soft tin like the original "bottle top" jingles, and consequently produce a lot drier sound, which is more suitable to the quick rhythms of Latin music.
Cowbells: Many civilizations have a kind of bell that they put on their livestock, to be able to recognize them even at night or in fog. The bell is held at the closed end between the thumb and the fourth/fifth fingers, with the pointer and index fingers bespeaking down towards the mouth of the bell. In Latin-American music, the hand cowbell is normally very large, and simply plays open strokes on the beat to keep time.
| Historical Quote |
The universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden.... Passions, greed, hatred, and lies; law, social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism, and religion: these are its monstrous flowers and its hideous instruments of eternal human suffering.
| —Octave Mirbeau (1850–1917) |
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Agogo Bells: The agogo bells are comparable to cowbells, but by no means intended for cattle. They are small, high-pitched bells that are hand held pairs. Modern adaptations often come as a set of three and/or ready for mounted on a stand. They are normally tuned in small interval apart such as a second or minor third. Agogo bells are for the most part used in Brazil and play more complex rhythms than the hand cowbell, like those complex rhythms of the tambourines.
Guiro: Scrapers of all kinds can be found in all Latin-American lands. From those made from springs or slender irregular bamboo in areas such as Brazil, to those such as the Guiro, which is preferred in Cuba. The ordinary name for all of the Latin-American scrapers is "recoreco," even though some such as the guiro are commendable of exceptional note. The guiro is customarily made from a dried calabash gourd. The in the interior is cored out and the stem end detached to allow the sound to flee. Two holes are normally drilled on one side, for the thumb and index finger to grip the guiro. The reverse side has a sequence of channels cut in it that make the sound when scraped with a slim stick. In particular, the guiro is frequently used in cha designs playing a pattern consisting of a long sounding crotchet scrape rising in pitch, followed by two disconnected tremble scrapes.
Cuica: The cuica is a riction drum. A stick is set in the middle of the drum skin and projects from within the shell. The sound is created by chafing the stick between the thumb and the forefinger with a moist sponge or bit of leather. The cuica is frequently used to accompany the samba.
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