The tambourine is a frame membranophone when the head is struck and an idiophone when shaken. Instructions on making tambourines can be found many places, but, having never seen one that used gourd wood for the frame, we thought we’d give it a try. Jingles can be fashioned from plain copper or bronze sheets, but […]
Instrument Type: Idiophone
An instrument that vibrates to produce a sound when struck, shaken, or scraped, such as a bell, gong, or rattle.
-
La Maracatota
There is no Guinness Book of World Records entry for the world’s largest gourd maraca (we checked), but if there were, we’d enter this one.Suitable for parades or other events where you want to show off and have people point at you with astonished looks on their faces, La Maracatota is a maraca, super–sized. Despite its impressive girth, it is a relatively simple instrument to make. A big kettle gourd provides a large surface for decorating.
-
Gourd Maracas
A fine pair of maracas made from gourds. They look and sound exactly like maracas!The maraca is an instrument, like the palm shaker, that almost certainly has gourd roots. Take a dried gourd, lash a stick onto it for a handle and start jamming (or ministering to the sick or wounded or whatever). The main technical problem associated with maracas is finding a way to get a handle on […]
-
Downpour Stick
The rainstick is a typical entry level instrument often tackled by the novice instrument builder. This is not your typical rainstick!.A basic rainstick is easily made by cutting the end off of a snake gourd, cleaning out the guts as much as possible, inserting some chicken wire and beads, gluing the end back on, and bang—you’re done. Another technique is to run nails or wooden skewers through the sides to provide barriers for beads to […]
-
El Huevote
Super-sized shaker egg made from a gourd.Shaker eggs are fun instruments, especially for kids, because they are small, easy to hold, easy to play, and they make several different sounds. This one is pretty big. Much larger than the small plastic commercial ones that can be purchased for a couple of bucks a piece. Our entry in the heavyweight class of […]
-
Güirophone
The güiro is a Latin American percussion instrument played by dragging a stick across a notched piece of wood. The suffix “–phone” implies some sort of sound projection or amplification. By combining a notched piece of wood with a gourd to reflect sound, the Güirophone was born.The güiro (gwee–roh, with a slightly rolled r) is a Latin American percussion instrument played by dragging a stick across a notched piece of wood to generate a rattling or croaking sound. The suffix “–phone” implies some sort of sound projection or amplification. We combined a notched piece of wood with a gourd to reflect […]
