SEASONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS by Kathy Teck The recent June 2021 daCi Delight about “National Seashell Day” made me dearly wish to see some of the dances that children would improvise! But it also sent me scuttling to my closet of neglected homemade instruments to be reminded of how seashells can be used as simple percussion with young dancers. Here are some suggestions of things to do, any time of the year!
My favorite thing is to take two small clam or scallop shells that fit together nicely, put some dried beans or tiny seashells inside and glue together with glue gun. This little shaker fits comfortably into small hands. A handful of very tiny shells can also be used as rattlers inside various other hollow containers. One easily available is a cylindrical teabag tin, because all you have to do is pop the top back on—and maybe decorate the outside with patterned sticky-backed ribbon.
A scraping rasp needs no workshopping at all. Find the biggest scallop shell you can (or if you are inland and can’t visit the seashore, craft stores often sell very large shells with “corrugated” exteriors). Use the point of a sharp twisted shell to scrape out rhythms. A more challenging use of shells is to drill small holes so that you can mount two of them with laces onto the sides of a small piece of wood with a handle shape sawed at one end—and there you have a double-sided clapper, similar to some professionally-mounted castanets. In keeping with a seashore focus, here is an 8-minute video of musician and instrument designer Bart Hopkin and colleague demonstrating how to assemble and play a “driftwood xylophone.” Scroll to the bottom of the page.
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