Instruments

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.

All this makes one want to go to the beach even in autumn. But I am also reminded of one of our treasured home films—of our four-year-old daughter dancing with her shadow on a beach during a winter visit to her grandparents in Florida. Such is the natural impetus that all young children have to dance, and daCi teachers do so much to encourage this delight! Hopefully a variety of sound qualities can add to the inspiration.

I should add something more seasonal, with Halloween and Thanksgiving coming up. Our local Pumpkinville sells dried Indian corn—a natural rasping instrument that requires only a craft stick to make rhythms. Then there are all the myriad varieties of autumn gourds. Teachers may want to consult the book Making Gourd Musical Instruments, by Ginger Summit and Jim Widess. Their projects are more for adults, since many involve sawing and drilling. But the pictures alone are enjoyable to look at and also can provide some global cultural explorations with older students. To end the year, of course we must have jingle bells. An inexpensive jingler can be made by gluing together two craft sticks with different size bells. I’ve used these to encourage memoryimpaired adults as well as children to physically move with holiday carols and wintry songs.

Reflecting on seasons gone by, among the most inspiring experiences of my entire life were the two weeks spent at daCi workshops: one in Salt Lake City, the other in Sydney, Australia!

Note: Pictures are of some of Kathy’s homemade instruments described above, and the beautifully carved gourd rattles are from Peru.

daCi member Kathy Teck is a dance musician, composer and writer from Virginia. Her latest book is Appreciating Ballet’s Music which contains essays with link that takes viewers to amazing online performances. It can be accessed for free at www.appreciatingballetsmusic.com.