Vibraslap
 A vibraslap manufactured by Latin Percussion |
The vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent into a U-shape) connecting a wooden ball to a hollow box of wood. The percussionist holds the metal wire in one hand and strikes the ball (usually against the palm of their other hand). The box acts as a resonating body for a metal mechanism placed inside with a number of loosely fastened pins or rivets that vibrate and rattle against the box.[1] The instrument is a modern version of the jawbone.[2]
History
[edit]The vibraslap comes from the African jawbone instrument. This is the lower jawbone of a donkey or a zebra which has loose teeth that rattle when the instrument is struck.[3] The instrument was carried by enslaved people to South America where it became known as the jawbone (quijada in Spanish).[4] It became used in Latin American music in the ensuing centuries.
The modern vibraslap was invented by Martin Cohen in 1967.[5][better source needed] Cohen was told by percussionist Bobby Rosengarden, "If you want to make some money, make a jawbone that doesn't break." About the inventing process, Cohen remembers, "I had never seen a jawbone before, but I had heard one on a Cal Tjader album. I found out that it was an animal skull that you would strike, and the sound would come from the teeth-rattling in the loose sockets. So I took that concept and invented the Vibraslap, which was my first patent."[6] The vibraslap was the first patent granted to the instrument manufacturing company Latin Percussion.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Vibra-Slap". Virginia Tech Online Music Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2009-09-25. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
- ^ "Donkey Call or Vibraslap". Ethnic Musical Instruments.com. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ Karl Peinkofer and Fritz Tannigel, Handbook of Percussion Instruments, (Mainz, Germany: Schott, 1976), 159.
- ^ "Afro Peruvian Percussion". artdrum.com. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
- ^ US3439572A, Cohen, Martin B., "Percussion instrument", issued 1969-04-22
- ^ "PASIC 2012 Archived August 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine", PAS.org. URL last accessed December 11, 2009.
- ^ "LP Vibra-Slap II - Standard Wood (LP208)". Steve Weiss Music. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
External links
[edit]
