Castanets

Castanets are a special kind of percussion instrument used in many types of music from around the world. They are also called clackers or palillos. People use them in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. Even in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, there was a similar instrument called the crotalum.

A pair of castanets looks like two small, curved shells joined together with a string on one edge. Musicians hold them in their hands and make clicking sounds to keep the rhythm or create fast, rattling noises. Traditionally, castanets were made from hardwood, like chestnut trees, but today, fibreglass is also popular.

Usually, a player uses two pairs of castanets, one in each hand. The pairs make slightly different pitches, with the lower one keeping the beat and the higher one adding extra sounds. Castanets have a long history, possibly starting with the Phoenicians who traveled around the Mediterranean thousands of years ago. They became important in Spanish folk music and were used in dances during the Baroque period by famous composers. Some modern composers have even written special pieces just for castanets to play alone with an orchestra.

Castanets in Spain

Castanets are often used in Spanish folk music and dances, such as the Jota and the Fandango. They are popular in Central Spain, Castile, and Southern Spain. In the flamenco genre, castanets are used by singers and dancers, especially in some types like Siguiriya and Fandango-influenced styles. They are also used in dances in Andalusia, South Spain, like the Sevillanas and escuela bolera, a ballet-like dance.

The name castañuelas comes from the Spanish word for chestnut, castaña, because they look like small chestnuts. In Andalusia, they are sometimes called palillos, meaning little sticks. In places like Murcia, they are called "postizas" and played a bit differently.

Castanets have been used to add a Spanish feel to many famous music pieces, like in Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. They also appear in operas by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, and in works by composers like Darius Milhaud, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, Francis Poulenc, and Karl Jenkins.

Spanish influence can be seen in the music of Naples, where castanets were used, as noted by Athanasius Kircher in his Tarantella Napoletana.

Mounted castanets

In an orchestral or jug band setting, castanets are sometimes attached to a handle or mounted to a base to make machine castanets. This makes them easier to play but changes the sound. You can create a roll with castanets in three ways. When held in the hand, they bounce against the fingers and palm. On sticks, they bounce between the fingers and the player's thigh. With machine castanets, the roll is made by quickly moving the two castanets with the fingers, though it sounds a bit different.

Handle castanets

Handle castanets were made to be used in orchestral music. They have a pair of castanets attached to the end of a straight piece of wood. This helps create longer rolls, especially loud ones, with the instrument.