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Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony.
They are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that belongs to the idiophone category.
Unlike drumsticks, which are generally used to strike a
A survey of traditional south-eastern Australian Indigenous music
by Barry McDonald (book chapter) * * * Stick concussion idiophones Australian Aboriginal music Australian musical instruments {{Idiophone-instrument-stub
Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony.
They are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that belongs to the idiophone category.
Unlike drumsticks, which are generally used to strike a drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
, clapsticks are intended for striking one stick on another.
Origin and nomenclature
In northern Australia, clapsticks would traditionally accompany thedidgeridoo
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
, and are called bimli or bilma by the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Boomerang clapsticks
Boomerang clapsticks are similar to regular clapsticks but they can be shaken for a rattling sound or be clapped together.Technique
The usual technique employed when using clapsticks is to clap the sticks together to create a rhythm that goes along with the song.See also
* Clapper (musical instrument) * Clapper stickExternal links
A survey of traditional south-eastern Australian Indigenous music
by Barry McDonald (book chapter) * * * Stick concussion idiophones Australian Aboriginal music Australian musical instruments {{Idiophone-instrument-stub