A ratchet or rattle, more specifically, cog rattle is a
musical instrument of the
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
family and a warning/signaling device. It operates on the principle of the
ratchet device, using a gearwheel and a stiff board mounted on a handle, which rotates freely. Variants include the
gragger ( yi, גראַגער) used in
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
, the
rapach
A ratchet or rattle, more specifically, cog rattle is a musical instrument of the percussion family and a warning/signaling device. It operates on the principle of the ratchet device, using a gearwheel and a stiff board mounted on a handle, wh ...
, and the
raganella.
Method of playing
The player holds the handle and swings the whole mechanism around. The momentum makes the board click against the gearwheel, producing a clicking and rattling noise. A popular design consists of a thick wooden cog wheel attached to a handle and two wooden flanges that alternately hit the teeth of the cog when the handle turns. Alternatively, smaller ratchets are sometimes held still or mounted and the handle turned rapidly by the player. The mounted ratchets allow for greater control of the duration and timing of the sound. This allows the ratchet to be used like a snare drum, placing sustained rolls in precise durations of time. Dynamics are controlled by the rate at which the ratchet is rotated.
Uses
In Jewish tradition
In Judaism, the gragger (also ''grogger'' or ''gregger''; ) is used for the holiday of
Purim
Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...
. The gragger is used every time
Haman
Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite or Haman the evil) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes I ...
's name is mentioned during the reading of the
Megillah.
[Einstein, Stephen J.; Kukoff Lydia (1989). ''Every person's guide to Judaism.'' URJ Books and Music, ] Because Haman persecuted the Jews, the noise is supposed to symbolically drown out his name (although every word of the Megillah, including Haman's name, must be heard clearly; therefore, the words are often repeated after the sounding of the gragger). The gragger originated in Jewish tradition to help make noise during the reading.
Music
The rattle is used in such compositions as
Richard Strauss's ''
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'' (german: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, ), Op. 28, is a tone poem written in 1894–95 by Richard Strauss. It chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel, w ...
'' and
Arnold Schoenberg's ''
Gurre-Lieder
' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", ref ...
''.
Sport
Up until the early 1970s, this type of rattle was a common sight used by fans at
soccer and
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
matches.
Warning/signaling device
In the 18th and 19th centuries, a policeman's rattle was used by British and Australian policemen to summon assistance. They were used to warn of poison gas attack in the trenches of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and issued to British police and
ARP wardens during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, to warn of the presence of
poison gas
Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perman ...
.
Variants
Raganella
The raganella (Italian for "tree frog") is a percussion instrument common in the
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
of
Calabria in southern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Technically, the ''raganella'' is a "cog rattle," producing a sound that is enough of a "croak" to have derived the folk name of the instrument from the Italian name of the common tree-frog. The ''raganella'' is about the size of a breadbox and consists of a wooden frame into which are fastened four or five stiff but flexible wooden tines fastened to one side of the frame; the other ends of the tines are struck in rapid succession by a
cog-wheel
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...
that is turned by a crank handle mounted on the side of the frame.
Rapach
The rapach ( uk, Рапач) is a larger version of the ''derkach'', a ratchet. Rapachs are used by churches in the
Prešov region of
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
by ethnic
Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...
instead of bells during
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
.
Uses in music
Respighi asks for one in the first movement of his orchestral work ''
Pini di Roma Pini may refer to:
People Surname
*Anthony Pini (Carlos Antonio Pini; 1902–1989), Argentinian cellist, soloist, orchestral section leader and chamber musician
*Antonio Pini-Corsi (1858(?)–1918), Italian operatic baritone
* Carolina Pini (1 ...
'' (''Pines of Rome''), as does
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
in his ballet,
The Nutcracker
''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...
. It is also used in "Gnomus" in
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
's orchestration of
Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
's ''
Pictures at an Exhibition
''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's most famous pia ...
''.
In orchestral percussion writing, a ratchet is used as a substitute.
Gallery
File:Rattle, Ludlow Museum - DSCF2033.JPG, Ratchet used for poison gas
Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perman ...
warning in World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
File:Raspel.jpg, Raspel
File:Rehtacka.jpg, In some European churches, a ratchet known as a is used instead of bells during the Paschal Triduum
The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum (Latin: ''Triduum Paschale''), Holy Triduum (Latin: ''Triduum Sacrum''), or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high poin ...
, the three days before Easter Day
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...
File:Purim gragger.jpg, A Purim
Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book ...
gragger, a kind of ratchet used in Judaism
File:Cheapplasticgragger IGP4806.JPG, A plastic version of the gragger
File:Ecce Homo Procession (3).JPG, A ratchet used in a procession in Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
File:14th century ratchet.jpg, 14th century French ratchet
See also
*
Ukrainian folk music
Ukrainian folk music includes a number of varieties of traditional, folkloric, folk-inspired popular music, and folk-inspired European classical music traditions.
In the 20th century numerous ethnographic and folkloric musical ensembles were ...
References
Sources for Rapach
*Humeniuk, A. ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty'', Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 1967
*Mizynec, V. ''Ukrainian Folk Instruments'', Melbourne: Bayda books, 1984
*Cherkaskyi, L. ''Ukrainski narodni muzychni instrumenty'', Tekhnika, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2003 - 262 pages.
External links
Ratchets (''Polish folk musical instruments'')
{{Authority control
Purim
Scraped idiophones
Hand percussion
European percussion instruments
Orchestral percussion
Unpitched percussion instruments