A rattle is a type of

percussion instrument 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. Exc ...

which produces a sound when shaken. Rattles are described in the

Hornbostel–Sachs Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the in 1914. An English translation was published in the '' Galpin Society Jo ...

system as ''Shaken Idiophones or Rattles (112.1)''. According to

Sachs Sachs is a German surname, meaning "man from Saxony". Sachs is a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews from Saxony, in the United States sometimes adopted in the variant Zaks, supposedly in reference to the Hebrew phrase ''Zera Kodesh Shemo'' (ZaKS), ...

, Rattles include: *

Maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were r ...

s, widely used in Cha Cha Cha and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. ** Chac-chac, as known in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

and the

French Antilles The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloup ...

. * The egg-shaped plastic

chicken shake An egg shaker or ganzá is a hand percussion instrument, in the idiophone category, that makes a noise when shaken. Functionally it is similar to a maraca. Typically the outer casing or container is ovoidal or egg-shaped. It is partially full ...

, filled with steel

shot Shot may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard *''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck *'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy * "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus * ''Shot'' (2017 f ...

and available in varying tones depending on the size and quantity of shot. *

Folk instrument A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music. Overview The ...

s especially used in

ceremonial dance Ceremonial dance is a major category or classification of dance forms or dance styles, where the purpose is ceremonial or ritualistic. It is related to and overlaps with sacred dance and ecstatic dance. Definition History Description L ...

. *

Toy rattle A baby rattle is a rattle produced specifically for the amusement of an infant. Rattles have been used for this purpose since antiquity, and experts in child development believe they help the infant improve hand eye coordination by stimulating ...

s for infants. Though there are many different sorts of rattles, some music scores indicate simply a rattle (or the corresponding terms French ''claquette'', ''hochet''; Ger. ''Rassel'', ''Schnarre''; It. ''nacchere'').

Examples

* Chankana *

Ganzá The ''ganzá'' () is a Brazilian rattle used as a percussion instrument, especially in samba music. The ''ganzá'' is cylindrically shaped, and can be either a hand-woven basket or a metal canister which is filled with beads, metal balls, pebbl ...

* Hosho *

s * Maracitos *

Katsa A Katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. The word ''katsa'' is a Hebrew acronym for he, קצין איסוף, ktsin issuf, "intelligence officer", literally "gathering officer". A katsa ...

Chajchas ''Chajchas'' (also ''chapchas''; Spanish: ''uñas'', "toenails") are a small percussion instrument of the rattle family, typically made from goat or sheep hooves, and originating in the Central Andes. The instrument is used in traditional rit ...

Rainstick A rainstick is a long, hollow tube partially filled with small pebbles, rice or beans that has small pins or thorns arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the pebbles fall to the other end of the tube, bouncing o ...

Kashaka The kashaka is a simple percussion instrument consisting of two small gourds filled with beans (essentially, two small maracas connected by a string.) One gourd is held in the hand and the other is quickly swung from side to side around the hand, ...

History

In Ancient Egypt, rattles were used during funerary rituals to signify regeneration in the after-life. Rattles were viewed as sacred and became the forerunners of the

sistrum A sistrum (plural: sistra or Latin sistra; from the Greek ''seistron'' of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from ''seiein'', "to shake") is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient ...

. The earliest Egyptian rattles were ovular and made of pottery. During the Predynastic and Old Kingdom periods rattles gained handles and different shapes and were made out of different materials such as basket, wood, and stone. Native American people often use rattles in ceremonial dances. Oftentimes, these rattles are meant to represent something. Each figure or depiction can relate to something sacred to their tribe. Often, the sound of rattles forms a connection to the supernatural world when the rattles are employed by

shamans Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

. The use of the raven rattle, like the one pictured to the right, always implies power, which when used in dances, symbolize the status of the chief, who has a hereditary right to use the rattle.

References

External links

Rattles - ''Polish folk musical instruments''
Hand percussion Unpitched percussion instruments {{Rattle-stub

Examples

History

See also

References

External links