Castanets

Also referred to as palillos, the castanets are plausibly the most sophisticated percussion instruments. It is used in Portuguese, Italian, Moorish, Spanish, Latin American, and Ottoman music. Generally, it is a pair of concave shells joined at an edge by a string. These are hand-held and produce clicking or rattling sounds used for rhythmic accents.

Castanets are also played in the orchestra. At times, these are fastened to the handle or placed on a base forming machine castanets. It is very uncommon to play the castanet in the Spanish style in the modern orchestra. This is not because it is very complicated to master and employ but because there are no more than four known professional castanet players all over the world. To compensate for this, a castanet machine is used. The cups of a castanet machine are attached to a piece of wood which ends in a handle that is held and shaken.

Possible origin

There is no known definite origin of the castanets. The Egyptians and the Greeks were known to have created music by clicking sticks together using one hand.

There are nevertheless several theories on its development. One is that castanets are the descendants of the Iberian crusmata which were two shells, wooden sticks, or flat stones. Also, the Greeks played the krotola in religious affairs but it is proven that castanets were also found in Italian, Latin, and Portuguese music among many others.

Use of the Castanets

During the baroque period, castanets were dominant in music for dances. These were score for dancing music by composers such as Jean-Baptiste Lully. They were also often used for dances about horrible ideas such as nightmares or demons. In the Lully's ballet Flore in 1669, it was mentioned that castanets were also used for African Dances.

In many works such as in Carmen by Georges Bizet and España by Emmanual Chabrier, castanets were played to arouse or give out a Spanish atmosphere. They were also included in the opera of Richard Strauss entitled Salome specifically in the Dance of the Seven Veils.

Helmut Timpelan, a German composer, and José de Udaeta, a castanet maestro, have previously given solo performances.

Playing the castanets

A castanet player normally holds one set of castanets on each hand. These are hit together, flowing with the music and providing syncopation. The fingers manipulate the upper shell while the palm holds the lower shell. When castanets are played with a couple, they symbolize male and female and every set has a particular male or female given name. The female castanet is called hembra and is smaller than the male counterpart named macho. The macho is held in the left hand while the hembra is held in the right. There is a change in pitch because of the pair's size difference.

Castanets could be connected to the thumbs which is common in folk music or to all of the fingers which is expected in classical music. Depending on the music genre, the positioning of the castanets may vary.

A skilled castanet player has very quick movements with castanets which create great rhythm counterpoint for dancing like the Flamenco dance or for accompanying other instruments.

Structure

A set of castanets looks indentical to two small chestnut shells or clamshells. In reality, the term castanet is derived from the Spanish word castanuelas which means little chestnuts. These are either made of fiberglass or wood. The two shells are held together by a thin rope or string that is occasionally made of animal skin or leather.