What Are Musical Shakers
And How Are They Played?
What Are Musical
Shakers
Until I started studying African
music, I didn't realize how significant musical shakers can
be. In our culture, most people think of shaker eggs or
those little maracas when they picture musical shakers. The
shakers we use are pretty rudimentary, and they are used for
simple effects. People just simply use them to keep time and
at a little bit of extra rhythm.
They do have a pleasant sound to them,
and they're easy to play for people who aren't experienced
with percussion. Nevertheless, it is not a particularly
significant instrument.
So I was interested to discover the
rich variety of musical shakers used in cultures that place
a higher emphasis on hand percussion. My favorite one of all
is called the shekere. It is basically a gourd covered with
beaded netting.
Sometimes the netting is tightly wound
against the gourd and instruments played by rubbing. More
often, however – particularly with larger gourds –
the netting is a loose web that surrounds the gourd.
How Are Musical Shakers
Played?
The way it is played is fascinating.
You throw it up and down back and forth between your hands,
creating a rhythm when you catch it and bat at it.
Shekeres
Not only do shekeres make some of the
best tones of any of the musical shakers I know, but they
also can be used to make pretty complex and interesting
rhythms. The true percussion masters can really put on a
stage show by throwing the shekere up in the air and
catching it in a rhythmic manner.
I have seen some pretty complex things
done with the instrument, things that you can not do with
most musical shakers.
Nonetheless, even though shaker eggs
have their charm. Most people simply shake them back and
forth to get a little bit of a beat, and this is fine for
using in the background of songs, but you can do so much
more with them.
You can slide them back and forth in a
slow, sinuous rhythm that is surprising in its complexity.
It is hard to mic them, and they are almost never used in
this manner, but I've seen it done to good
effect.
Maracas - The Music Shaker
Standard
Of course, the most classical musical
shakers of all are the humble maracas. You see maracas in
many different forms, sometimes used in traditional shamanic
ceremonies and other times played by backup singers for some
of the leading bands in the world.
For such a universally overlooked
instrument, the maraca really does have quite a surprising
resume. Now, let's take a trip to Africa, or at least the
musical instrument store!
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