Clapper (musical instrument)
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A clapper is a basic form of
Several specific forms of clapper have their own names, such as the Chinese
Whip/slapstick
In music, a whip or slapstick is a clapper (percussion instrument) consisting of two wooden boards joined by a hinge at one end. When the boards are brought together rapidly, the sound produces a sound reminiscent of the crack of a whip. It is often used in modern orchestras, bands, and percussion ensembles.
There are two types of whips. The first has two planks of wood connected by a hinge, with a handle on each. The percussionist holds the instrument by the handles and hits the two pieces of wood together, creating a loud whip noise. The other type also has two planks of wood, one longer than the other, with one handle, connected with a spring hinge so it can be played with just one hand, though it cannot produce sounds as loud as a whip requiring both hands. This second type of whip is technically a separate instrument called a slapstick.
Usage in classical music
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The whip is sometimes indicated in scores by the native words for "whip" (French fouet, German Peitsche, or Italian frusta) or a term indicating the clapper construction (French claquette or German Holzklapper).[2]
This list is alphabetical, but is by no means exhaustive.
- Nixon in China
- Thomas Adès: Living Toys (the whip is played by the lead French horn player), The Tempest and "Totentanz"
- Leroy Anderson: Christmas standard "Sleigh Ride", where the instrument is meant to imitate an actual whip on a horse
- Samuel Barber: Piano Concerto
- Benjamin Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Noye's Fludde, Sinfonia da Requiem, Saint Nicolas, Spring Symphony, and War Requiem
- John Barnes Chance: Incantation and Dance
- Rodeo (Buckaroo Holiday), Symphony No.3
- George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
- Adam Guettel: The Light in the Piazza
- Daron Hagen: Shining Brow
- Alun Hoddinott: Fioriture
- James MacMillan: The Sacrifice
- Frederik Magle: Symphonic suite Cantabile[3]
- Gustav Mahler: Symphonies No. 5 and 6
- William Mathias: Vistas, Laudi, and In Arcadia
- Éclairs sur l'au-delà…
- Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (the whip is used by the orchestrations of Maurice Ravel, Leopold Stokowski, Vladimir Jurowski and Henk de Vlieger's version for percussion ensemble)
- Krzysztof Penderecki: Symphony No. 1 (which begins with nine whip cracks punctuated by pauses)
- Piano Concerto in G and L'heure espagnole(The Spanish Hour)
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G (last movement), Symphony No. 13, Symphony No. 14 and Symphony No. 15
- Philip Glass: Symphony No. 8
- Juan María Solare: Un ángel de hielo y fuego
- Johann Strauss II: Unter Donner und Blitz
- Frank Ticheli: Fortress
- Michael Tippett: New Year (opera and suite version), The Knot Garden, The Ice Break, The Vision of Saint Augustine, Songs for Dov, and The Shires Suite
- Edgard Varèse: Ionisation
- Alexander Vustin: The Devil in Love
- William Walton: Belshazzar's feast
- Huw Watkins: Piano Concerto
- Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Die Soldaten
Gallery
-
David playing the harp, accompanied by a plucked fiddle and clappers. Germany or France, circa 795 A.D. Clappers from the Carolingian Empire appear to have been disks or possibly chimes attached to sticks.
-
Clapper with the shape of a human hand. Probably elephant ivory. From Gurob, Fayum, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
See also
- Bamboo clapper
- Paiban
- Scabellum, an ancient Greek and Roman foot-clapper on the sole of a sandal
- Thattai (instrument), an Indian and Nepalese clapper
- Torres Strait Islanders
- Crotalus (instrument)
References
- ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- ^ "Cantabile - A Symphonic Suite by Frederik Magle". magle.dk. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
Further reading
- "Clapper." Encyclopædia Britannica.[full citation needed]