Gourdous Music

Almost as long as man has been eating, man has been making music. Gourds have been around as long as man has. They come in so many shapes and sizes, and resonate well when knocked, hit, or strum. They are also durable, pretty, and easy to work with. We decided long ago to combine the two and make wonderful and beautiful instruments. Many of todays popular instruments, from shakers to drums, flutes to banjos, all can and have been made with gourds. Here I will try to lay out some of the many instruments you will find made from gourds. As I learn more about these wonderful music makers, I will make some of them and write up instructions for you. This section will slowly grow as I learn more and produce some of these fun instruments myself. Since I will need to grow some first, it may be a year or more before I finish making my first. That is, unless I decide to buy some.

The Gourd Orchestra

Here you will find our gourd orchestra. The instruments are broken in categories based on how they are played. If they are hit, they go under hitters. These include drums as well as other instruments. Shakers are shook or rattled. Scrappers scrape against something or have something scrapped against them. Pluckers and Strummers have strings that are plucked or strummed. Blowers have air pushed through them. Some instruments could fit into more than one category.

I have attempted to order the instruments in each category by the difficulty in making them in their most basic form. For some, I have included links to commercial versions you can buy, and if available, I have included links to guides to making those instruments. If you are really interested in making gourd instruments, I have found the book "Making Gourd Musical Instruments" by Ginger Summit and Jim Widess very valuable in writing this article.

Note: If you know of some good links, leave them as comments. If I like them, I'll add them to the article. As I find some, I'll add them as well.

Hitters

These percussion instruments are usually struck with a stick or hand to get their sounds. Some use other items for the striking, and some are used to strike.

Bowls Drums

This is a very simple drum. You just make a bowl out of your favorite gourd, and viola, a drum. If you make several of these, each one will have a unique sound, and then you have a great drum set.

African Water Drum from Shop.com

Water Drum

Another simple drum. This one takes two gourds cut into bowls, one large, one small. The larger one is filled with water. Invert the small on top of the water and beat.

Stamping Drums

Stamping Drums such as the Ipu Heke from Hawaii are common throughout the world. Stamping drums are played by stamping the hollow instrument against a solid surface, such as the ground.
How To Make Your Ipu Heke

Membrane Drum

With a membrane stretched over a resonator, these drums are the style of drum most people think of when they think of a drum.

Friction Drum

This membrane drum is open on the bottom. A stick is attached to the center of the membrane. This stick is rubbed with one resin coated hand, while the other hand is used to dampen the sound as needed.

Matracas (Clapper Drum Rattles)

Matracas are a drum with a twist. There is a membrane attached to each side of the drum and a bead attached to a string is mounted so that when you twist the matraca the beads strike the membrane.

Ilimba

A single "key" strung over a resonator makes a ilimba. This looks like a single key xylophone.

ILimba - A short piece of information on Ilimba

Xylophone

Like a ilimba, the keys are strung over a resonator and hit for the sound. A xylophone has many keys, each toned differently. They are very hard to tune properly.

Xylophone Construction - by Jim Doble
Wikipedia - Wikipedia has some information on Xylophones

Shakers

These fun for the whole family musical instruments are shook to get their unique sounds. If they have handles, they are referred to as rattles, without, shakers. Most have seeds, sand, pebbles, or something else inside them to produce the sound.

Simple Shakers

A simple shaker can be made by taking a small gourd, such as an egg gourd, cleaning it out and filling it with beads, pebbles or sand. You also might use rice, beans, corn, shells or something else. Be sure to plug the hole so that the noise making material does not pile up on the floor.

Rattles

There are a lot of rattles used around the world for various ceremonies. They are not just play things for babies. A simple one can be made from a long handled gourd. Like the simple shakers, clean them out and kill them with seeds, pebbles or shells. Fill the hole. Rattle away.

Gourd Rattle Construction

Gourd Maraca's from Shop.com

Maracas

Maracas are a common rattle from Latin American roots.

Hosho Rattles

A rattle, used by the Shona that is commonly made from a maranka gourd

Stick Clappers (Lala)

The stick clapper is associated with life cycle rituals. When the stick is shook, the gourd disks clap together and make a loud clapping noise. In Gambia this instrument is known as a lala.

Tambourine

With shells, bells, seedpods, or beads attached to the periphery of the gourd, a tambourine can be played by either slapping it or shaking it. Each method gives a distinct sound.

Ulili

A Hawaiian instrument. This rattle is three gourds mounted on a stick. The outer two gourds have seeds in them. The middle is hollow and has a string attached. This middle gourd is held and the string pulled. The string, attached to the stick, spins the outer two gourds, making the sounds. When the instrument spins back, the string is pulled again.

Rain Stick

Rain sticks have become very popular in recent years. These fun instruments were used by natives of Meso American during spring planting. A snake, or bottle gourd is a great choice for the body. Once they are finished, they make a sound like a spring shower. Very calming and soothing.

Shekere

With this wonderful rattle, the beads are woven onto the outside of the gourd. It is known by other names as well, such as agbe in Nigeria, lilolo in Congo, or axatse in Ghana.

Sistrum

Instead of rattleing material, the sistrum has multiple objects that hit each other to produce its sounds. It has been used in many parts of the world, and some people still use them for special ceremonies.

Scrappers

This small group of instruments use a stick or other device to scrap against them in order to get their wonderful sound. I'm sure you have seen the wash board played on TV, or in cartoons. That is a modern instrument in this category.

Rasp

This simple devise is a notched stick that is played when touching or attached to a resonator, such as a gourd. They are commonly seen in the SouthWest Native American and Native Mexican tribes as well as in parts of Africa.

Guiro from Shop.Com

Guiro

This is a form of a rasp in which the notches are scored directly onto the gourd resonator.

YouTube Video - Footage of a native playing the Guiro in a market
How to make a Guiro - From eHow.com

Pluckers and Strummers

These stringed instruments each of a lovely sound. A couple of the instruments in this category have metal tines that are plucked, instead of strings. Pluckers and strummers include some very hard to make instruments.

Music Box

Gourds make a great resonator. Take your favorite gourd and your facorite music box innards. Put them together and decorate.

Mbira/Kalimba

This African instrument is a gourd resonator. The gourd is cut open and lamella mounted in or on the gourd. The lamella keys are plucked to get the sound.

YouTube Video - Mbira at the Lake
About Mbira - Information about Mbira from Mbira.org

Musical Bow

A musical bow, like the archers bow, has a bent (bowed) stick with a "string" holding it in the bowed position. The simplest musical bow uses the players mouth as the resonator. Sometimes the bow is simple placed on the resonator and in the more advanced form the resonator is attached. A single resonator can have multiple bows attached to it (Pluralistic) which each can be tuned to a different note. Gourds, as we know, make an excellent resonator.

Lyre

Popular in the times of Hermes and Hercules these beautiful instruments have lost their appeal among many. The resonator has two rods attached to it, which has a crossmember. From the crossmember to the resonator are strung strings that are strummed. You can still find these played among the northern and eastern African tribes.

Zither

Zithers have strings that run the full length of the body, parralell to it. Either the body acts as the sound board, or an additional resonator is attached to enhance the sound.

Harp

Harps are stringed instruments where the strings are perpendicular to the soundboard or membrane. They can come in many different styles from simple to complex.

Fiddle/Lute/Viol(a/in/...)

In this large family of instruments, the strings run accross the soundboard attached to the resonator. They run the accross the soundboard and up the neck. The strings can be tuned either by a tuning peg or a ring.

Banjo

Adventures in Banjo Making - Banjoman Jeff Harper blogs about the experience of making a banjo. Took him about 2 weeks to finish it.
DIY Banjo Making - The DIY Network makes a gourd banjo

Sitar

Sitars are used largely among the Hindu. This string instrument as a hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber which produces a rich and complex sound.

Blowers

Air blowing through these guys makes the sound. Some use your breath, others the air around. Some of these are easy to make, many are quite difficult.

Mute

While not really a blower itself, a mute is used with another blower (such as a trumpet) to mute the sound it makes. They are usually made out of plastic, wood, or metal, some musicials like the sound of a gourd mute as it is softer and mellower.

Megaphone

A simple megaphone can be made with a gourd. A hollowed gourd is opened at both ends. When your yell into one end, you voice is concentrated and essentially amplified in that one direction.

Wind Organ

A simple instrument. A gourd with a slot cut in the side is hung. The wind blowing through it makes a droning sound.

Wind Flute

Wind flutes, such as the pigeon flute, can be made from small gourds, They are attached to a string and spun around the players head to make a humming sound.

Kazoo

A common kids tow, the tube can be made out of a gourd and a paper membrane placed over one end to distort the sound of the voice that is sung or spoken into it.

Flutes

Flutes are a large category in which the air is blown against the blowhole. Many types of flutes, including the nose flute, vessel flue, ocarina, tube flute and many others can be made from gourds.

Horn

Like flutes, there are a lot of horns as well, including the trumpet. In horns the pulsation of the air escaping between the players lips makes the sound the instrument turns to music.

Reeds

A reed instrument, such as the clarinet, uses a reed or two which are vibrated with the players breath to create music. Premitive clarinets are lovely with a gourd for the bell.

Pungi

The snake charmers instrument, the pungi is traditionally made with a gourd and bamboo or cane pipes.