clapstick
Illustration — Two pairs of Australian Aboriginal clapsticks • Illustration — Didgeridoo and clapstick players performing at Nightcliff, Northern Territory Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony. They are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that belongs to the idiophone category.
Also recorded as clap stick · clapsticks · clap sticks · bilma
clapstick
Andrewa · CC BY-SA 3.0
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- musical instrument
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Illustration — Two pairs of Australian Aboriginal clapsticks • Illustration — Didgeridoo and clapstick players performing at Nightcliff, Northern Territory Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony. They are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that belongs to the idiophone category.
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wikidata · Q1095097 · wikipedia · Clapstick
In this article
Origin and nomenclature
Origin and nomenclature
Unlike drumsticks, which are generally used to strike a drum, clapsticks are intended for striking one stick on another.
In northern Australia, clapsticks would traditionally accompany the didgeridoo, and are called aus or aus by the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Boomerang clapsticks
Boomerang clapsticks
Boomerang clapsticks are similar to regular clapsticks but they can be shaken for a rattling sound or be clapped together.
Technique
The usual technique employed when using clapsticks is to clap the sticks together to create a rhythm that goes along with the song.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1095097: clapstick
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Clapstick”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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