clapstick
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. • Illustration — Two pairs of Australian Aboriginal clapsticks • Illustration — Didgeridoo and clapstick players performing at Nightcliff, Northern Territory They are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that belongs to the idiophone category. Unlike drumsticks, which are generally used to strike a drum, clapsticks are intended for striking one stick on another.
Also recorded as clap stick · clapsticks · clap sticks · bilma
clapstick
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- musical instrument
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Origin and nomenclature
Origin and nomenclature
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.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Clapstick, revision 1346115973 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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