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thomasj7676 — Bones
Published: 2008-03-12 17:06:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 562; Favourites: 3; Downloads: 24
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Description
Musical bones: beef ribs with ebony dots- 155mm (6").Though these may look rather crude, they are, in fact, the best set of 'bones' I have encountered. I made perhaps a dozen sets of 'bones' of various sizes & weights and bought a set of laminated wooden bones for comparison. These particular 'bones' are quite heavy & spatulated, making a loud penetrating sound, good for ensemble playing. The weight also allows for more control at slower tempos. (Slightly shorter & lighter 'bones' are good for quieter chamber music and very fast tempos.) The dots (cut-offs from violin pegs) are entirely gratuitous. The bone itself took an amazingly high polish.
I upload this deviation for folk & historical musicians, as the art of playing 'bones' seems to be very uncommon. I have met only three others. My mentor is French-Canadian folk artist, Gilbert Parent, who can step-dance while playing 'bones' in both hands - without looking silly. Gilbert told me these traditions are perserved in the northern communities where the 'bones' are made of elk or caribou ribs.
To see playing position, see: [link]
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Comments: 6
Hi thomasj,
Never fear, you are not alone. I am gathering together images of the pipe and tabor and have a page started on the pipe and bones here:
[link]
There are, of course, other 21st century pipe and tabor players who occasionally play the bones such as Poul Hoxbro:
[link]
If you have come across any other images I would be really grateful to know.
luv
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I can only compare this to our...eh...upland...spoons tradition? They look like they would feel good in your hands...
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Very cool. So it is similar to playing the spoons. My granddad could play the spoons in one hand and harmonica in the other. He would throw down to Salty Dog 
Very cool bones, and the info is great. I would love to see someone actually play them.
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There is also a tradition of 'ham-boning' from your part of the world: the rhythmic slapping of parts of the body. It looks hilarious, but is a truly cool form of percussion. It is possibly from the German Alps where they do body slapping dances.
And you have hit on the neat thing about bones: they are played one-handed. I also play pipe-&-tabor: a three-hole one-handed penny-whistle with a small drum at the same time. It was popular throughout Europe during the Middle Ages & Renaissance. Pipe-&-tabor are still played in French & Basque folk music & for English Morris dancing. Well, I'm the only one I know of who used the tabor-pipe with the bones. You can play a fast jig, for example, and have a 6/8 rhythm in eight-notes accompanying it at the same time. (Not that I had a huge selection.)
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