Music Therapy | Instruments

What musical instruments do music therapists use?

These most commonly used instruments, pictured at right, are non-musician proof, allowing anyone playing them to have positive music-making experiences.

In addition to these instruments, music therapists play and use their own instrument of choice and study, such as flute, guitar, piano, violin, and voice.

AGOGO BELL

Origin

Brazil

Description

Two separately pitched cone-shaped metal bell chambers, joined by a curved rod.

How to Play

One hand grasps the curved rod while the opposite hand raps the bells with a drumstick or a metal striker. Sound can be modified by positioning the left thumb and finger toward the bell mouths. When squeezed together, bells also click.

CABASA

Origin

Unknown, but considered to be the earliest predecessor of the rattle.

Description

Comfortable and easy-to-grip rubber handle at the end of a corrugated metal cylinder, wrapped with several strands of metal beads.

How to Play

In one hand, the player holds the instrument and then rolls the second hand over the beads, dragging them over a corrugated metal cylinder to issue a very pleasant sound.

CHIQUITAS (tiny ones)

Origin

Adaptation of the maracas.

Description

Plastic egg-shaped heads filled with non-toxic steel shot on hollow handles that fit comfortably in both large and small hands.

How to Play

Shaking the head rattles the beads to deliver delicate and vibrant tones.

DIGITAL PIANO

Origin

The first by RMI appeared in the United States in 1967 followed by numerous Italian and Japanese varieties in the 1970s.

Description

An electronic instrument that reproduces the sound of a conventional piano using sound chips and speakers instead of strings, hammers, and sound board. Also able to produce the sound of strings, guitar, flute, harpsichord, organ, and percussion. Advantages over a piano include lighter weight, portability, price, transposition features, recording features, MIDI interaction, and ability to output sound to headphones for practicing in private.

How to Play

Parallels playing a piano. Player sits or stands at the keyboard placed on any flat horizontal surface.

DJEMBE (jem-bay) DRUM

Origin

The long-distance phone of the West African Mandingo culture of the twelfth-century Mali Empire.

Description

Favored by touring professionals and drum circle facilitators for its wide tonal range, clear heights, and rich deep bass.

How to Play

Steadying the djembe between his legs, a player uses fingers and palms on both hands to strike different areas of the drum head skin to produce a variety of tones.

EGG SHAKERS

Origin

Adaptation of the maracas.

Description

Colorful plastic eggs, filled with non-toxic steel shot, easily hand held and transported by percussionists of any age.

How to Play

Hand shaking the eggs releases the crisp, rhythmic rattling-bead sound.

GLOCKENSPIEL (play of bells)

Origin

Germany

Description

Smaller and of higher pitch than a xylophone, with tuned metal bars that issue a very pure bell-like sound.

How to Play

Player hits the metal bars, each identified by note name, with wooden mallets.

HAND BELLS

Origin

Scaled down in size from tower bells in order to allow "change ringers" a convenient (and more quiet) way to practice.

Description

Set of eight metal bells, tuned and identified by color and note name from middle C to high C, at the end of long, easy-to-grasp handles.

How to Play

Picking up and hand shaking each bell produces one of eight notes in the sale.

INDIAN FLUTE

Origin

Native American Indian.

Description

Made of natural wood, most have five or six holes. Various makers employ different scales and fingerings. Produces a wonderful, powerful organic sound often used for meditation.

How to Play

Usually requires a demonstration in order to learn to play.

KALIMBA

Origin

Africa

Description

A modernized version of the southern African mbira, also known as an African thumb piano. Separately pitched metal keys attached to a sound box issue different tones.

How to Play

The player plucks several reeds or tines with thumb or fingers, and the reed vibrations are amplified by a hollow-box resonator or a sounding board.

MARACAS

Origin

South America

Description

Hollow wood heads filled with beads at the ends of handles.

How to Play

Player grasps the handle of a maraca in each hand and uses the wrists to move the instruments, causing the beads to hit the inside wall of the head to make a "tsk" sound. With only one maraca, a player can hold the instrument in one hand and strike it against the palm of the other hand.

MONOCHORD

Origin

Phythagoras is said to have invented this instrument.

Description

Single or multiple strings stretched between two light-weight, fixed bridges, used for performing, teaching, and tuning.

How to Play

Player holds the instrument in his arms and strums the strings.

PADDLE DRUMS

Origin

Description

Pre-tuned drum head is secured to a handle easily held by people with disabilities.

How to Play

Striking each-sized drum head with a mallet produces a different tone. Paddling colorful foam balls into the air or back and forth among a group of players produces musical rhythms as it builds hand-and-eye coordination.

QCHORD

Origin

Draws upon traits of both the autoharp and omnichord.

Description

Portable electronic instrument that offers 84 chord combinations in four octaves, MIDI voices, drum effects, melody keyboard, and fully orchestrated accompaniments of today's most popular songs, all customizable to player's personal preferences.

How to Play

Strummed like a guitar to play a melody like a keyboard.

SHRUTI BOX

Origin

India

Description

Small wooden instrument, similar to a harmonium, that works on a system of bellows to provide a drone in Indian classical music or as an accompaniment to flute or human voice.

How to Play

By pumping the bellows with one hand, air flows into the reeds housed on the opposite side of the instrument. By rotating movable plugs for the brass reeds, air flow opens or closes, creating and muting tones.

SLIT DRUM

Origin

Among the oldest instruments used for signal communication as well as for music making, found in Africa, Asia, and South America.

Description

Designs or shapes carved into hollow hardwood shells determine the penetrating tone of the instrument.

How to Play

Player holds a smaller slit drum in one hand while striking it over the slitted surface with a mallet held in the other hand. Larger slit drums rest on floor or ground.

SOUND SHAPES

Origin

Description

Light-weight, portable, pre-tuned hand drums that come in a variety of shapes and colors.

How to Play

Player produces a tone by striking the drum head with a stick or mallet. Striking the rim of the head produces a click.

TAMBORINE

Origin

An ancient instrument to be found in almost every culture. Mozart was one of the earliest Westerners to compose for the tamborine.

Description

Typically a hand-held wooden frame covered on one side by a stretched parchment or skin head. Inserted in the wooden rim are metal disks called jingles.

How to Play

Striking the head or shaking the instrument sets the jingles in motion, creating a beautiful shimmering sound.

TONE CHIMES

Origin

—

Description

Two octaves of individual hand-held aluminum bells, pitched like a keyboard.

How to Play

Player holds one bell or one bell in each hand and plays just those two notes whenever they appear in the music while fellow players ring their bells only as their notes appear.

TUBANOS (too-bah-nos)

Origin

Afro-Cuban roots in the conga drum.

Description

An internal sound chamber amplifies bass tones. Cut-outs in the base allow more sound to resonate while making the drum stable without propping or tilting against the player's body.