Clapperboard: tool description, composition, use

Khlopushka (scourge) is a Russian folk noise musical instrument belonging to the family of idiophones, consisting of two wooden planks connected to each other.

One of the boards has a handle, and the second one is pressed against the first one with the help of a spring, together they are fastened at the base with a strong polymeric cord. The musician holds the handle with one hand and lowers it with short movements. At this time, the board, which is movable, strikes against another, and the cracker makes loud and sharp sounds, which are similar to a blow of a whip or a shot from a pistol.

The whip is not inferior to other musical instruments in the orchestra, such as rattles. It has been used in the symphony orchestra since the 19th century to place accents in order to make the performance more spectacular.

The first use of a clapperboard was in the opera The Postman from Longjumeau (1836) by Adolphe Adam. The sounds of the instrument can also be heard in Maurice Ravel’s First Piano Orchestra and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. Eastern European peoples still use it in their work.

Beach is made from maple, oak or beech. Most often, the cracker is painted with Khokhloma or Gorodets painting by the hands of professionals.