Clave: what is it, what does the instrument look like, playing technique, use

Clave is a Cuban folk musical instrument, idiophone, whose appearance is associated with Africa. Refers to percussion, simple in its performance, is currently of great importance in Latin American music, most often used in Cuban.

What does the tool look like?

The clave looks like cylindrical sticks made of solid wood. In some orchestras, it can also be made like a plastic box that is installed on a drum stand.

Play technique

A musician playing the idiophone holds one stick so that the palm plays the role of a kind of resonator, and with the second stick strikes the first one in rhythm. The sound is influenced by the clarity and degree of force of the blows, the pressure of the fingers, the shape of the palm.

For the most part, the performance is carried out using the clave rhythm of the same name, which has several variations: traditional (sona, guaguanco), Colombian, Brazilian.

The rhythm section of this instrument is divided into 2: the first part produces 3 beats, and the second – 2. More often the rhythm starts with three beats, after which there are two. In the second option – first two, then three.