Description
The so-called frog is a plucked flexible idiophone.
Description of the instrument
It is a concave piece, made with a metal sheet, with the shape and appearance of a frog. It has a wide steel tab as a lid, attached to the "frog" on one side and free on the other.
Way of playing
By placing the frog's back down and the reed up, the instrument is held with the thumb and forefinger. With the thumb the tongue is pressed and released on the side that is free. When you press and release the reed, which leaves its starting position and then returns, a "click, click" sound is produce.
History
During childhood, as in many other places, these small metal instruments were used in the villages of the Navarrese valley of Sakana. At the town's patron saint festivities, vendors from fairs arriving from outside sold toy swords, pistols, masks, candies, trinkets and frogs of this type. Children would buy them and play them during the feasts, although afterwards the sounds of these instruments were not heard throughout the year (Beltrán, 1996, p. 57).
SOURCES
Bibliography
BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (1996). Soinutresnak euskal herri musikan. Hernani: Orain.
Image gallery
Audio
Igela joaldia. Juan Mari Beltran. Oiartzun, 1998.
Full sheet
- Number:
- 31
- Classification:
- Idiophones -> Plucked / flexible
- Notes:
- Igela, frog
