EncyclopediaRatchet

The ratchet is an instrument of the idiophone group.

Description of the instrument

Common ratchets usually have a wooden tongue. This tab is held in the center of a U-shaped wooden support. A stick is embedded in the open end, from one side to the other. For the handle, the long stick is left on one side and a toothed shaft is placed inside.

Way of playing

Holding firmly by the handle, the ratchet is rotated and the tongue strikes against the shaft, producing a loud noise as it jumps from tooth to tooth on the toothed shaft. There are also ratchets that have other shapes and more lugs. These, of course, make more noise. In some towns the church has owned ratchets for its services.

History

This type of instrument has been used throughout the Basque Country to announce the hours, to call religious services during Holy Week and to announce Christmas activities. In the Larraun valley (Navarra), at Easter, they were used to announce the "twelve" (noon). Throughout the year, every day, the bell rang the noon hour, but on those days, at twelve o'clock, the village children, each one with their ratchet in hand, ran through the houses knocking and passing through the vicinity they yelled "hamabik, hamabik!" (twelve o'clock) (Beltrán, 1996. P. 48).

This instrument has also had another function. To send the animals up the mountains of the , in many places the ratchet has been used as a substitute for the eltzegor (which was forbidden to play), frightening the animals with its noise.

SOURCES

Bibliography

BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (1996). Soinutresnak euskal herri musikan. Hernani: Orain.

DONOSTIA, Aita. (1952). Instrumentos Musicales Populares Vascos. Obras Completas del P. Donostia. (Tomo II, 257-309). Bilbo: Ed. La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1983.