EncyclopediaSOUND TOYS

Sound toys help to develop musical creativity. Although they offer fewer resources than musical instruments, they play an important role in both entertainment and education. They are used not only by children and young people but also by adults, for example, to make time at work more pleasant.

During childhood, we acquire knowledge about the creation of such toys. In popular culture these instruments have been created according to the time of the year, using the plants or fruits of each season. The influence of the moon on plants must be taken into account in order to be able to prepare them properly. The manufacture of these instruments is therefore a way of understanding the annual cycle.

Furthermore, once they have been made psychomotor skills are worked on in a creative way by playing with them. We learn to coordinate the parts of the body while cultivating body expression.

In many cases, sound toys are simpler variants of musical instruments and playing with them prepares us, without realising it, to make music with more complex sound instruments.

In the group of wind instruments, we present below the toys of the subgroup of the flute. Many of them are called txulubita in Basque, although they are different instruments.

SOUND TOYS OF THE STRAIGHT FLUTE WITH MOUTHPIECE FAMILY

These simple flutes are known by the name of txulubita and can have different appearances. In our area we have seen them made of tree or cane branches.

MADE FROM TREE BRANCHES

In many countries, this type of children's toys are made in spring (the season of tree transpiration), using a wide variety of materials such as ash, chestnut, poplar, hazel, willow, walnut and fig, among others (Manterola, 1993, 687). After preparing the mouthpiece, the bark forms the flute's tube after removing the inner stick using the sap released by the branch. Holes may or may not be drilled to give the notes. In contrast, a valve or plunger flute can be made by using the extracted stick to pull it up and down the lower bore. These instruments deteriorate, so some time after they have been made they no longer produce sounds. It is therefore advisable to create them when you want to use them. As already mentioned, spring is the best time to make and play them.

Txulubita made from an ash branch. JMBA collection, no. 178. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

Txulubita produced with a poplar branch. JMBA collection, no. 0037. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

In the village of Arano, near Leitza (Navarre), this type of txulubitas made from chestnut branches were also made for use by children¹.

Txulubita made from a chestnut branch. JMBA collection, no. 0511. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

A young man playing a txulubita made from chestnut. (Photo: JMBA)

One-hole txulubita made from an ash branch. JMBA collection, no. 0770. (Photo: O. Zapirain - Soinuenea)

A child playing an ash single-hole txulubita. (Photo: JMBA)

Valve txulubita made from a branch of ash tree. JMBA collection, no. 0771. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

A young man playing an ash valve txulubita. (Photo: JMBA)

WORKSHOP: TXULUBITAS MADE WITH TREE BRANCHES

MADE OF CANE

Simple txulubitas or txilibitus with holes have been used in many corners of the Basque Country. In Lekeitio, for example, they were used by boys and girls in the 1920s (Bilboko Euskal Museoa, 1998, 107). In the San Telmo Museum in Donostia-San Sebastian (Gipuzkoa) there are two cane txilibitus, brought from Usurbil in 1918 (Beltran, 1997, 141-142).

The two txilibitus from Usurbil kept in the San Telmo Museum. Ref. San Telmo: 34 and 35. (Photo: JMBA)

These toys were not always made at home; as J. M. Beltran recalls, in the mid-20^th century fairground workers that attended village festivals used to sell this type of instrument and others.

Txulubita like those brought to fairgrounds for boys and girls. JMBA Collection, no. 569. (Photo: O. Zapirain - Soinuenea)

At the beginning of the 20th century small cane and bamboo txulubitas were made as children's toys in Oiartzun (Gipuzkoa); some had no holes, while others had two, three or four. Depending on the number of holes, the txulubita is played with one or two hands².

Txulubitas made by Lino Zapirain, from the Iriberri farm in the district of Ergoien, Oiartzun. JMBA collection, no. 749-750-751-781-782. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

A child playing a cane txulubita. JMBA collection, no. 681. (Photo: JMBA)

WORKSHOP: CANE TXULUBITAS

PANPIPES TYPE SOUND TOYS

According to Karlos Zabaltza, a resident of the village of Burgui (Navarre), when we interviewed him in 1988 and 1999, he was introduced to cane panpipes in his childhood. It was called a ‘flute’ and was very common among the boys and girls of the villages of Roncal. Those toys had no specific number of tubes; they could have four, five or eight.

A child playing the Roncal flute. (Photo: JMBA)

We have also found plastic panpipes in toy shops and on the stalls of street vendors at village festivals.

Panpipe. JMBA collection, no. 1577. (Photo: O. Zapirain - Soinuenea)

SOUND TOYS FOR WHISTLING

Some people can whistle using only their mouth or by inserting their fingers in it in different ways.

Various instruments used for whistling have been found at archaeological sites in Navarre, for example, some made of bone or jet³.

Thanks to our fieldwork, we have learned that during the 20^th century in popular culture sound toys were made by piercing fruit kernels: apricot, peach, plum, green almond... The shells of snails or periwinkles, as well as the shells of acorns, have also been used as tools (Manterola, 1993, 694-695).

A child playing a periwinkle. (Photo: JMBA)

In Navarre, txulubitas made with apricot kernels or pieces of tin were common in the Larraun and Sakana valleys (Beltran, 1996, 78).

One of the supposed txulubitas found in the Aizibita dolmen in Cirauqui (Navarre). (Photo: Museo de Navarra)

A child playing a txulubita made from an apricot kernel. (Photo: JMBA)

WORKSHOP: APRICOT KERNEL TXULUBITAS

Jose Mari Lopez from Elorriaga told us that when he was a child in Agurain he had a curious method for making this type of txulubitas: he would take the apricot kernel in his hand and go along the street, scraping it against the walls of the houses until it was hollowed out. Apparently, the carved stone commonly found in the streets of Agurain was ideal for grinding apricot kernels!

WORKSHOP: TIN TXULUBITA

OCARINA TYPE SOUND TOYS

In the absence of a suitable container, learn to form a kind of ocarina with your hands. Even melodies can be achieved by changing the space the hands.

The water flute also belongs to the ocarina family. It is usually in the form of a small earthenware jar. With water in it, it is blown through the mouthpiece and emits a sound similar to the chirping of birds. In reality, it is not just a toy. In the Christmas rounds of the dawn chorus auroros of Tafalla (Navarre), for example, there is always someone playing a pajarico (little bird).

These txulubitas can be heard in the track titled Other txulubitas.

Water flute acquired at a handicrafts fair in Burgos. JMBA collection, no. 86. (Photo: O. Zapirain – Soinuenea)

Agustin Caballero, a member of the auroros de Tafalla, playing the water flute (1999). (Photo: JMBA)

REFERENCES

¹ Interview by Juan Mari Beltran with Jose Mari Legarreta in Arano on 16 January 2000.

² In 1999, Lino Zapirain, from the Iriberri farm in the Ergoien district of Oiartzun, made us several txulubitas and txilibitus like the ones he knew during his childhood. They are on display in Soinuenea: without holes (no. 781), with two holes (no. 751 and no. 782), with four holes (no. 749 and no. 750).

³ Gembero-Ustárroz, 2016, p. 15.

SOURCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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GEMBERO-USTÁRROZ, M. (2016). Navarra. Música. Nafarroako Gobernua.

LOPEZ DE ARANA ARRIETA, I. (2004). Rudolf Trebitsch-en 1913ko Euskal grabazio musikalak. Sancho el Sabio. (21), 49-89.

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