Castanets

Castanets, also known as clackers or palillos, are a percussion instrument (idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar instrument called the crotalum.

The name of the musical tool (castanyetes in the Catalán language) comes from the species of castanea (chestnut tree) as the instrument resembles the two halves from the outer shell of the fruit of these kind of trees.

The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood (chestnut; Spanish: castaño), although fibreglass has become increasingly popular.

In practice, a player usually uses two pairs of castanets. One pair is held in each hand, with the string hooked over the thumb and the castanets resting on the palm with the fingers bent over to support the other side. Each pair will make a sound of a slightly different pitch. The slightly lower one usually marks the beat with joined fingers, whereas the slightly higher one is used for variations with all four fingers, including producing rattle-like sounds.