Some readers may recall in an earlier post that I recently had the opportunity to visit the French-Canadian province of Québec. In my travels there in June, I spent much of my time in the historic downtown area of Québec City and explored a bit of Montreal. Besides visiting areas like the Citadelle de Québec, I toured the local shops and communicated with the citizens of Québec City (in both English and French). One of the stores downtown featured musical spoons for sale, which I purchased as both a souvenir and as an instrument to study and collect for ethnomusicological purposes.
The musical spoons that I acquired on my trip are composed of wood that consists of a smooth texture to the touch. The two conjoined spoons have their respective ends facing each other, with the scoops of the spoons positioned on opposite sides and the top spoon emblazoned with the manufacturer logo. The musical spoons in my instrument collection derive from Heritage Musical Spoons, a family-owned business from Quebec City founded by Richard Mathieu that has been actively crafting musical spoons since the late 1990s. Mathieu and his son construct their musical spoons in their workshop by hand using Canadian Maplewood.
The pair of musical spoons from Heritage comes equipped with detailed textual and visual instructions for how to play the instrument. They are a deceptively simple percussive instrument that takes some practice to get used to the overall feel. Readers can find myriad video tutorials concerning how to play the musical spoons, including from Heritage themselves. Holding the musical spoons requires inserting the index finger of whichever dominant hand that the player wishes to use in the space between the two spoons and placing the thumb of the dominant hand on the top spoon. To produce effective tones with the musical spoons, the player must sit down with both feet positioned flat on the floor and knees bent. Using the other free hand, depending on which hand the player uses to hold the musical spoons, the player must position the free hand flat and steadily at a certain distance away from the spoons. Heritage recommends that people playing the musical spoons place their free hand six to eight inches away from the instrument. Moving the spoons back and forth from the lap of the leg to the free hand produces rhythms and tones. The player can alter the pitches of the spoons by positioning their free hand flat or cupped and can also apply different rhythmic patterns or speeds. One other trick with the musical spoons involves stretching the fingers of the free hand and scraping against them via the spoons for more complex rhythmic passages.
The musical spoons that I acquired on my trip are composed of wood that consists of a smooth texture to the touch. The two conjoined spoons have their respective ends facing each other, with the scoops of the spoons positioned on opposite sides and the top spoon emblazoned with the manufacturer logo. The musical spoons in my instrument collection derive from Heritage Musical Spoons, a family-owned business from Quebec City founded by Richard Mathieu that has been actively crafting musical spoons since the late 1990s. Mathieu and his son construct their musical spoons in their workshop by hand using Canadian Maplewood.
The pair of musical spoons from Heritage comes equipped with detailed textual and visual instructions for how to play the instrument. They are a deceptively simple percussive instrument that takes some practice to get used to the overall feel. Readers can find myriad video tutorials concerning how to play the musical spoons, including from Heritage themselves. Holding the musical spoons requires inserting the index finger of whichever dominant hand that the player wishes to use in the space between the two spoons and placing the thumb of the dominant hand on the top spoon. To produce effective tones with the musical spoons, the player must sit down with both feet positioned flat on the floor and knees bent. Using the other free hand, depending on which hand the player uses to hold the musical spoons, the player must position the free hand flat and steadily at a certain distance away from the spoons. Heritage recommends that people playing the musical spoons place their free hand six to eight inches away from the instrument. Moving the spoons back and forth from the lap of the leg to the free hand produces rhythms and tones. The player can alter the pitches of the spoons by positioning their free hand flat or cupped and can also apply different rhythmic patterns or speeds. One other trick with the musical spoons involves stretching the fingers of the free hand and scraping against them via the spoons for more complex rhythmic passages.
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