Clapstick

For other uses, see Clapstick (disambiguation).

Two pairs of Australian Aboriginal clapsticks

File:Didgeridu and clap sticks.jpg

Didgeridoo and Clapstick players performing at Nightcliff, Northern Territory

Clapsticks or clappers are a type of drumstick, percussion mallet or claves that serve to maintain rhythm in Aboriginal voice chants. Unlike drumsticks, which are generally used to strike a drum, clapsticks are intended for striking one stick on another.

As an ancestral instrument that may traditionally accompany the didgeridoo, it is sometimes referred to as musicstick or just Stick. In the language of the Yolngu Aborigines of Northeast Arnhem Land, Australia these clapsticks are called bimli.

Boomerang clapsticks

Boomerang clapsticks are similar to regular clapsticks but they can be shaken for a rattling sound and be clapped together.

Technique

The usual technique employed when using clapsticks is to clap the sticks together to create a rhythm that goes along with the song.