PERCUSSION
COOKIN’ WITH THE CABASA | Mark Shelton
Percussion instruments produce sounds by
striking, scraping, and/or shaking.
The small, but versatile cabasa can function in
all three areas of tone creation.
The sound producing elements of the cabasa
include a ridged metal sheet wrapped around
a cylinder that is encircled by strands of metal
beads. A handle is attached to one of the
flat surfaces of the cylinder and caps at the
ends of the cylinder to prevent the strands of
beads from sliding off the cylinder. The tonal
possibilities of the cabasa include sounds
reminiscent of guiro, maracas, and shekere.
ADJUSTMENT TIPS
If your beads of your cabasa do not slide easily
over the ridged surface, try these conditioning
pointers:
Place the end of a thin rod (such as a triangle
beater) under a strand wire and apply pressure
to expand the strand slightly. Repeat for all the
strands.
Insert the sharpened end of a pencil under the
beads and scrape the pencil along the ridged
surface to lay down a coating of graphite that
will act as a lubricant.
GRIP AND PLAYING POSITION
The handle of the cabasa can be held with
either hand. I prefer to grip the handle with my
dominant hand. The rotation technique feels
more comfortable with my stronger and more
agile hand.
The
main
playing
position
situates
the
instrument slightly in front of the player’s chest
near the bottom of the sternum with the handle
parallel to the floor. The non-holding hand
remains near the cabasa for the striking and
scraping techniques.
180
TONE PRODUCTION Place your free hand (palm down) on a portion
Striking of the beads. You can position your hand under
Use the four fingers of the free hand to strike the cylinder or at the upper area (see photos).
the beads. You can tap on the beads closest
to the floor or strike the upper area. This is a Exert slight pressure against the beads with
delicate timbre, but certainly useful. your free hand and rotate the cabasa cylinder
slightly using the handle. You will hear the
Shaking beads scrape against the ridged metal surface.
Experiment with controlling the beads as you Rotate the cylinder in the opposite direction to
shake the cabasa with a side-to-side motion. produce another scrape.
With practice, you can control the beads as
they slap against the cylinder. This sound is Practice the back-and-forth motion to produce
similar to a shaker, but with a tighter articulation. steady streams of eighth and sixteenth notes.
Scraping Check out my short video tutorial to view
June 2019
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