Claves

Claves from EMUS, Groove Masters Percussion, NINO and MEINL, in Mexican hardwood and maple.

A pair of claves is two solid sticks of dense wood, struck together. There is nothing to them and they are the clearest rhythm instrument in a music room, because the sound is a single hard click with no ring and no decay. Thirty students playing claves on the beat sound like one instrument, which is exactly what you want when the beat is what is being taught.

There is a technique worth teaching. One clave rests loosely across the cupped palm, and the other strikes it. The cupped hand acts as a resonator, and the difference between holding it that way and gripping both tightly is the difference between a ringing tone and a dead tap.

Mexican hardwood claves are the traditional form, dense and loud. EMUS stocks them in a full and a mini size. Maple and other hardwood pairs from GMP and NINO sit slightly lighter and higher.

The NINO six-pair multi-colour pack covers a group and makes the pairs easy to sort. MEINL Maraclaves put a maraca head on a clave body, so one instrument gives both a click and a rattle.