Rainsticks

Rainsticks from EMUS, MEINL and Groove Masters Percussion, in bamboo and PVC, from three and a half inch up to forty inch.

A rainstick is a sealed tube with pins or thorns set through it in a spiral, and small beads or seeds inside. Tipping it slowly lets the beads fall through the pins, and the sound is close enough to rain that most people identify it before being told.

Length decides everything. A longer tube gives a longer fall and a deeper, fuller sound, so a forty inch rainstick produces something like twenty seconds of continuous rain while a mini gives a short trickle. For a group, a mix of lengths layers into something considerably more convincing than any single one.

They are one of the most useful instruments in early years and sensory work, because the sound is calming rather than exciting, it responds directly to how slowly the child moves, and there is no way to play it wrong.

Bamboo models come in eight, sixteen, twenty-four and forty inch from EMUS and MEINL. GMP PVC rainsticks come in three sizes and are more robust for heavy classroom handling, and a three and a half inch mini fits in a pocket.