Bâtons de rythme/Claves

Rhythm sticks, lummi sticks and claves from EMUS, NINO, Groove Masters Percussion and MEINL.

Rhythm sticks are the standard first instrument in an elementary music room. A pair of light wooden dowels costs almost nothing, needs no explanation, and lets a whole class play the beat together in the first minute of a lesson.

The fluted version is the reason to look closely. One stick has ridges cut along it, so the pair can be struck together for a click or scraped along each other for a rasp. That gives two distinct sounds from one instrument, which is enough to teach the difference between a beat and a rhythm without handing out anything else. EMUS stocks plain pairs, fluted pairs, mixed fluted and plain pairs, and a nine inch pair, in red and blue.

Lummi sticks are shorter and thicker, used for stick-passing and tapping games where the sticks are thrown and caught between partners in time.

Claves are the heavier relative, made from dense hardwood and much louder, and they are stocked here alongside the sticks in Mexican hardwood and maple, including a six-pair colour pack. NINO rattle sticks add a shaker head to the same shape.