How to choose your Castanets
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- This video provides information on different castanets type as well as price, material and correct size for you to dance Flamenco
Learn where to store your castanets and how to reduce the volume when playing at home.
Thank you for your instructional vids (parts one and two)! I have watched them over and over, BEST instruction on RUclips! After one month (2.5 - 3 hrs of practice per day even in my car while driving, right hand only in my car) I can now do the RIA. I'm using the LP hand held castanets (the only set they sell) they are a little heavy (ebony) and there is no size and no male/female, actually no mark at all to determine. Now I'm ready to upgrade. Again, thank you for THIS vid. Planning to purchase the red dbl box too. I've been partially deaf since age 2 and now at 55 yrs old I just got hearing aids and wanted to learn a percussion instrument that I could hear, and chose the castanets due to very slight arthritis in two of my right hand fingers. This has been soooo fun and I'm driving everyone around me nuts, guess I will purchase the silencers too.
Reesa Rimmer thank you ! And well done for you ! It’s a very impressive achievement !!! I actually started dancing flamenco and playing castanets after I had an accident and broke my arm , my doctor at the time recommended as physiotherapy to dance flamenco and I fell in love with it . Like every other instrument is all about practice, in the car , cooking , shower ... is all valid ... lol .
Try using baby socks around one side of your castanets to block the sound , it works pretty well . Once you have your knew castanet I am sure you will enjoy even more ...
thanks for sharing your story is very rewarding to see what motives each person to start a new challenge ...
Keep it up!
Gracias! I love your lessons - I was mad for castanets when I was a child and will try to learn now, at this age - thank you
Liliana Cucoanes thank you 😊. Is never too late to start working in something you are passionate about it 👍🏻
This comment here has encourage me to pursue learning how to play the castanets.
Just purchased the red dbl box Castanuelas del Sur castanets that you have, took awhile to find them cause the manufacturer does not ship to the US. Can't wait to get them, sooooo excited! I purchased them from the exact site where you bought yours, I saw your review, that is what sold me on them! Thank you again for all you do! Oh and I bought sliencers too :/
Reesa Rimmer awesome !!! Glad it worked for you as well ... I received mine very fast , only 3 days , but some of my students had to wait a couple of weeks as they didn’t have in stock. I LOVE them . Hope you feel the same 😉
Hello, can you tell us where to purchase them? Thank you.
I love that painting in your background!!💃🏻
Stephanie Martoccio me too . It was gift from my sister 🎁
Your sister has great taste! What an awesome gift!
I found a really old pair of handmade wooden ones in a second hand store, from Spain apparently. Cost nothing. They look to be in great shape, sound nice too (even though I can't really play). I'm glad you included some storage info, don't want to break them. Will use them for dramatic effect when people invite me for dinner. lol
What a great find !
@@cerbinoflamenco8194 Yeah, I'm hooked already! They're so fun! :) Even though I'm no Lucero Tena.
thank you for the knowledge, loved the painting, one of my fav moves
Hunter9Nine thank you 😉
Thanks so much for the video and I love it ♥️♥️♥️♥️greetings from Phoenix Arizona USA 🇺🇸
Thank you
Gracias!!!!Ya puse en práctica el tercer consejo para amortiguar el sonido. Encontré unas medias de mi hija cuando era bebé y ya puedo practicar de noche sin perturbar mis vecinos.😊🇵🇷
That is great 👍🏻
thanks, pretty much what I was looking for. I'm neither a musician nor a dancer, and I think I'll be served well just buying something used from ebay (I'm eyeing what looks like an old ebony pair contrary to your advice, I can just carve them lighter if I want louder/brighter). I want to try just one castagnette for clapping rythm while holding a protest sign with te other hand (there are weekly pal°°tine protest marches in my city that never seem to have quite enough percussion for thr chanting).
I'm a little surprised that you call heavy wood basically a sign of a bad or cheap castagnette, since those heavvy woods are definitely more expensive. also it looks like grenadillo is the standard for real castagnettes, and that is a not super hard but very hard tropical hardwood, harder than just about anything from temperate climates, including oak for example (but brighter in tone, very stiff). I'm also seeing as modern options zebrawood and purpleheart, both more moderately hard tropical hardwoods (but stiff). the only wood I'm seeing used that I would pass as not hard is maple (moderately hard hardwood by temperate climate standards, elastic, reputation for tonal clarity, used on almost all violin family instruments and many old guitars). I understand that super heavy woods (african ebony, african blackwood, cocobolo) will be relatively quiet, dull, and presumably tiring to play, but clearly really soft woods are not suitable. the only really soft wood on castagnettes is actually the stuff that they hide under very thick and hard black lacquer.
I'm a repair-focused violin maker, so I do have some tips for maintenance and repair. what you're calling discolouration is varnish wearing off and possibly sweat penetrating into and oxidizing the wood afterwards (dark spots). this can weaken the wood slightly, and by increasing moisture changes, losing varnish probably increases the likelihood of cracking. varnish such as shellac can be reapplied (preferably after dirt removal with something like fine 000/0000 steel wool), but is tricky to make smooth and shiny. what's easier to apply and recommendable to players, restores much of the look and provides moisture protection are oil finishes like tung oil (the all ntural option, but smells a little rancid for up to ~3 months), boiled linseed oil with drsing agents, or the more arificial but more varnish-like modern concoctions such as danish oil, which can be applied repeatedly to build a shiny layer. if you happen to have walnut oil, that does dry very very slowly by itself but is acceptable as a wood finish. only use hardening/"drying" oils, non-drying oils are for leather only. if you have any cracks whatsoever, absolutely do not apply oil tontge cracks. the way to go is to either, to be fancy, first remove sweat oil and dirt by sponge-bathing the crack thoroughly with warm water, then strong soap (the super fancy stuff is called vulpex, but dishwashing detergent will help a lot, too), and then warm water again, then dry off and dry out at room temperature for a day or so. then it's ready for glueing, removing oil helps a lot to a hell of a lot with durability depending on the glue used. acetone also works for degreasing and requires no drying time, but also heavily draws oil and colour from most tropical woods and dissolves most varnishes, so it would usually necessitate a full refinishing. you definitely want a highly water-resistant glue to withstand sweat. common water-based wood glues can be great, but require clamping pressure due to shrinkage while drying, which due to the rounded shape of castagnettes is likely impractical (if you do use water-based wood glue, try wrapping with tape, string, or rubber bands, and try without glue first). what works well without pressure or very short finger-pressure are either high quality 24 hour epoxy, or HIGH QUALITY superglue (some brands are terrible, I'm very happy with sicomet, 8300 for the thin option). both epoxy and superglue also are the best glues to use on oily wood and also if you're too lazy to soap-wash first. thin superglue is perfect for seeping into cracks, thick superglue and epoxy are for when you have two wholly separated pieces. slow-hardening
epoxy can also be made much runnier and coaxed into cracks if you pre-heat the wood (hold it over a flame for ~3 minutes just far enough to not burn a hand directly above it, then it won't burn the wood, but expect the epoxy to harden much faster when hot). handle thin superglue very carefully to not apply too much that will run through and down and all over and always glue skin better than any other substance, ideally by making a little puddle in a tiny hollow spoon-ish-shaped bit of plastic garbage, and dabbing it onto the crack with something like the edge of a plastic card or knife. carefully wiggling cracks helps drive in any sufficiently runny glue. I recommend minimizing wood surface contamination and scraping off glue (with a steel scraper or a sharp knife edge that will then be less sharp) after it's hard, especially for superglue. apply thin superglue repeatedly over thecourse of several minutes (can take over 10 minutes to harden in deep cracks, but superglue accelerators are permissible and very fun to use) until the crack won't drink any more.
after gluing all cracks and removing glue frpom the surface, you can apply oil finishes or varnish. oiling instead of revarnishing makes it look pretty and taken care of, without hiding the signs of use (patina) if you look closely, so it looks old but fancy. particularly after gluing and perhaps making a mess with the glue, full refinishing and making the whole thing look sort of new witg one uniform.finish all over can be the best option. in that case, acetone and abrasive paper may be appropriate to use (sand with multiple grits up to ~600 grit or 000 steel wool or finer for an oil-based finish).
anyways, the important parts are: slow-curing epoxy and quality thin superglue are likely to work best for cracks. rinsing cracks with soap and water and allowing a day of drying time makes the glues work a lot better. oil-based finishes are recommended to replace worn-off varnish for looks and moisture protection, but absolutely do not apply any oil or varnish into open cracks! the super low effort option definitely worth doing is to just apply thin superglue to cracks, preferably on still fresh cracks. if you have tgin superglue and two loose pieces, hold them together, ttgen apply glue, keep holding until it sets, then peel of your fingers and apply more glur to crack until saturated. if you wipe it off one time very quickly with a paper towel, superglue smears look a lot like varnish (some woodturners actually use it as varnish, but the big surfaces release super noxious fumes). that's the super cheat option for extreme laziness.
if for some reason you have actually valuable antique damaged castagnettes, avoid damage by getting an actual instrument maker to do it. bad repair work on instruments is the worst kind of damage, so I'm only advising DIY under the assumption that otherwise it won't get done at all. if you're more worried about not doing damage than you are about the repair standing up to heavy use, use totally non-waterproof wood glue or even hot hide glue or gelatin in order to make the work fully reversible (violin makers stick to hide glue semi-religiously for almost all repairs for this reason, great stuff, but extremely weak to moiature and would dedinitely require oiling or varnishing afterwards). applying boiled linseed oil or tung oil is unobjectionable in any case even on expensive instruments (assuming tropical hardwood like grenadillo, ebony, rosewoods, zebrano - on something less dense like maple it may be possible to add so much oil to slightly dull the sound) IF you check for cracks under good lighting first. DO NOT OIL OR VARNISH CRACKS, as I may have mentioned before once or twice. 😅
Thanks for the comment ! You definitely know much more than I do about all the material and care. I appreciate you taking the time to write , I learned something new today !
There are so many different materials and so much I still don’t know about the making on the castanets but I am always interested in learning
Thank you... i got a wooden set.. black a few days ago... not sure how this will go down... Im from Cape Town South Africa.. Flamenco has always been a passion i wanted to persue thuss i play Guitar trying Flamenco..and this i would add to when my friends come over.. they dont really listen to Flamenco in Africa so im kinda the odd one out of the bunch
That is awesome , playing another instrument can definitely help, when I started flamenco in Brazil it was classical Spanish ballet not even flamenco , slowly started to grow and is big now, be the innovator! The fusion of flamenco and other rhythms is amazing ! Enjoy the journey
Brazil.. thats a spanish /afro culture... here we have a mix too. Dutch Xhosa Zulu and many more.. but most people would listen to American artest.. Clasical not that huge and even less so spanish... Enrique Eglesias ,Shakira, Despasito...etc.. they would dance to.. Flamenco..lol i get asked what is that desparado tune you just played
You great thanks
You are welcome
Great , I learn lots !!
Thanks 😊
Amazing tips!
Neppie's World thank you 😊
Is it just me? I like the sound of the first wood ones the best. 🤷♀️
Hi Sara
I think it is a very personal choice , I like to teach playing with louder castanets so it is easier for the students to hear mine above all that is happening in the class , it can get pretty crazy 🤪 , but when I am playing alone I love the sound of my capricho castanets ( brown ones from Castanuela del sul ) .
Whoa, that muffler piece is genius! I need something high quality for the studio. Is there a model name to the better sounding pair?
It depends what sound are you looking for . Is it a standout ? Louder and sharper ? Or coarse ?
Gracias !! 💃🏻
THANK YOU !👋👋👋
You are welcome
Hello Francine! My castanets from Casa del Diego Madrid is exactly same color of yours, the one u showed that were slightly damaged
Nice ! Thanks for Sharing , I should check them out 😊
Francine is cool
Hi~ thank you for your nice information. May i ask something please? I prepare concert with Ochestra like Rusero Tena. Which one is right caatanets "Castanuelas Fibra" or "Granadillo Negro"? Both made in Spain "Intermezzo". Fibra is enough to performance?(Sounds...). Only in your personal opinion.^^ thank you.
Sorry I only saw your comment now . I think either option would be good for you . Fibra is definitely enough to perform , it has a sharp and clear sound . That is what I use in particular and I love it 🥰
That's so strange I tried size 6 and is tiny my fingers couldn't reach the fourth finger. I am small woman . They sold me palo santo Brazil castanets. Is it Oke but I got size 7
He said size 6 is kids so I am confused. I am new to it .
Hello there, I think it is because of the specific brand you bought from , I always tell my students to double check their website or store instructions for fitting , I have seen castanets that are the “opposite “ -meaning -the larger the number the smaller is the castanets and vice versa .
It really depends on the factory , is not a set in stone rule but the measurements of your hand should be taken the same way I believe,and then I would advise to go into the specific instructions and check what is their recommendation ( in case you ever buy another castanets from a different maker)
But nevertheless thanks for watching the video and leaving me a comment
I have yet to try this brand of castanets . Do you like them ?
Hi, I know this is an old video, and you may not answer, but I have some difficulty figuring out the sizes. Some companies seems to have bigger numbers for larger hands, and some companies the other way around. Any advice?
NatureAndTech hi there
Usually you can find the information for the correct size in the manufacturer website . Otherwise try to follow the guidelines I recommended on this video . Measure your hands and if the fall in that parameter you should be comfortable with a size 5 female , size 3 male
Just have in mind that 5 is usually medium , 3 has a larger fitting than a 5 and a seven will be smaller fitting than a 5
I am size 5 for Castañuelas del sur for example
What brand are you looking into ?
Thank you very much! Please can you tell me which size is it, the red one vidrio?
They are size 5 😊
Tnx❤️
So ebony might not be the best material?
I am not sure to be honest I have never tried one. But I have tried materials that are not the most recommended such as plastic and you can still play , some of the differences might be the sound , longevity and sometimes good castanets can be easier to play with.
Gracias.❤️
De nada
Where did you find the first castanets?they look like aspire brand castanets? And if not, do you know if aspire castanets are any good
Hi there . Sorry but I really have no idea what brand is first castanet it was over 25 years ago. I am not familiar with the brand aspire
¿Cuál es el tamaño adecuado de castañuelos para hombres?
Depends on the size of your hands but it’s usually 5 for small hands or 3 for larger hand on professional models
@@cerbinoflamenco8194 Gracias por responder a mi preguntó. 😊
@@cerbinoflamenco8194 I measured the palm of my hands. It is around 8.5 cm. What size of castanets is suitable for my hands? 😊
@@juangabriel_kalimba_guzheng if you are buying Castanuela del sul brand I would choose either size 5or 3 . Ideally 5 since they recommend from 7-9cm palm measurements. If other brand I would recommend checking the manufacture guide now that you have your measurements ☺️
@@cerbinoflamenco8194 Gracias. 😊
Thank you for the information. I have a question, What Brand is the red castañet?
Florencia Fourcade thanks , is called castanuelas del sur😉
Florencio fourcade
Are Latin percussion castanets are acceptable for flamenco too? I'm on a budget unfortunately😓
starmelody Elizabeth I am not familiar with those but I was able to buy some cheap wood castanets in the beginning that helped me learn . They might not be so smooth to connect your fingers when clicking for RIA so you have to practice s little longer sometimes before you achieve better results but once you get it you will be able to play in any castanets like I did. 😉
Very nice informative video! But while researching i have seen 3 and even 4 sound boxes what is the difference of those to the double sound box Castanets? I will be flying to Madrid and I might buy there appreciate if can give me some more information about it! Thanks!
Hendrix Pelovello thanks . Honesty I don’t personally know castanets with 3and 4 sound boxes . I can tell you from one box to double box castanets the sound is sharper and feels lighter on your hands , great advantage after dancing for a while . From Castanuelas del Sur I particularly know the double box I showed in the video and the top of the line “ Capricho”, that has a very unique sound but feels a little “fat” in the body. If you have the chance to try them that will be the best way to find what fits you . 😉
Thanks, good video! Unfortunately, the internet is flooded with cheap, "made in china" knock-offs. But I consider buying a pair from "Castañuelas del Sur". They seem like very good quality. What significance does the peak have (con/sin pico)?
You are welcome . The “peak” has no significance on the quality of the sound. It is a style ,personal choice . I am sure you won’t be disappointed with Castanuela del sur. I love mine
Where can I buy?
Try castanuelas del sur or flamenco export
Can We buy from the Amazon website Castanet
I never tried ! Maybe try Castanuela del sur
I like the second castanets that were black. Where can I find them?
Hi Phyllis, I have these for over 20 years so I am not sure where to get the same one but I would recommend you checking the Castanuelas del sur website because the have many similar ones made with fiber glass that will sound the same .
Depending where you live if they don’t deliver to your location you can also order from exportflamenco.com , they sell Castanuelas del sur models amongst others.
Hope this helps
@@cerbinoflamenco8194 flamencoexport.com works, the exportflamenco.com did not work for me. I really love your videos, thank you!