TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS: MAKING TARRAÑOLAS

2º ESO pupils from IES San Tomé de Freixeiro

Introduction

• Tarrañolas are percussion instruments. They are made with two rectangular strips of wood with a small joint, which are held between the fingers in such a way that one strip keeps fixed and the other can be moved.

• The origins of the instrument are not known , they might come from The Middle East.They are featured in “Las Cantigas de Santa María”, a collection of poems in honor of the Virgin by Alfonso X.

PROCESO DE CONSTRUCCIÓN

• 1º.- Types of Wood • 2º.- Processing of Wood• 3º.-Stencilling• 4º.- Cutting• 5º.- Planing and sanding• 6º.- Personalization• 7º.- Polishing• 8º.- Finishing

TYPES OF WOOD

• Bubinga, African palo santo and wengué were chosen in order to perceive the different sounds made by them.

PROCESSING OF WOOD

• The wood was taken to a carpenter’s shop to have it cut and ground since we don’t have the appropriate machines for processing it.

STENCILLING

• Tarrañolas stencils were put on pieces of wood to mark the outline.

CUTTING

• We crosscut both tarrañolas with a backsaw and a mitter.

PLANING AND SANDING

• We shaped the tarrañolas in such a way that they were the same size and we also rabbeted them for the fingers’ perfect fit.

PERSONALIZATION

• Some pupils decided to personalize the tarrañolas with their initials.

POLISHING

• We polished the pieces with grained sandpaper so that they felt perfect without any rough edges.

FINISHING

• The pupils varnished them with shellac once and again until they looked perfect.