in praise of tambourines

Tambourine - Wikipedia:

The tambourine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a single drumhead mounted on a ring with small metal jingles. It is held in the hand and can be played in numerous ways, from stroking or shaking the jingles to striking it sharply with hand or stick or using the tambourine to strike the leg or hip. It is found in many forms of music, classical music, Roma music, Persian music, gospel music, pop music and rock and roll. The word tambourine finds its origins in the Middle Persian word tambūr "lute, drum" (via the Middle French tambour).

Tambourines rock! They're small, portable and easily held in one hand. They require little to no training to play. The have a pleasing form and the pretty reflective bits aren't just for decoration; shiny bits = jingle, jingle.

Plus, when used properly, they make any song a great song.

Rule of the Tambourine #1: Don't abuse it. Unlike its uncouth cousin, the cowbell, the tambourine must be used sparingly. Please don't get your entire song all tambourined-up. The old adage 'too much of a good thing' definitely applies here. Besides, are you performing some kind of Christmas song? Of course not. OK, so, your song is just starting to groove and you want to kick it up a bit - time to bring in that jingle. That's how it works. Just follow these examples -

Gary Numan 'Cars' and Spoon 'I Turn My Camera On'.

See? It compliments both nasal and falsetto singing styles. It's so versatile and easy to use! It's like the George Foreman Grill of the percussion world. BTW, that Spoon song is the only track I have by them. And no, not because of the Jaguar commercial. I saw the video on NYNOISE.

This is the great thing about blogging - I can write about whatever I want.

Next up: The Woodblock! The Vibraslap! As featured here heard but unseen in 'Orange Crush' by REM (at the fifty second mark)

nota bene: I realize the tamborines pictured lack the single drumhead. I can only assume that this was an aesthetic decision - I blame MTV.