Q&A: Felix Deak chats with Graham Hargrove about the rhythm bones

Percussionist Graham Hargrove joins Tafelmusik musicians for Haus Musik: Boccherini at Burdock Music Hall on October 4. Haus Music Artistic advisor Felix Deak chatted with his friend Graham to get the lowdown on rhythm bones, where they come from, and how they will add flair to the Fandango.

Felix Deak: Give us your Coles notes version of the history of the bones’ 2.5 million year existence.

Graham Hargrove: We have very little definitive information about bones playing before the 19th century. Shakespeare mentions them, and they appear in Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian art work, but these provide cultural references only, and we have very little to go on as to how rhythm bones were used musically.

I like to think that pairs of struck objects were the very first sounds to accompany the human voice in the primordial soup of sound that existed before music and before language. Perhaps the rhythmic act of striking objects together in order to build stone tools is what first informed us as humans in the practice of rhythm. So my estimation is that humans have been practicing rhythm bones on some level for as long as we have been human. Similar instruments show up all over the world in many music cultures: India, China, Spain, Italy, England, Ireland, and the countries of North America all have their own distinct rhythm bones traditions, all with slight variations in the instruments and the techniques used. Felix: Tell us about the various musical contexts in which you use the bones.

Graham: Because I am a self-taught rhythm bones player, I have no tradition on which to fall back when it comes to bones playing. I play them in traditional Celtic settings, I have performed a great deal with the Ottawa Valley Fiddler step dancer Dan Stacey, and I have used them frequently in musicals at Stratford as well as in-costume on stage for Shakespeare productions. I have played them with the Evergreen Club gamelan. I wrote a concerto for solo rhythm bones and frame drum with string orchestra accompaniment entitled "Skin and Bones". The rhythmic language of bones is universal, and the technology is very old so I feel comfortable bringing my techniques to a broad spectrum of music and styles. Felix: What’s the tradition of rhythmic bones in early music?

Graham: While bones were almost certainly presents in early European music, there is very little documentation telling us how they were used. Rhythm bones have largely stood in the realm of folk art without much of a written tradition. From references in artwork, and in Shakespeare, we can infer they were part of the cultural fabric of the time though. Felix: How many pairs of bones do you have and in what materials?

Graham: I have over 100 pairs! I have everything from carved shin bone, to unworked rib bones, to every kind of exotic wood and laminate you can imagine. I have stones that I play as rhythm bones, as well as plastic rhythm bones. Apparently somebody out there has made petrified mammoth rhythm bones, but I have nothing so exotic. Just cow bones of several styles.

Felix: And how do the bones fit in with the Fandango, which is usually played over castanets?

Graham: While teaching myself the tradition of rhythm bones, I started to follow a couple of castanet players for their truly wonderful technique and excellent rhythmic language. I hadn't found any bones players with the incredible technical precision and intricacy that I heard from castanet players, most notably Lucero Tena and Nina Corti.

I started adapting my sound and rhythmic language to Spanish castanet techniques. I came across a recording of the Boccherini Fandango with Nina Corti as soloist, and I pitched the idea of playing this piece with myself on rhythm bones rather than traditional castanets to you and Elisa for Haus Musik. I even told you if you let me do it, I would wear the long white dress from the video... come to the Burdock and see for yourself!!