Course:Phys341 2020/Txalaparta

Two txalapartaris in action

The txalaparta is a Basque idiophone percussion instrument that consists of wooden planks. Two txalapartaris play the instrument with two rods each, and as a result the two operators often play in such a way as to attempt to avoid collusion and strike beats intermittent to one another’s beats. An accelerating rhythm ensues, perhaps until one musician fails to maintain the rhythmic speed any longer.

History

The instrument's origin is not concretely known, but the txalaparta and various other versions of it were used throughout the Basque Country as a means of communication. Further, the instrument has strong links to Basque sagardoa (cider) culture; in some towns the txalaparta was played when a barrell of cider was finally ready for consumption. A somewhat similar tool is the kirikoketa, long wooden maces with clubs at the bottom used to crush apples - laid on the floor - meant for cider preparation. During long hours in a Basque baserria (Basque farmhouse or rural homestead), those crushing the apples with this similar instrument would often beat the floor in a rhythmic pattern, perhaps to pass time.

After nearly becoming extinct in the twentieth century, txalaparta scholars like Beltran have researched the traditional usage of the instrument and expounded physical and musical theories surrounding the txalaparta and its operations.

Construction

Txalaparta planks are made from 'noble' woods, such as alder, chestnut and ash. It conventionally consists of several wooden planks laid by each other on wooden trestles, with a foam material separating the trestles from vibrated planks, which are struck by a makila (‘stick’ or ‘rod’) roughly 10 centimeters in diameter. The planks are parallelepipeds.

Acoustic properties

The txalaparta, "while being very simple in its construction, when compared to sophisticated musical instruments" is able to achieve "musical quality due to its timbrical variety and the complex rhythmical patterns that both players can achieve." Such patterns owe their instantiation to the physical vibrations of the planks, outlined below, citing the informative synthesis and research on txalaparta acoustics by Sánchez González et al.

Vibration

The wooden planks which make up the instrument vibrate mostly transversally, that is, they vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the vertically struck makilas. As such, the greatest amount of 'float' is desired to produce as unhampered vibrations as possible, achieved by the use of foams on the trestles.

When struck, the txalaparta vibrates in a complex manner, with many partials that, unlike in the case of vibrating strings, do not have an integer relationship to each other. As a result, the timbre of the instrument is inharmonic, although the partials are well enough separated so that they are almost perceived as independent notes. Further, research has shown that the second and further partials of a strike have a near-harmonic relation amongst themselves.

A number of different frequency types result from shape distinctions in txalaparta planks. The thicker a plank is the more acute (i.e. higher frequency) the sound produced, given its lower flexibility. Higher frequency is also proportional to shorter plank length. According to research, plank density does not actually affect produced sound.

Beats

The two canonical beat types played on a txalaparta are the ttakuna and the herrena. The player taking on the role of herena attempts to break the balanced beats played by the ttakuna, and the herena does this by playing beats irregular to the even beat played by the ttakuna. While these categories correspond to the different roles of the txalapartaris themselves, a ttakuna beat is also the name for a single strike; the herrena beat for a double strike. An omitted or non-struck beat is called an hutsunea.

• 

  A txalaparta score showing the different roles of the ttakuna and herrena