Sale! Irish Spoons and Bones

These instruments are part of the Irish session rhythm section,

along with the bodhrans

See the Irish Music Books Etc page for the Tommy Hayes video which has a brief section on bones and spoons at the end (the rest of this video is on playing the bodhran). We regret that this is the only item we have on how to play the bones and spoons.

Sale! Irish Bones

In the old days, these were really made of bone, but now are made of wood.  To play them, you hold them both between two adjacent fingers of one hand and shake your hand to make the bones clack against each other. (This takes a bit of practice!) Our current bones are shaped as shown, and are curved. Size: about 7 1/2" long.

The woods we currently have are listed below. These bones are made by a harpmaker who used odds'n ends of wood left over from making harps. (This means that they are made of dense wood that gives a good sound, because harpmakers are fussy about the acoustical properties of the wood they use for harps.) Please specify which you want or let us choose a nice pair for you. Regular price: $18/pair. Sale: $12/pr

Wenge: Dark brown with prominent black grain design.
Padouk: Dark red with slight dark grain.
Lacewood: Medium brown with dark brown flecks. We have 2 pair of these left.
Bubinga: Rich reddish brown with grain.
Natural Oak: We have one pair of these left.

The bones shown in the photo above are lacewood, but the current lacewood we have looks somewhat different, as this wood can vary in its markings.

Sale! Traditional Irish Spoons

In the old days, they played a pair of real spoons from the kitchen, and those spoons were held in a manner similar to the bones (above). That was harder to do; nowadays, you can do it the easy way with these spoons, which are joined at one end. You hold the spoons in one hand and bang them on your other palm, or on your arm, your head or whatever. The Hayes video (see the Irish Music Books Etc page) shows Tommy playing real spoons and doing a few party tricks.

SP2A. These Irish-style spoons are carved from two pieces of wood which are joined at the end of the handles. The spoons are turned outwards instead of toward each other. This gives the player more variety in the sounds that can be achieved. The wood of our current ones is darker colored than in the photo. Made in Ireland. 7 3/4" long. $34.  Sale: $20

 SP2B.  9" long. Made in Ireland. $34.  Sale: $20 We have one pair of this size left. They are nice, except that they have a dark stain on one side of one spoon.

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