Making Gourd Musical Instruments

Naturally resonant and aesthetically appealing, gourds seem ripe for music making before they're even plucked from the vine. Once they're hollowed, dried, and cleaned, it's easy to see how gourds can be transformed into a drum, shaker, banjo, flute, and more. From water drums to guiros, rain sticks to lutes and pipes, gourds have been used to make joyous, vibrant music for centuries. And now you can make gourd instruments of your very own!

In this fun and instructive book, authors and gourd artists Jim Widess and Ginger Summit provide step-by-step instructions for building over 60 instruments from gourds. From xylophones and drums to stringed spike fiddles and wind instruments like the fipple flute, building your own instruments from gourds has never been easier.

The authors also provide historical and cultural context for the designs, explaining where and when the instruments were first developed and how they have evolved over time. They also include clear and easy-to-understand explanations of the science behind the instruments.

From cleaning, drying, scraping, and sealing gourds to decorating the final products, no step of the process is left uncovered. Making Gourd Musical Instruments is richly illustrated with photos and diagrams and will have you blowing, plucking, strumming, and striking with the best of them in no time.

Readers interested in related titles from Ginger Summit will also want to see: Gourd Musical Instruments (ISBN: 1626546215), Gourds + Fiber (ISBN: 1626546223), Making Gourd Dolls & Spirit Figures (ISBN: 1626543380), Gourd Pyrography (ISBN: 1626543402).

I have always been interested in handcrafts of all types, since a young child. I drew upon this interest often in my career as a Special Education teacher. Soon after retiring in 1990, I discovered the world of gourdcraft. After a fruitless search for books on the topic, Jim Widess and I agreed that the time was right for a new book, and a whole new world opened up! Artists around the country responded with enthusiasm and creativity to our inquiries, and the resulting books reflect the tremendous potential that the gourd has provided humans since earliest times. The great appeal of gourds to the craft world lies in their flexibility: the variety of shapes and textures of this ancient plant always suggest new possibilities to the crafter. Gourds can be embellished and adapted to work with all mediums available to artists today, and can be enjoyed for individuals with all levels of skill. In addition to growing gourds, I have been able to explore cultures and unimagined areas of human activity, from very functional containers to highly artistic expressions of music, dance, art and culture identities. It has been a great satisfaction to participate in the great gourd world, passing on a traditiion that has been such an important part of human history.