An Introduction to Instrument Making With Gourds
Plant Seeds This Spring and Harvest Musical Instruments in the Fall
Mar 5, 2009
Theoretically, a musician with seeds for a maple and spruce tree has just about everything they need for crafting a quality violin. But practically, those trees take decades to mature, their chopped wood takes years to cure, and turning those blocks of wood into a resonator, or hollow box to amplify the sound of the strings, takes the hand of a knowledgeable luthier. To say nothing of the skill required to fashion instruments aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well as the ear.
Still, many musicians have a desire to play an instrument they’ve crafted with their own hands. Arthur Stephens, founder of the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra, is one musician who understands this ambition. After years of combing public libraries and museums, he unearthed methods for making many predecessors of modern-day woodwinds, strings, horns, and percussion. Most of these were crafted with gourds.
Gourds Are Natural Resonators
The bodies of musical instruments are resonators. Their job is to amplify some of the sounds created when a string is plucked, membrane is struck, or air vibrates. According to Princeton’s Wordnet, a resonator is “the hollow chamber whose dimensions allow the oscillation of acoustic waves.”
Gourds are by nature, pre-made resonators. “Basically,” Arthur explains, “they’re a giant seed pod. You have this vegetable that hollows out and becomes a natural resonator.”
Gourds Come in All Shapes and Sizes
Because gourds come in just about every conceivable shape, they are able to make excellent resonators for a wide variety of musical instruments. As Arthur puts it, “Our motto is, you can plant a seed and grow an orchestra.”
The necks of long handled dipper gourds create elegant wooden flutes. Bulbous bottle gourds can be cut to form horns with flared bells or filled with beads to become shakers. Canteen gourds can form the bodies of gourd guitars, banjos, violins, and many other stringed instruments. Enormous bushel basket gourds make excellent bass drums.
Natural Beauty of Gourd Musical Instruments
While the materials for a wooden instrument take years to develop, gourds can be grown in almost no time at all. “Once the root system gets going,” Arthur remarks, “the vines will start sprouting and by June you’ll see growth by the foot each day. You can actually sit there and watch the tendrils move during the heat of the day. It’s really a fun plant.”
And when the harvest finally arrives, musicians will be pleasantly surprised by the unique natural beauty of each gourd. Once they’re dry, their rough outer skin can be scraped away to reveal a smooth mottled shell.
Many artists simply finish the gourds inside and out with a clear coat of shellac to maintain their natural pattern. Others apply stain or use a wood burner to enhance the gourd’s appearance.
To take advantage of the beauty and diversity of these natural resonators, musicians will want to get started on their gardens. In related articles, they can find tips for making simple gourd water drums, rattles, and rainsticks, as well as more complicated gourd drums, horns, and flutes. They may also be interested in Arthur Stephan’s tips for planting, growing, harvesting and drying gourds.
Quotes gained in conversation with Arthur Stephens of the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
