Clawhammer in the context of Sound box

👉 Clawhammer in the context of Sound box

A sound box or sounding box (sometimes written soundbox) is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibrations at certain frequencies, known as resonances. The frequency and strength of the resonances of the body of a musical instrument have a significant impact on the tone quality it produces. The air inside the chamber has its own resonances, and these interact with the resonances of the body, altering the resonances of the instrument as a whole. The sound box typically adds resonances at lower frequencies, enhancing the lower-frequency response of the instrument.

The distinctive sound of an instrument with a sound box owes a lot to the alteration made to the tone. A sound box is found in most string instruments. The most notable exceptions are some electrically amplified instruments like the solid body electric guitar or the electric violin, and the piano which uses only a sound board instead. Drumhead lutes such as the banjo or erhu have at least one open end of the sound box covered with animal skin (or a skin-like acrylic material). Open back banjos are normally used for clawhammer and frailing, while those used for bluegrass have the back covered with a resonator.

↓ Explore More Topics

Clawhammer in the context of Old-time music

Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, contra dancing and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle (see old time fiddling) and plucked string instruments, most often the 5-string banjo without a resonator pan, guitar, and mandolin. Together, they form an ensemble called the string band, which along with the simple banjo–fiddle duet have historically been the most common configurations to play old-time music. The genre is considered by some to be a precursor to modern country music, but it is also has a contemporary active subculture of musicians in various parts of the United States. Old-time music can generally be distinguished from the more widely known bluegrass genre by the use of cross-tunings on the fiddle, by all melody instruments playing in unison, by a lack of individual instruments taking breaks to improvise, by sessions remaining in one tuning or key for an extended period (because fiddles and banjos are tuned especially for that key or even for one tune), and by banjos being frailed instead of finger-picked and lacking resonators to make them louder.

View the full Wikipedia page for Old-time music

↑ Return to Menu

Clawhammer Study page number 1 of 1

Play TriviaQuestions Online!

Skip to study material about Clawhammer in the context of "Sound box"

👉 Clawhammer in the context of Sound box

Clawhammer in the context of Old-time music