How to Make Coconut Maracas With Different Sounds
Maracas are percussion instruments most often heard in Latin and Caribbean music. Mainstream musicians have also discovered the unique sounds that maracas can make and maracas now appear in rock songs and other types of music that need a bit of cross-cultural flair. Coconut maracas are simple to make and easy to use. Creating different sounds is merely a matter of filling the maracas with varying materials.
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Things You'll Need
- Coconuts
- Wooden handles or sticks (solid or hollow)
- Large knife (optional)
- Flat-head screwdriver or similar implement
- Drill with standard-size drill bit
- Dried seeds or beads
- Metal bearings or BBs (optional)
- Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
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1
Drill a hole in the center of one end of the coconut. Make the hole large enough to accommodate the wooden handle. Empty the coconut of its contents. Use a flat-head screwdriver or a similar implement to scrape the coconut meat away from the shell and out of the hole. Place the empty coconut with its hole pointed down on some paper towels and allow it to dry overnight.
If you don't have the tools or the patience to clean out the coconut in this manner, you can simply cut it in half with a large knife. Clean out each half of the shell, drill a hole in the bottom of one half and allow the halves to dry overnight.
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2
Fill the dried coconut shell with your choice of seeds and/or beads. The size and amount of beads and seeds will determine the sound the maraca makes. Experiment with a variety of mixtures of seeds and beads to change the pitch and timbre of each maraca.
If you split the coconut, you'll have to hot-glue the halves back together before filling the maraca.
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3
Place metal bearings or BBs inside the coconut to create a unique mix of metal and wood sounds.
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Attach a wooden handle to the coconut with hot glue. Any wooden handle or stick will do, though a hollow handle will allow the beans and seeds to flow into the handle to create an even different sound.
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Tips & Warnings
You can leave the coconut shell as is or you can polish the outside. Before you drill any holes or cut open the coconut, scrap off as much of the husk as you can and then use sandpaper to remove the rest of the husk and make the shell smooth. Add a coat of stain, lacquer or paint if you like.
