Percussive Musical Instrument

The present invention relates to an improved percussive musical instrument and more particularly relates to an improvement in construction of a percussive musical instrument such as a wood block which has at least one striking head to be struck by a striker such as a stick and a resonator chamber for resonating vibrations generated at the striking head.

One typical conventional percussive musical instrument of the above-described type includes a rectangular main block and a pair of flat, shallow recesses formed in opposite faces of the main block and opening sideways. The recesses are covered with flat plates to form resonator chambers.

When the central section or a section close to the edge of one cover plate is struck by a stick, the cover plate vibrates. Sound waves generated by the vibration are selected and amplified in the resonator chamber for emanation of musical tones having tonal pitches and tone colors inherent to that musical instrument. Sometimes, the edge itself is struck to create a special musical effect.

To generate beautiful musical tones, it is important to optionally strike the striking head to generate optimum vibrations.

To this end, a stick is struck down on the cover plate. It is sometimes difficult however to strike exactly the intended section of the cover plate. For example, when it is intended to strike the edge of the cover plate, the central section may unexpectedly be struck. Such irregular striking causes irregular warping of the cover plate from time to time and, as a consequence, stable generation of vibrations cannot be assured. Such irregular vibrations of the cover plate tends to generate musical tones different than those intended.

In addition, when the edge of the cover plate is to be struck, the angle of the striker, i.e. the stick, with respect to the edge of the cover plate greatly influences the resulting vibration. When this angle is kept within a certain limit, the angle has no significant influence on the vibrations. When the angle exceeds this limit, however, the mode of vibration changes greatly. As a result, the intended effect cannot be obtained even when the edge is struck on purpose if the angle of striking is inadequate. It is in general very difficult for ordinary players to master the idea of this optimum angle of striking which usually differs from instrument to instrument.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a percussive musical instrument which enables a player to generate the exact musical tones intended without difficulty.

In accordance with the basic aspect of the present invention, a sound block includes a main body which internally defines an elongated resonator chamber of a substantially triangular transverse cross-sectional profile, a flat board is coupled to the main body while leaving at least one slit elongated in the longitudinal direction of the sound block in communication with the resonator chamber and the flat board has at least one round striker head extending along the slit.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partly exploded for easier understanding, of the instrument shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, partly exploded, of a second embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a front view of one example of the manner in which the instrument shown in FIG. 3 may be mounted, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, partly exploded, of the third embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention .

A first embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which the sound block includes a V-shaped main body which opens sideways, a pair of side boards coupled to both open longitudinal ends of the main body, and a flat plate is arranged facing the rear open end of the main body while leaving a slit.

More specifically, the V-shaped main body 11 is made up of a front wall 11a and a bottom wall 11b connected to each other at their apex. Both side openings of the main body 11 are closed by a pair of side boards (the right side board 15 being exploded to aid in describing the invention) 15 and the rear open end of the main body 11 is closed by the flat board 13 while leaving a first slit 17 extending in the longitudinal direction of the main body 11. Thus, an elongated resonator chamber R of a substantially triangular cross-sectional profile is defined by the main body 11, the side boards 15 and the flat board 13 in communication with the first slit 17. The top edge of the flat board 13 is provided with a round striker head 13a which extends along the first slit 17. Preferably the radius of curvature of this striker head 13a is equal to one-half of the thickness of the flat board 13.

When a stick is swung down towards the striker head 13a of the sound block 10, the stick always strikers the striker head 13a without any possibility of striking the central section and the section close to the edge of the flat board 13. In other words, the flat board 13 is always struck at a constant section regardless of the course of swing of the stick. There is no possibility of striking any unintended section of the flat plate 13. This assures stable generation of vibration and, as a consequence, enables generation of musical tones exactly intended by the player.

When a player stands behind the side of the flat board 13, the slit 17 is directed towards the audience. As a result musical tones emanate directly towards the audience for better transmission of the musical tones generated. This mode of emanation is quite opposite to that of the prior art.

A second embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 3, in which the sound block 20 includes a main body made up of a pair of wall plates 21,22 arranged at a prescribed center angle relative to each other defining a second slit 23 elongated in the longitudinal direction of the sound block between them. A pair of side boards 15 are coupled to both longitudinal ends of the pair of wall plates 21,22 and a flat board 13 is arranged facing the open end of the wall plates 21,22 while leaving the first and third slits, 17 and 24 which are also elongated in the longitudinal direction of the sound block 20.

The main body is made up of front wall plate 21 and a bottom wall plate 22 arranged with a prescribed center angle relative to one another. The second slit 23 is left between the edges of the two wall plates 21 and 22 which is elongated in the longitudinal direction of the sound block. Both side openings of the main body are closed by a pair of side boards 15 (the right side board being shown exploded from the main body) and a flat board 13 is arranged facing the rear open end of the main body. The third slit 24 is defined between the edges of the bottom wall 22 and the flat board 13 which is again elongated in the longitudinal direction of the main body. Thus an elongated resonator chamber R having a substantially triangular cross-sectional profile is defined by the wall plates 21 and 22, the side boards 15 and the flat board 13 in communication with the first to third slits 17, 23 and 24. At the top and bottom edges, the flat board 13 is provided with round striker heads 13a and 13b which extend along the first and third slits 17 and 24, respectively. The front wall plate 21 is provided at the bottom edge with a round striker head 21a which extends along the second slit 23. As in the first embodiment, the radius of curvature of each striker head is equal to a one-half of the thickness of the associated board or plate.

With this construction of the second embodiment, musical tones of different tonal pitches can be generated by striking different striker heads. To this end, the wall plates 21,22 and the board 13 may have different thicknesses. Alternatively, the slits may be of different dimensions. In this case wall plates 21,22 and the board 13 may be formed of the same thickness for easier production. The presence of multiple slits on one sound block 20 makes performance of the instrument quite easy, in particular when the instrument is held by one hand of the player. Typically the length of the main body is in the range from 40 mm to 300 mm. One of the side boards 15 is provided with a handle 25 for holding by the player.

In addition to such manual holding, the sound block 20 may be mounted to a stand 51 via an arm 53 shown in FIG. 4. The proximal end of the arm 53 is fixed to the stand 51 by a set screw 55 whereas the distal end of the arm 53 rotatably holds the sound block 20 upright via the handle 25. To change the tonal pitch during performance, the sound block 20 is rotated about its axis by the player.

A third embodiment of the percussive musical instrument in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 5, in which the sound block 30 includes a main body 31 in the shape of a rectangular prism internally defining a resonator chamber 12 which is of a substantially triangular transverse cross-sectional profile and locally opens in two adjacent faces of the main body and one of the above-described faces is closed by a flat board 13 while leaving a slit 32 in the other of the above-described adjacent faces. More specifically in FIG. 5, the main body 31 is made up of a pair of side walls 31a, a rear wall 31b and a bottom wall 31c. The bottom wall 31c has a slope on its top face which descends inwards to define a resonator chamber R of a substantially triangular transverse cross-sectional profile. The resonator chamber R locally opens at the topand front faces of the main body 31. The top face of the main body 31 is closed by a flat board 13 (shown exploded from the body 31) while leaving a slit 32 in the front face of the main body 31. The flat board 13 has a round striker head 13a extending along the slit 32 in communication with the resonator chamber R. Like the foregoing embodiments, the radius of curvature of the striker head is preferably one-half of the thickness of the flat board 13.

The sound block in accordance with the present invention is most generally made of woods such as Honduras rosewood, onoore kamba and padouk. It can also be made of glass fiber reinforced resin or carbon fiber reinforced resin.