Rain Sticks


The rain stick or rain maker is a tubular vessel rattle that serves as an effect instrument. Modern variants of the instrument are made of bamboo or plastic and filled with rattle bodies made of different materials to achieve different sound effects. If you turn the rainmaker around, the small pebbles fall from one spike to the next. This creates a pleasant, even sound that is reminiscent of flowing water or the rustling of thick raindrops. While in South America the medicine men wanted to lure the longed-for rain with the soft rustling sound of the rainmaker, one enjoys the pleasant sound with the calming effect. The sound spectrum ranges from fine, delicate drizzle to the powerful rustling of a downpour. It "rains" more persistently, the longer the rainmaker is and the more spikes hold up the path of the pebbles. Short variants are also used as rhythm instruments that can be quickly shaken.