Wobble board: Australian musical instrument

The wobble board is a musical instrument that was made popular by the Australian musician and the artist Rolf Harris as he featured the instrument in his best known song titled “Tie me Kangaroo Down, Sport”. Just like any other musical instrument the wobble board can be excessively decorated as the large surface area can be used as a canvas without reducing the quality of its musical capabilities.

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The musical instrument can be played by holding the board lengthwise, your hands at the sides and quick jerk moving the board outward making the normally “whoop-whoop” noise which it is known for. The angle in which the board is held and the way in which the board is flicked can change the tone quality of the wobble board. Rolf Harris said, “My first wobble was produced 2-foot by 3-foot 1/10 inch thick hardboard, even though it can be slightly smaller. There is a little notch in the middle of each of the short side so that the hand will not slip when playing it. This needs to be as wide as the hands and about ¼ inch as the depth. It is played not by anyway holding the board with your fingers rather it is played by supporting it with palms of your hand and springing it, accenting every second rhythm, and do not try to play everyone. I have discovered that well-proportioned hardboard works best even MDF, but it has to be thin or it will be too hard to bounce! ”

Almost any large sized, springy and flexible sheet of material can be used as a spontaneous wobble board, even though some materials has been marked as better than others. Rolf’s instrument was made from a type of wood compound that is known as “hardboard.” The original Rolf’s wobble boards were being sold in the market commercially for a time in the 1970s but most of the wobble boards are made by the players of the instrument. A wobble board that was used by Rolf for more than 40 years is part of the National Museum of Australia collection today.