Washboard: France musical instrument

A washboard is a tool that is designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the ending part of the 20^th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as an instrument of music.

source of picture: rattlebrained.org

The traditional instrument is often carved with a rectangular wooden frame that are mounted a series of ridges for the clothing to be rubbed upon. For the 19^th century version of the instrument, the ridges were usually of wood, and by the 20^th century, the versions of the instrument of that time were of metal ridges. A fluted metal washboard was patented in the United States in the year 1833. Zinc washboards were produced in the United States from the middle part of the 19^th century. In the later part of the 20^th century and the earlier part of the 20^th century, ridges were commonly manufactured of galvanized steel, but some modern versions of the board are produced of glass. The versions of the musical instrument with brass ridges are still produced and some who use the washboard as a musical instrument prefer the sound from the brass boards. One of the musical instrument fabricated entirely in the United States is the Zydeco Frottoir, a distillation of the instrument into an important elements designed by Clifton Chenier and carved by Willie Landry in the 1946.

Though the instrument is commonly used as a musical instrument or sound making device in the present day, many parts of the world still use the instrument for the purpose of washing clothes are soaked in hot soapy water in a washtub or sink, then squeezed and rubbed against the ridge surface of the instrument to force the cleansing fluid via cloth to remove dirt. The instrument can also be used to wash in a river, with or without soap. Then the clothes that have been washed are rinsed. The rubbing has an analogous effect to beating the clothes and household linen on rocks, an old method, but it is less abrasive.

The washboard and the frottoir from Cajun French are used as a percussion musical instrument, employing the ribbed metal surface of cleaning device as a rhythm instrument. As traditionally used in the jazz music, zydeco music, skiffle music and the old time music, the musical instrument remained in its wooden frame and is performed mainly by tapping, but also scrapping the instrument with the use of thimbles. Usually, the washboard has traditional traps like the wood block, a cowbell and also small cymbals. On the other hand, the frottoir dispenses with the frame and simply made up of the metal ribbing hung around the neck. The musical instrument is performed mainly with spoon handles or bottle openers in a combination of strumming, rolling, scratching and tapping. The frottoir is a mid-20^th century fabrication that is designed especially for zydeco music. The instrument was designed in the year 1946 by Clifton ‘King of Zydeco’ Chenier, and fashioned by Willie Landry, a friend and metalworker at the Texaco refinery in Texas and Port Arthur.  Cleveland Chenier, Clifton’s brother performed this newly designed rub board with the use of openers famously. In the zydeco bands, the frottoir is often performed with bottle openers to manufacture a louder sound. It poses to perform counter-rhythms to the drummer. In a jug band, the washboard can also be performed with a single whisk broom and functions as the drums for the bands, playing only on the back-beat for many songs, a replacement for a snare drum. In four-beat measure, the musical instrument will stroke on the 2-beat and the 4-beat. The best sound of the musical instrument is gained with the use of a single steel-wire snare-brush or whisk broom.

Meanwhile, in jazz music, the musical instrument can also be performed with the thimbles on all the fingers of the player, tapping out much more complicated rhythms, as in the washboard rhythm kings, a full-sized bands, and Newman Taylor Baker.

Musician Steve Katz famously performed the musical instrument with the Even Dozen Jug Band. His performance can be heard on the group’s legendary that is self-titled ‘Elektra’ recording from the 1964.  He reprised his instrument playing on ‘Played a Little Fiddle’, a 2007 recording that featured Steve Katz, Stefan Grossman and Danny kalb. Katz’s musical instrument approach is notable as he performs the musical instrument horizontally. Also he uses fingerpicks to play the musical instrument instead of thimbles. 

There is a Polish traditional jazz festival and music award that is called Golden Washboard.