A monkey stick (also called a mendoza, mendozer, Murrumbidgee river rattler, lagerphone or zob stick)'' The Bushwackers Australian Song Book'', new edition 1981, published by Anne O'Donovan Pty Ltd, : ''Lagerphone or Murrumbidgee River Rattler. An upright pole with two crosspieces upon which are screwed beer bottle tops. The noise is made by hitting the instrument on the floor, at the same time striking the middle section with a solid piece of wood.'' is a traditional English

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, used in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. Some musicians have taken to fixing a small stuffed toy

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

to the tops of their instruments. The instrument is constructed from a stout pole with metal "

jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

" fastened at intervals along the shaft. These are commonly beer-bottle tops with a 1-inch washer in between the tops and the shaft. A boot that might be attached to the base of the pole is a recent 'Zob Stick' addition. When played on a wooden floor (common in ale-houses), the sound produced is a combination of a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

and

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

. It can also be played with an additional small notched or serrated stick held in the other hand, allowing it to not only be shaken or hammered onto the ground, but also "bowed" to produce a combined clicking and rattling sound. Bands such as Groanbox, Zapoppin' and Dr. Busker have incorporated the monkey stick into their recordings and live shows.

Other names and versions

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, this instrument constructed with beer-bottle tops is known as a lagerphone. The same name and construction is found in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The town of Brooweena in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

claims to hold the unofficial record when 134 people simultaneously played the lagerphone in 2009. In

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, it is referred to as an " ugly stick". In the Dutch province of

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

this type of instrument is known as a ' kuttepiel'. In the American upper-

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

states of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, the closely related vozembouch, stumpf fiddle or pogocello originated in Czech communities and adds small cymbals, strings, and a drum. A similar instrument, the batih, is found in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The "zob stick" variation of this instrument was constructed and named in 1968 by

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

Keef Trouble of the band Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts and Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs, and included a sprung-

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

attached to the bottom of the pole and a metal sleeve round its centre, to be hit with a serrated wooden stick. It is now, with the term ‘Lagerphone’, the most commonly used name for this instrument. The term ' zob' was taken from the British naval slang term for "penis". File:Jingling Johnny (26020760613).jpg, Instrument labeled Jingling Johnny in England. Lined with

made from beer caps. File:Northumbrian Bagpipes and Jingling Johnny (9175779287).jpg, Instrument labeled Jingling Johnny (jingles made from beer caps), and Northumbrian bagpipes at Haworth, England File:F16 Turkiiskt klockspel.tif, 111.242.222.

Turkish crescent A Turkish crescent, also called ''Turkish jingle'' or a ''Jingling Johnny'', (a smaller version is called a ''Çevgen''; ; ; or ), is a percussion instrument traditionally used by military bands internationally. In some contexts it also serves ...

or Jingling Johnny. File:Ugly Stick Newfoundland.jpg, Ugly stick, has beer caps, like lagerphones. Is played with drumstick (like bumbass).

References

External links

Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts
(Web Site featuring Keef Trouble and the original 'Zob Stick'.)

The Lagerphone Pages by Keith Sayers (Canberra February 2014) {{Authority control Hand percussion European percussion instruments English musical instruments Metal percussion instruments Oceanian percussion instruments Percussion instruments played with specialised beaters Shaken idiophones or rattles Street performance Uses of boots Australian Aboriginal culture

Other names and versions

See also

References

External links