Our bone conduction headphones give you a new way of hearing things. Think of them as a new perspective, but for your ears, not your eyes. Rather than the traditional air conduction, we’ve got music that plays itself in your bones. It’s interesting to think about. Sound is nothing more than vibration, and something as solid as a bone is sure to do some serious vibrating. It’s like your head is dancing to the beat. That got us thinking, and further investigation revealed that there is an instrument that actually incorporates bones (animal bones, hopefully) right into its basic structure. Let’s take a look at the “bones,” its beats, and what it means for bone conduction.
The Bones Instrument Explained
Dubbed “rhythm bones,” or “bones” simply, it’s a very basic instrument. You take a couple animal bones and click them together to make percussive sounds. It’s a lot more complex to play well than it sounds, though. The bones are usually 5”-7” in length and are held between the fingers. It’s easier to show than to explain. Check out this bonafied bones enthusiast, Don Flemons, as he talks us through the bones.
Their unique percussive sound makes them a must for zydeco and other Southern hybridized music styles. History traces the bones instrument back to two ancient civilizations. This is the earliest form of bone conduction technology, although its purpose is to create, not digest, music. Ancient China and ancient Egypt both discovered bones by clicking two rib bones together. In the case of the former, bones were used to ward off evil spirits with a sound intrinsic to the human physical form, thus fighting the metaphysical with the physical. In Egypt, bones were used as part of musical parades that heralded the transport of a Pharaoh; we’ve documented their use in history to celebrate Pharaoh Ramses II. Perhaps in this case, they were a happy reminder of the morbid ends one might find if they disobeyed a Pharaoh. It’s appropriate, then, that today bone conduction lends itself to headphones for running, which is perhaps what a criminal would have done when they heard the Pharaoh’s arrival announced by the rattling bones instrument.
Fast forward to America in the early 1800s, where rhythm bones found purchase during slavery time. The bones were incorporated as instrumentation for spirituals that were sung in subliminal defiance of the cruel slave drivers. They would go on to be incorporated into minstrel shows. Today, the rhythm bones have a home in New Orleans zydeco music. Their timbre is like that of a washboard but with more attack and resonance, not to mention how cool they look.
This ancient musical form could arguably be called bone conduction, as well. The rhythm bones are an example of bones conducting sound, after all. If you listen to the bones through bone conducting headphones, you could say that your bones are conducting bone conduction, but that might be confusing to whomever you’re speaking with.
In any event, from one cool idea to another, we salute you, rhythm bones!
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