Clapsticks, generally known as twererre in the Arrernte languages, are made all over Central and Northern Australia and are used to accompanying singing. When played, people will not just beat of a rhythm to a song but sometimes hit these sticks rapidly to emphasise structural points in the music. Twererre were generally made of mulga wood (Acacia aneura) and could be used by both men and women. These particular styles of clapstick however, with their pronged-ends and pincher like shapes or carved, fish-shape middles, are unique to the Charlotte Waters area (on the Northern Territory and South Australian border). One of the few anthropologists to observe people using these types of twererre, Walter Baldwin Spencer, described the way that each was played. 'When in use the blunt end of the prong is held in the left hand, and the striker is allowed to fall on to the pronged end'. The other style of twerrere, with its carved fish tail shape in centre and with vegetable fibre bound around its middle, was played differently. 'When in use', the handle-like end is 'held in the hand while a simple striker is 'allowed to drop on the prolonged end'. According to Spencer, 'the prongs on these twerrere 'are simply meant as ornament, and do not apparently serve to vary the nature of the sound produced by the instrument'.

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