Peitoques
Description
Percussion instrument created to be hung on the neck and hit with the hands. It consists of two pieces of wood, which hang at front and rear that sits in the chest acting as a sounding board. The sound of peitoque is similar to castañuelas.
Possibilities and basic technical
There are, according to hitting mode, three basic sounds: severe, sharp and medium. If hitting completely covering it with the palm of the hand, the sound will be severe, if we cover placing the fingers perpendicular to peitoque, the sound will be medium. Finally, to obtain a sharp sound it must be hit with fingers positioned diagonally to peitoque.
Placement
Peitoque is adjusted to height so that it is located four fingers below the collarbone – the position must have a stable base. For doing this, we take the beads with one hand and with the other glide along the cord.
The regulator is the screw located in the back of the base. It can be used for adjusting the distance between both pieces. For that, use the Allen Key provided with the instrument.
Maintenance
In case of instrument malfunction could be due to the embedding of dirt on the bezel. To clean it, we loosen the knots on the back (end of the rubber) with a needle or some other sharp object. Once parts are separated the dirt is withdrawn.
The rubber tension might also be decreased or yielded due to use. To this end, and as described in the previous paragraph, the rear knots must be unadjusted and the rubber stretched until the next hole, considering that the rubber must flow through its channel.