#appalachien

Mouth Bow

Essentially, the mouth bow is an instrument made from a flexible piece of wood and a string. Probably one of the first instruments ever created (from hunters who decided to use their bow & arrows to make sounds), the mouth bow has been developed in many different places. In southern France, cave paintings rom 15,000 BCE have been found that depict images similar to that of a mouth bow. In Brazil, the Berimbau is a well known instrument. Sometimes, the mouth bow can even be found in Appalachien old-time music.

With a combination of distorting the mouth, hitting the string with a stick, plucking, and even bowing, the mouth bow can make a variety of sounds.