It don't end with tansan tamborines for caroling during the Christmas season in the Philippines, we Filipinos are too dynamic for things to stop there. We were taught to make use of what we have in our surroundings and making maracas for Christmas caroling is just among the many skills we should give to our young ones.
All you need are some regular items that may end up in the dumps. I'd say its best to help take care of the environment so some recycling is good. A couple of emptied cans, some wooden sticks and pebbles or monggo seeds would do the trick for this mini project.
Put in a handful of seeds, beans or very small pebbles inside the can. There were some left over monggo seeds so I used some. Make sure that the insides of the can is dry or some of the monggo seeds would turn into toge. You wouldn't want growing plants inside your maracas.
Now comes the difficult part. Insert the piece of wood inside your can all the way till its tip reaches the other side. Put it on an uptight position with your maracas handle at the bottom and the can's clean side on top. Drive a nail through from the top, impaling the wood and fixing its position. Luck is needed here and probably some help from a friend who would hold the can and the handle while you hammer the nail on top. If you're good, this isn't really going to be a challenge for you.
We're almost done, but the hole at the bottom of the can (where the handle was inserted) might not be fully covered and your fillings might spill out little by little. Cover it with anything. Some glue stick, adhesive tape, candle wax, stuff it with paper, whatever works will work, just get the hole plugged and its ready to use.
So now you have two instruments. Very Pinoy, very good accompaniments. But do you have time to make one more? There's still another one here.
