In the late 1940s Creole musicians in Louisiana added the frottoir, also known as a “rubboard,” to their bands. A frottoir is essentially a tin washboard hung over a musician’s shoulders. A musician plays the washboard by scraping bottle openers over its ridges. (Some musicians use thimbles or even their fingernails.) Because a washboard is easy to find and relatively easy to play — though perhaps not so easy to play well — traditional musicians have used it in genres beyond New Orleans creole, making it a staple of jug bands, old-time groups, Appalachian folk performances and other forms of folk and country. For our money though, the Creole frottoir has the most soul.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site and are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our curriculum offerings and how to become one of our teachers. That said, if you were on ExploreEverywhere, you clicked to find more information about a song or lesson, and landed here, you’re in the right place! Some links may be broken and a detail or two may be out of date…but close the popup window and enjoy!
