GRI – GRI

ONCE UPON A TIME...

The GRI-GRI is a musical toy. In the old days, it was made of cane or wood. The technique used for making this instrument is reminiscent of an old method used for tying chair legs together, when they were broken and then stuck back in place with a paste made from the jelly of animal matter, which was dissolved in water and then heated in a bain-marie. The method of tying the legs together was as follows: the legs were coated in paste or glue and then wrapped round several times with a piece of string. A wooden board was passed through the string and then twisted to make it tighter. This GRI-GRI is made by using the same technique. What’s more, it doesn’t need any glue or any bain-marie. So, you don’t know what a “bain-marie” is? You’ll have to ask somebody at home.

MATERIAL NEEDED

An ice-cream stick, two strong elastics bands and an empty matchbox

TOOLS AND ACCESSORIES

You don’t need anything special

HOW TO MAKE THE INSTRUMENT

Wrap the elastic band twice around the ice-cream stick. Open the matchbox and place the stick on this, wrapping the elastic band around it enough times to make sure that the stick is nice and tight (the number of times you wrap the band around the box depends on its length). Next, pull the elastic band and the stick to the closed end of the box. This way, one end of the stick is left free and the other end is over the box.

DECORATION

You know that a lot of young people often put matches to the wrong sort of use? I’m talking about smoking. How about decorating your GRI-GRI in bright colours with the words: SMOKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH.

HOW TO PLAY THE INSTRUMENT

Hold the matchbox with your left hand and hit the stick twice with your right thumb, and keep on repeating this movement. You’ll hear a sound exactly like that made by a cricket …gri-gri… gri-gri…gri-gri.