Castanets are also played in the orchestra. At times, these are fastened to the handle or placed on a base forming machine castanets. It is very uncommon to play the castanet in the Spanish style in the modern orchestra. This is not because it is very complicated to master and employ but because there are no more than four known professional castanet players all over the world. To compensate for this, a castanet machine is used. The cups of a castanet machine are attached to a piece of wood which ends in a handle that is held and shaken.
Possible origin
There is no known definite origin of the castanets. The Egyptians and the Greeks were known to have created music by clicking sticks together using one hand.
There are nevertheless several theories on its development. One is that castanets are the descendants of the Iberian crusmata which were two shells, wooden sticks, or flat stones. Also, the Greeks played the krotola in religious affairs but it is proven that castanets were also found in Italian, Latin, and Portuguese music among many others.