The clave is traditionally a wooden instrument consisting of 2 sticks which are struck together to make a clicking or tapping sound.  Nowadays, sometimes it is a plastic hollow rectangular “box” which may be hand-held or mounted on the drum set – the timbales, cowbell, cymbal, woodblock, etc.   And sometimes the clave rhythm sounds come from other sources, such as the drummer tapping the side of a drum, the conga or bongo player’s beat, a clave rhythm from the singer, piano or other instrument, etc.  In Spanish, the word “clave” means a “key”, like a “key word” or the...