Spoons like many other home articles have been accompanying people from the earliest times. Being dinner table accessoires wooden spoons, strange as it may seem, in the course of time became folk instruments.
Although musical instruments have been studied for ages and their descriptions can be found in various ancient written sources today we still lack profound information about some instruments. From Russian history we know that first proffessional performers were scomorochs - vagrant musicians. Scomorochs formed the basis for The Tzar's Jolly Palace - the first Russian musical performance institution. But spoons are not mentioned among instruments used by scomorochs. It's difficult to verify information in this area because of persecution of scomorochs which started in 1648. Their instruments were burnt down on the bank of the Moscow River, Jolly Palace was prohibited and Russian folk instruments were not mentioned till the end of the 18th century. Only a short record of them can be found in The Register by N.M. Zotov, the teacher of Peter I: "Concerning the wedding of Nikita Zotov - what garment gentlemen are to put on and what instruments to use". Then we found: "... Bauerian (clothes): captain Licharev, prince G. Urusov, captain Suchotin - spoons with bells". This passage could serve as evidence that musical spoons had been used long before this time.
The first descriptions of folk Russian instruments in the end of 17th century made by domestic and foreign authors tell us that at that spoons were widely used at that time for accompanying folk dances and songs. The first data in this field were given by S. Tuchkov, Russian officer, and M. Goothrey, Scotch doctor who lived in Petersburg in the end of 17th century. Tuchkov mentioned spoons and noted that they had been known as musical instruments long before Peter The Great implemented European musical "tools". Tuchkov wrote in his "Memoires 1780-1809": "Musical spoons traditionally consist of four wooden spoons of common length. But their handles are equipped with copper round bells, kind of hollow bells with pieces of iron or stones inside. Spoons are placed in a cross-like manner - two spoons in one hand. Broad edges used for eating are pressed to palms (salience up) and clapped against each other. It causes some harmony". Goothrey wrote about spoons: "This instrument used by Russian peasants-mouzhiks for beating cadance or time during their rural singing is a kind of crotal used by Greeks... Spoons like crotal include some number of bells and rattles which in crotal are threaded on a string but in Russia are attached to spoon handles. Knock of these spoons and strokes of copper rattles in various directions produce overwhelming sound which animates dancing..." (M. Goothrey, "Dissertation on Russian Antiquities".)
Besides literary evidence about wide practice of spoons in 18th - 19th centuries we can verify it from Russian louboks (paintings on wood with rhymes). One of 18th-century louboks depicts a goat and a bear playing folk instruments. The rhyme says: "Bear and goat are loafing about and amusing themselves with music. The bear took on his hat and is playing a pipe. The goat dressed in blue sarafan is jumping and sqatting with bells and spoons".
As is clear from information about musical spoons they were used by ordinary people. Of course they didn't have note recordings and their skills were dependent merely on their fantasy and traditions that were passed by the older masters.
After the wide dissemination of accordion in Russia in19th century more interesting possibilities for ensemble performance appeared. To the accompaniment of accordion spoons sounded as solo instruments showing unique skills of performers who were also demonsrating incredible visual attractiveness caus gestures played a great role in their art.
Spoons could be met in soldier choirs, but they were made of brass, connected in pairs and equipped with cymbals. But they were used not for clapping but only for jingling. They were designed in 1908 by Zimmerman Company in Petersburg. By this time they were rather popular all over Russia. Their popularity is affirmed by the fact that they were included by V. V. Andreyev into his Great Russian Orchestra. As far as we know spoons in Andreyev's orchestra created furore.
In 1908 Peterburg journal "Russian Musical Paper" published an article about spoons by the famous expert in the field of musical instruments, N. Privalov. In this article he showed spoons in connection with corresponding percussion of various countries and epochs. It was a historical survey. Privalov was the first to describe different methods of playing spoons in Russia of that time.
In the years of the Soviet Power many classes of folk music were established in musical schools. The study of spoons as episodic instruments in these classes was conducted in parallel to basic instruments.
Today spoons can be heard in many proffessional and amateur Russian ensembles. Spoon performance is becoming popular not only in Middle Russia but also in the Far East, the island of Sakhalin and Siberia. Spoons remain traditional with their loubok paintings, Russian coloured shirts, striped trousers and top-boots. Some lozhkars (spooners) use not only wooden but also aluminium and plastic spoons, some of them with extended or flat handles. There are some examples of utilizing spoons in jazz, rock and other kinds of new music.