For my quarter two IRP I had originally wanted to do something sports related. But, due to me being the lazy person I am (as shown through me deciding to wait three months to make a blog post), I decided to look for an alternative. Which brought me to look for books about how to play the kazoo as a joke. Which brought me to get the book The Complete How To Kazoo by Barbara Stewart. The book starts out with the history and basic info of the prestigious instrument that is the kazoo but, considering I put myself on a bit of a time crunch by waiting last minute to do any of this, I completely skimmed over that section as I forgot everything I read about the history because my memory is terrible. But for those who are reading this and aren't aware of what a kazoo is refer to below pictures for a definition and the basics of how a kazoo works.
In short, when you hum into the thicker end of a kazoo, the air from that goes into the kazoo and vibrates out through a loose, thin paper that's held in place which produces a sound. Aside from that, the kazoo also comes in several shapes, sizes, materials, etc. Materials can range from wood to plastic to different types metals whiles shapes can range from flat rectangles to long triangles with circular parts (called the turret or trumpet which are the things that hold the resonator in place) on the top of them to release air. As shown in the picture below of my wonderful collection.
Admittedly, I'm not all too good at playing the kazoo and my whole thing with kazoos started as a joke with some friends as my username on a plethora of things is LordOfKazoo or Kazoo. But I didn't actually own a kazoo up till I told my mom I wanted a golden kazoo as a joke which she took seriously. Which got me the golden kazoo on the left side of the picture above. This and the joke got me into a bit of a unhealthy obsession with kazoos that would subside but, back on the topic of actually playing the kazoo. While I'm not too good at playing the kazoo I hope that with the looming due date of this assignment, I get 5 days at most to practice my kazoo playing in the next 5 days as I write these posts. With kazoos there are many things that can vary while you play. You can make different sounds in the kazoo to produce different noises. You can hold it differently which in my experience doesn't change the sound but it's something that varies. You can play kazoos that are made in different shapes and out of different materials which also creates different sounds. Even the cleaning habits for kazoos vary depending on the material a kazoo is made of. All of these things as well as some dangers are explained in the book (refer to the pictures below).
To conclude this blog post that is getting needlessly long, I plan on bettering my kazoo playing skills from what this book offers. Possibly doing song recommendations if I get around to doing extra posts. Please leave your thoughts on the blog, kazoos, playing instruments, etc. in the comments below and thank you for reading.
Wow, Dilon. You equipped me with a plethora of knowledge about kazoos. I was intrigued by the fact that kazoos are membranophones, since I am most used to seeing that word associated with a snare drum or any drum in general. I really love the mechanics of the kazoo and how it produces sound in such an intricate way. This is quite interesting as the kazoo seems like such a simple instrument. Great post, Dilon. How will you better your kazoo skills with this book. In other words. DO YOU KAZOO?
ReplyDeleteNo problem and thanks, Jeremiah. I was really surprised with the fact that membranophones are what kazoos classified as well because I had no idea what a membranophone was before reading the book. To answer your questions, I intend on bettering my kazoo skills through the book because in the book there are a few songs and sounds to play into the kazoo that range from beginner to more advanced levels so I plan on practicing and playing those for future blog posts.
Deletethis is great. I like how you did something very different than most people. that's good stuff. I bet that not a lot of other people play kazoo. I was not aware of this kazoo knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI don't think many people play the kazoo either. Or are even very much aware on the kazoo. I think that a lot of people are used to seeing it as a plastic party favor meant to be thrown away as it's a waste of time. But, like a lot of other things that people can see as a waste of time, kazoos can be a serious thing. Thanks, for the comment Zach.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Dilon. As Zach stated, I think it's great that you chose a topic that nobody else would do. Personally, I don't play the kazoo like most people. However, I do play the violin, and the hardest part about it is the tuning since a note will be either too sharp or flat if your finger is slightly out of position. Also, how often do you practice the kazoo?
ReplyDeleteeven though you got yourself into a time crunch this is a great post, how much do you plan on practicing to improve your skills?
ReplyDelete