Kazoo

A metal Kazoo, with a 1 Euro coin for comparison: 23.25 mm (0.92 inch)
Examples of Kazoos

The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton which is a membranophone – a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.

Contents

Playing

While blowing is the term typically used to describe the technique required to play a kazoo, a more accurate term would be humming into the kazoo. Blowing with the lips closed around the mouthpiece of the kazoo will not make sound – one must vibrate air from their lungs by humming in to the instrument in order for the kazoo to make any sound. Increased air flow and harder blowing will result in a more effective and authoritative sound.

History

Such instruments have been used in Africa for hundreds of years, to disguise the sound of somebody's voice or to imitate animals, often for various ceremonial purposes. It was on such an instrument that the kazoo, invented in the 19th century by an African American named Alabama Vest in Macon, Georgia, United States, is based. The first kazoo was manufactured to Vest's specifications by Thaddeus Von Clegg, a German clockmaker in Macon. The kazoo was first publicized at the Georgia State Fair in 1852. The first metal kazoos were manufactured and patented in Eden, New York, where they are still made in the original factory.

Professional usage

The kazoo was first brought into the public eye by a magician named J P Kalaam. He was fascinated by strange instruments and encountered the kazoo while in Africa. His kazoos were all made of wood. The kazoo is played professionally in jug bands and comedy music, and by amateurs everywhere. It is one of the few acoustic instruments to be developed in the United States and one of the easiest melodic instruments to play well, requiring only the ability to vocalize in tune. In North East England and South Wales, kazoos play an important role in so-called juvenile jazz bands. During Carnival the kazoo is routinely used in the Carnival of Cádiz and the Murga in Uruguay.

National Youth Administration: "rhythm band" plays in Sandwich, Illinois 1936.

In the Original Dixieland Jass Band 1921 recording of "Crazy Blues", what the casual listener might mistake for a trombone solo is actually a kazoo solo by drummer Tony Sbarbaro. The Mound City Blue Blowers had a number of hit kazoo records in the early 1920s. The Mound City Blue Blowers featured Dick Slevin on metal kazoo and Red McKenzie on comb-and-tissue-paper kazoo. The vocaphone, a kind of kazoo with a trombone-like tone, was occasionally featured in Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. Trombonist-vocalist Jack Fulton played it on Whiteman's recording of "Vilia" (1931) and Frankie Trumbauer's "Medley of Isham Jones Dance Hits" (1932). The vocal group The Mills Brothers originally started in vaudeville as a kazoo quartet, playing four-part harmony on kazoo with one brother accompanying them on guitar.

The kazoo is not often found in European classical music, a rare exception being David Bedford's With 100 Kazoos, a piece which emphasizes the simplicity of the instrument—rather than being played by trained musicians, kazoos are handed out to members of the audience, who accompany a professional instrumental ensemble.

Leonard Bernstein included a segment for kazoo ensemble in the First Introit (Rondo) of his Mass (theatre). The kazoos are played by the boy's choir.

The kazoo is called for in Frank Loesser's score for the 1961 Broadway musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It appears as part of the instrumental accompaniment played by the orchestra: several instruments provide the sound effect of electric razors being used in the executive washroom, during a dance reprise of the ballad "I Believe in You".

Right after each refrain in the Pink Floyd song "Corporal Clegg" a kazoo is played, contributing to the military march-like feel of the song.

The kazoo was used in the 1990 Koch International and 2007 Naxos Records recordings of American classical composer Charles Ives' "Yale-Princeton Football Game", where the kazoo chorus represents the football crowd's cheering. The brief passages have the kazoo chorus sliding up and down the scale as the cheering rises and falls.

A kazoo solo is featured in Jesse Fuller's 1962 recording of his song "San Francisco Bay Blues"[1], as well as in Eric Clapton's 1992 recording of the song on MTV's Unplugged television show and album.

One of the best known kazooists in recent times might be Barbara Stewart. She was a classically trained singer who has written a book on the kazoo [1], formed the "quartet" Kazoophony, and performed at Carnegie Hall. She appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Short performances of kazoo music is included on many modern recordings, usually for comic effect. For example, in Frank Zappa's first album, Freak Out!, he used the kazoo for adding such comic feel in some songs (including one of his best known, Hungry Freaks, Daddy).

In the song “Crosstown Traffic”, from the album Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix used a kazoo made of comb and paper acompanying the guitar to accentuate a blown-out speaker sound for which he was looking.

The Avett Brothers feature a kazoo towards the end of the instrumental song "The D Bag Rag on their A Carolina Jubilee album"

Bowling for Soup featured kazoos in their cover of the song "I Melt With You" by Modern English.

MC Frontalot features a kazoo in the song "Better at Rapping" on his Zero Day (album) performed by Blak Lotus.

Blind Melon use a kazoo in "Skinned", a song about Ed Gein. The song is on their sophomore album Soup.

Records

On November 16, 1985 about 35,000 fans attending a Vanderbilt University football game in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, were given a kazoo as they entered the stadium and they claim to have broken the world record with a half-time performance of "Elvira".[2]

On December 31, 2006 at 11:40 p.m. the Guinness world record for the world's largest kazoo ensemble was broken with a new record of 2,679 participants in Rochester, New York, USA, on the Main Street Bridge.[3]

On Thursday, September 27, 2007, the American city of Macon, Georgia went for the world record for the world's largest kazoo ensemble but wasn't achieved when there were only 2,007 people attending the event.

On Saturday, November 17, 2007, spectators at the American Bob Jones University Turkey Bowl broke the Guinness world record for the world's largest kazoo ensemble with an unofficial 3,800[4] members, all buzzing to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" for over five minutes.

On April 3, 2008, the live tour of the BBC Radio 4 show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue attempted to break the record with 3550 people in attendance at the Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK.[5] Confirmation from Guinness World Records is pending.

On July 2, 2008, an Evangelical Free Church of America Youth Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA broke the old Guinness World Record of 3,800 people with 5,300 buzzing to the song of Amazing Grace for 5 minutes [6]

On August 9, 2010 The San Francisco Giants hosted a Jerry Garcia Tribute Night, in which a Guinness World Record breaking ensemble of 9,000 Kazoo players played the national anthem.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Peter Siegel, liner notes to Friends of Old Time Music (Smithsonian Folkways, SFW40160) (link)
  2. ↑ http://vucommodores.cstv.com/genrel/110106aaa.html
  3. ↑ www.democratandchronicle.com
  4. ↑ Orlando, Ali (30 November 2007). "Turkey Bowl spectators, participants attempted to break world record". The Collegian (Bob Jones University) 21 (11). http://www.bju.edu/collegian/index.php?issue=84&article=838. 
  5. ↑ entertainment.timesonline.co.uk
  6. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62MPO9rHep0

References

External links