Musical Families

I got about halfway through this post yesterday before hearing the pitter-patter of Elias' little feet, having woken up from a nap. He brought me Stop That Ball! to read, and that, as they say, was that.

After I read Lentil ( a boy who can't sing or whistle, but learns to play the harmonica and saves the day with his gift for music) for myself, I instantly thought of Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom. If you've never seen it (shame on you!), it's a Disney short demonstrating the four families of musical instruments and how they have evolved over time. I found it on youtube and plopped down with the boys to watch. They loved it, and were cackling at the caveman banging on his own stomach and head like drums, and the stringed instruments which kept breaking on their players throughout history.

From there, I came up with our bulletin board. I flipped over the blue wrapping paper from the Ping board, and hand-drew and cut out letters. Then I went to print a musical instrument from each of the four families, only to find our printer is out of ink. So I drew them instead. I only spent a few minutes on each drawing, and I'm sure it shows, but, I reminded myself, it's a board for a 4-year old, and he didn't seem to notice.
 

I wrote down the names of several musical instruments on slips of paper, and we talked about each one. He knew what many were already, but for the ones he wasn't sure about, I pulled up pictures or videos on youtube. When we were done going over all the slips, we taped them to the board with their family. Many instruments got left out, but I think he has a good handle on how to classify them when they come up later.

Some of the youtube videos we watched:

He already knows what a violin is, but what a sweet, beautiful clip. One of the morals in Lentil is that just because you can't do one thing very well, that doesn't mean there isn't something you can be excellent at-- everyone is given different gifts. I remembered this segment from Sesame Street and cried watching it.

We're a Nintendo family, so this one got his attention right away. I don't think he'll soon forget the bassoon. ; )

He told me I could leave this video playing while we talked about the other instruments, and with a huge smile, that's just what I did. It's probably one of the most beautiful things to listen to. I love the lute.

Absolutely gorgeous. I need to listen to instrumental music more often. It puts me in another place.


And finally,

I switched gears completely and we talked about some instruments that are made from ordinary objects. Okay, maybe I just wanted an excuse to watch this little slice of Jim Henson awesomeness.  I also showed him a video of someone playing the spoons, and another to teach him what a washboard is typically used for. We're going to make our own instruments at some point this week. I already made a humming instrument from a paper towel tube, a piece of wax paper and a rubber band, but Jonah found more delight in blowing into it to launch the wax paper than playing music with it. Stinker.


Originally, this post also included our taste bud experiment, but this is long enough already, so I'll stick it in its own entry.