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Entertainment Topics
Summer Celebrations 1: Family Fun on Little-Known Holidays
June 24 — Birthday of a Musical Instrument
On June 24, 1846, an instrument was born. Its inventor, a Belgian musician
named Adolphe Sax, had combined the body of a brass instrument with the
reed of a woodwind. I can imagine him in his workshop, holding up his
creation into a ray of sunlight that glistened off the shiny brass. I
can hear him say, “Oho!” — it sounds more French than “Aha!” — “What
shall I call zees amazing new instrument? But of course! It eez, a Sax-ophone!”
Name
an instrument after oneself? Why not? Sounds like fun.
Adolphe Sax invented
the saxophone. John Philip Sousa created the sousaphone. And Elbert Xylo,
of course, fashioned the first xylophone. Okay, I made
that last one up. But that’s my idea for June 24 — making
up a crazy instrument and naming it after yourself.
And like old Adolphe,
let’s make this activity one of combining elements. This is a key
part of the creative process: connecting previously unconnected things.
This will be a brainstorming and drawing activity. (Read about
brainstorming if you haven’t already.) You can do this around the
table. All you’ll
need is paper and something to draw with. It might also help to have
a book with pictures of instruments.
First, brainstorm about things that
make noise. They could be parts of an instrument: keys, a mouthpiece,
tubes, a bell, strings.
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Instrument parts
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Other noisemakers
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Personal interest
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Keys Mouthpiece Tubes An opening or bell Strings A surface to hit (drum)
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Pots Thunder Car horn Stick against spinning bike wheel
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Soccer ball Paint brush Book computer
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Then put some elements together in a simple drawing of your instrument.
It doesn’t have to be able to actually work. Just looking funny
is enough.
How then do you name it? You could just add ophone to
the end. Like a Tylerophone. Or make it a kind of horn, like a Katie
Horn. Or just make up a weird name. I call the strange thing pictured
above a boom-quack tooter.
What wacky instrument can you make?
— Bruce Van Patter
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