Jan. 28 Set Aside to Celebrate the Kazoo

Break out your little plastic or metal mirliton. Invite family and friends over to make a joyful sound with it. Make sweet melody with your kazoos, or not. Whether your kazoo sounds are sweet or sour, today is the day to learn more about one of the cheapest wind instruments you can own (you can buy a pack of four kazoos as birthday party favors at the dollar store for a buck). People of all ages, shapes and sizes can learn to play a kazoo and play it well, even with very little musical talent. If you can sing, then you can play a kazoo. At least that's what I'm told.

Kazoo like instruments had been used in African ceremonies and rituals for centuries. They were made of cow horns with the membrane of spider's eggs stretched over the open end.. An African American by the name of Alabama Vest, from Macon, Georgia, created the modern design. He enlisted the help of German clock maker Thaddeus Von Glegg to fashion the metal instrument in 1842. Vest and his kazoo instrument made their debut at the Georgia State Fair some ten years later. He and it became famous, but not for long. Vest lost his rights to the kazoo to a traveling salesman named Emil Sorg. Sorg took the idea to New York and teamed up with Michael McIntyre to mass manufacture the kazoo. McIntyre patented his idea in 1923. To this day, Vest has not been recognized by his home state as the inventor of the kazoo or as a musician.

The Kazoo has had its share of limelight in modern times. It has brought an eclectic feel to many different genres of music. Artists such as Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many other bands and orchestras have used the kazoo in recordings and live performances. Barbara Stewart is a modern day kazooist who formed a quartet - Kazoophony - that has performed at Carnegie Hall and on the Conan O'Brien Show.

National Kazoo Day started with Paul Newman and Barbara Stewart in 1976. Stewart is the author of The Complete How to Kazoo.

Go ahead, dig in your eight year old's toy box for that half-forgotten plastic red kazoo. Better yet (more sanitary) drive to the nearest dollar store and invest in a new one. Play it to your ears and heart's content as a part of your contribution to the National Kazoo Day celebration. This is a befitting time to toot your own horn. You may know of, or call the local Chamber to see if there's a Kazoo band in your city that will be partaking of Kazoo festivities.

Other Kazoo celebrations (maybe one near you if you're interested)

Chaplain Willard Rahn will be celebrating with the Joyful Noise Kazoo Band of Homewood Retirement Home in Williamsport, Maryland.

AsWeGo Homestead Kazoo Factory in Portland, Oregon has created a 45-inch Baton Kazoo especially for marching Kazoo band drum majors in celebration of 161 years of Kazooing on today.

Broome County (NY) Celtic Kazoo Band will celebrate with a St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Binghamton, New York on March 5, 2011, and again on March 17 at the Savannah, Georgia St. Patrick's Day Parade.

http://www.franklincountycitizen.com/articles/2006/01/26/opinion/opinion03.txt

http://www.kazoos.com/historye.htm

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/national-kazoo-day.php

http://aswegohomestead.com/