[Dixielandjazz] Kazoos in a marching band

[Bill Gunter]

Hi Listmates,

Frank Thompson asks an important question regarding kazoos:

>A kazoo sounds like it's already muted. How do you carry the mute?

I'm not sure I understand the question. If a kazoo is already muted then 
there is no mute to carry, n'est ce pas?

But I can think of other problems facing the kazooist. For example:

Most marching band instruments (trumpets, saxophones, clarinets, trombones, 
etc.) are constructed so that a lyre (a device for holding small pages of 
music) can easily be attached to the instrument in front of the musician's 
eyes. Where does the lyre go on a kazoo?

Volume is a problem with kazoos. They are very quiet instruments seeing as 
how they are played by "humming" (not a volume intensive activity). How do 
you solve the problem of "balance" with the rest of the band (which tends to 
be quite loud) when writing arrangements.

Vocal range for singers and hummers is limited. For example, men tend to hum 
in a different key than women because of this variety in vocal range. In 
order for a kazooist to perform in a band, the key of the song being played 
is extremely important. How do you deal with the problem of a song's key 
being out of the performer's range?

These, and a host of other unique problems are constantly challenging the 
young kazoo performer.

And added to the already burdensome task of the kazooist is the fact that 
THEY GET NO RESPECT! This is not a fair world!

Respectfully submitted,

Bill "Kazoomeister" Gunter
jazzboard@hotmail.com


_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail