Isabella's first music lessons

Bella decided that she really wanted to learn how to play some instruments other than just the piano. So, Uncle 'T' introduced a few of the more uncommon instruments that he owns. They first started with the Tongue Drum, a member of the Idiophone family of instruments. For those who don't know, an Idiophone instrument is one which vibrates throughout its entire body when struck to produce its sound. The "tongues" are pitched, so they create a specific tone. Mine has only 4 tones, but they have up to 12 (to match the chromatic scale). Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals are a popular band that employs the Tongue drum fairly regularly. The orgins of the instrument date back to ancient African and Asian cultures. You might also know the Tongue Drum as a "Slit Drum," an "Xylodrum," or a "Log Drum." She was really feeling that one, but we could only find one of the mallets, so that got pretty old.

So, they moved on to the more traditional Tin Whistle. As we all know, the tin whistle, created in Ireland, is also commonly called a "Penny Whistle" due to the Irish vagabonds and beggars who would use it for entertainment and "panhandling." I personally like the more uncommonly used alternative name for the instrument, "The End Blown Fipple Flute." Don't ask how I know that, but I do. Regardless, 'Bella dug that for a little while. She blew through the "Fipple Flute" with vigor, making the pitches high and shrill. 'Bella and Uncle 'T' both got irritated by this and moved on to the next instrument.

We decided that the next logical step was the "Slide Whistle," or the "Piston Flute." This instrument proved to be a tad more challenging a concept for 'Bella because of the long slide. The instrument might have been a bit too long for her to use. So, Uncle 'T' blew into the whistle while bella pulled the "slide" out, making the pitch lower, then pushed the "slide" in, making the pitch higher. This was fun for a while, but 'Bella was more into the drumming....

...so, we opted to try out Uncle 'T's Djembe. He got this small, fancy djembe in Indiana at a world-market store. We had a lot of fun with that. Uncle 'T' held the drum for her while she struck the drum. She liked it, but much more prefered the "tongue drum" because it had a "stick," as she put it.

Anyway, that was Isabella's first musical lesson. We all had fun and, at least hopefully, learned a lot.