Happy Uncommon Instruments Awareness Day!

Posted bybillpaigePosted inMusicTags:

Check it out – every 31 July is a special day designed to encourage people to explore uncommon instruments. There are so many! When I looked at the list, I noticed that a few already have a favored home in the Josephmooon / Austin, TX DIV., musical equipment room, specifically the hurdy gurdy and shofar. Yours truly also has enjoy time playing the djembe.

One day, while visiting the recording studio in which Gary Clark, Jr., had recently recorded his second album, I commented on some kind of exotic banjo-type kora hanging on the wall, Studio personnel happily told me that one day Clark had simply taken it off the wall to craft a few tasty licks that made it onto the album.

About the weirdest instrument I have on hand is the kazoo. Have to hum on that in celebration. Know any good songs with kazoo solos?

There are few enough in the rock lexicon, but THIS ONE SURELY COUNTS.

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Published by billpaige

Interested parties are first directed to my memoir, “Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars” (Eckhartz Press). While I have taken music therapy classes and read extensively about music’s effect on the brain, I am NOT professionally trained -- just a music lover who recognizes that everyone benefits from music. Giving that gift to special needs youth is highly rewarding, but again, my process is intuitive, not academic. I draw largely on personal experience. I’ve spent most of my 67 years observing a wide world of music, from working as a music critic professionally for 20 years, and holding positions in music companies in the 1970s and 1990s. Since 1990, however, I have focused on learning more about music and improving as a singer, guitarist, and performer, both solo and in ensemble settings.

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