A-Hummin' And A-Buzzin'

And a kazoo to you too. Remember an instrument that produces a-buzzing sound when played and consists of a small metal or plastic tube with a side hole covered by a thin membrane? Bet many have tried to play one. It was a real humdinger!

A kazoo is a handheld, novelty instrument usually made of tin or plastic. It creates a-buzzing sound when played. The tone quality of a kazoo is determined by the quality of the membrane or resonator. You don’t’ blow into a kazoo to create the desired sound; you have to hum into it.

A popular anecdote suggests that Alabama Vest, a formerly enslaved person residing in Macon, Georgia, designed the modern kazoo in 1840 in collaboration with German clock manufacturer Thaddeus Von Clegg.

It was first presented to the world at the Georgia State Fair in 1852 as the “Down South Submarine”. The kazoo was formally named the “Clegghorn.” Because the pair introduced their musical invention at the fair in ‘52, the kazoo is considered an American invention, despite its African origins. Do U Kazoo?

After the Georgia State Fair, salesmen Emil Sorg and Michael McIntyre came across the kazoo and decided to launch The Original American Kazoo Company, the first kazoo mass-production endeavor. McIntyre patented the kazoo in 1923, and business boomed.

The factory is now called The Kazoo Factory and Museum. It still operates and is open to the public for tours. In 2010, The Kazoo Museum opened in Beaufort, South Carolina with exhibits on kazoo history. The Kazoo Factory and Museum produces around 1.5 million kazoos each year and is the only manufacturer of metal kazoos in North America.

Voice-changing and vibrating instruments, much like the kazoo, have been played for hundreds of years for ceremonial purposes in Africa. They were called mirlitons, or “onion flutes.”

The name kazoo comes from a variation on the 1800s slang term ‘bazoo,’ meaning trumpet. Kazoos in the U.K. were originally called ‘Timmy Talkers’ or “onion flutes.”

Porcupines! Believe it or not porcupines, in addition to having antibiotics in their skin, also developed the ability to make kazoo noises.

The kazoo was used in popular songs like the Beatles’ Lovely Rita and Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix played a homemade kazoo on “Crosstown Traffic”. To achieve the right buzzing effect, he doubled the guitar line by blowing through a kazoo constructed from a comb and cellophane.

Frank Zappa is also known to have favored the kazoo in his work. If you build it, they will hum. Patient: Doctor, I was playing my kazoo and I swallowed it! Doctor: Thank goodness you’re not a tuba player

Ever wonder how does a kazoo works? The kazoo is one of the easiest musical instruments to play. It is a type of mirliton—a woodwind-type instrument that produces music similar to when you blow on a comb and paper for a-buzzing sound. When a player hums into the kazoo, an inner membrane vibrates.

Many kazoo enthusiasts have continuously petitioned to make the kazoo the National Instrument of the United States, though in 1885, the Telegraph referred to the kazoo as a “new nondescript musical instrument of torture.”

According to Julius Greve & Sascha Pöhlmann, kazoos have never been considered respectable instruments, but rather, “toy-like sound-producers for the common man, woman, and above all, child,” namely because the kazoo is “figured out in the hands of the learner and not at the advice of a teacher.” What do you say when a kazoo sneezes? Kazoontite

The kazoo has long reigned as one of the funniest musical instruments of all time. The buzzing, duck-like sound certainly adds a humorous quality to the human voice, and so kazoos have become a tool for spreading positivity and laughter. Famously, the video game Yoshi’s New Island includes kazoos in its soundtrack, as does the film Chicken Run, composed by John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams.

However, in addition to jug bands and toy stores, the kazoo has been featured in countless professional ensembles worldwide. Jesse Fuller’s 1962 San Francisco Bay Blues played by Tracy features a kazoo solo.

In 2011, the audience of BBC in Royal Albert Hall performed Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries and the Dambusters March on kazoos, setting a world record for the largest kazoo ensemble: 5,190 kazooists.

“Kazooist Barbara Stewart performed on The Tonight Show, as well as at Carnegie Hall. Indeed, when it comes to the kazoo, anything is possible — and that is a fact worth celebrating.”

Kazoos are played in jug bands and comedy music everywhere, from amateurs to professionals. Popular songs featuring the kazoo include Del Shannon’s “So Long Baby,” Ringo Starr’s “You’re Sixteen,” and the Grateful Dead’s “Alligator.”

During a Jerry Garcia tribute night at a 2010 San Francisco Giants game, about 9,000 kazoo players performed ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’.

The Kazoo has also become a staple in various children’s educational programs. “Studies have shown that introducing young children to music at an early age can enhance their cognitive development, and the kazoo plays a crucial role in this process. Its simplicity allows children to engage with and explore the world of music in a playful and accessible manner.”

So grab a kazoo, hum a bit and enjoy the unique amusing sounds it produces. Start a trend. We be a-hummin’ and a-buzzin’.