Even though the rest of our winter has been nice and warm, the month of March still decided to come in like a lion. Seemingly out of nowhere, a cold front swept through town, bringing with it chilly breeze and lots of rain (well, "lots" for Arizona, anyway). The whole day was filled with gray skies, wet shoes, and windshield wipers. I love a good rainy day now and then, as does the rest of our family. However, it can sometimes make outdoor play a little difficult. What to do?
Why, go visit the Green Valley Concert Band, of course! They happened to be holding an instrument "petting zoo" for kids on Saturday, March 1st. It was an opportunity for kids to see musical instruments, handle them, and even try to play them a little!
Not a lot of children showed up; I don't think there were more than ten kids there altogether. That number included the kids in the Shaffer family, whose daughters are friends of our girls and whose mother Windy is my friend and a tuba player in the Concert Band. But the small turnout was all to the good; it meant all the kids had plenty of time to examine each instrument closely and move through the "petting zoo" at a comfortable pace.
Even the parents accompanying the kids got in on the action! Besides piano, the only other instrument I've ever played was the viola, way back in elementary school. When I initially tried out for band way back then, I remember having a really hard time getting the brass and woodwind instruments to work. The music teachers thus steered me towards the string section. At the "petting zoo," I wanted to see if I'd gotten any better at making sounds come out of trumpets and oboes.
Short answer: I've definitely gotten a little better, but I'm not sure I could ever play those instruments well. I barely even got sound out of the tuba (which, in fairness, is the most difficult horn to sound, but still...I was disappointed in myself!).
Aurora playing the tuba is adorable.
And for some reason, I have even more trouble making sound on the woodwinds; I could barely get a squeak out of the clarinet! *hangs head in shame*
My daughters, on the other hand, all did much better than I did at their age! Here are a few videos of them trying out their luck on various instruments:
Looks like they all have pretty healthy lungs (of course, I could have told you that before, based on all the yelling I hear daily around the house). Aurora was the "busiest" participant in our family; she tried every instrument more than once, and managed to get all of them to work! Celeste had a little trouble with the flute, but really wailed on the saxophone. Lorelai had a little trouble with the clarinet and saxophone (taking after her mother, perhaps?), but she did fine on the brass instruments. I think she may have a future as a trumpet player!
And if anyone is getting grossed out by the thought of all those little mouths on all the instruments, don't despair! All the musicians had a large supply of mouthpieces handy for each instrument, as well as large containers full of disinfectant where each "used" mouthpiece was dropped as soon as each kid had a turn. No germ-sharing here (we hope!).
And they even gave all the kids ice cream cones when it was all said and done. As you can imagine, this put the activity over the top for them. Overall, I'd say it was a great way to spend an hour or two on a rainy Saturday. I have gotten such joy playing piano over the years; I know that playing an instrument can be very beneficial to a child in many ways. I hope that by letting the girls try out those instruments, they will be inspired to try out additional musical instruments in the future, and deepen their own love of music. And maybe I will be able to join them in their efforts; I would really like to learn to play more instruments someday, and this "petting zoo" deepened that desire!
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