| Specification name | Specification Value |
|---|---|
| Instrument material | Plastic |
1 - Humming with your voice
Start by placing your mouth over the humming end of the kazoo. Then you do not blow air into it like any wind instrument, instead you start by making a humming sound with your voice ‘mmmmm’. The kazoo will now make a buzzing sound based on your humming.
2 - Playing melodies and songs
The notes you play on the kazoo, are the notes you hum with your voice. So you simply hum the melody into the kazoo, of any song you want to play.
3 - Advanced techniques & tricks
When you want to add some emotion and expression, and get more variation into your kazoo playing, below are a few techniques you can try.
1> Hand Movement Techniques You can use your hand to cover the kazoo, which will soften overall sound and take away some of that harsh tone. Then you can experiment with opening up and closing your fingers to add expression as you play.
2> Controlling the Note Attack You can control the starting attack of each note, by using different syllables when you hum the melody. Harder consonant characters will add a more sharp and focused attack on the note, like “tu” or “du”. And softer characters like “mm” will make the start of the note less sharp.
3> Shaping the Dynamics Curve Changing the dynamics over time is one of the foundations for adding expression and variation on any instrument. Dynamics means “loudness and intensity”. And on a kazoo, this simply means humming softer or louder. And you can think of this dynamics over time as a curve that you create and shape in real time.
4> Adding Vibrato Vibrato is a technique used in music to add emotion and soul into a performance. You simply pulse the humming almost like a wave. The air stream will be constant, but change in a rhythmic fashion like a pulse, without sudden stops.
