November 28, 2025 • 55 mins
How do musical instruments make their sounds? Why do people play music in the first place? What’s a viola bow made out of? How are musical instruments made? How much do professional musicians practice? Three musicians from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra joined families at the Vermont Public Studios for a special live episode during our Curious Kids Day live events. We hear from Melissa Meilens on flute, Katie Oprea on oboe and Stefanie Taylor on viola.
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Jane (00:20):
This is But Why
Jane Lindholm, and today we'remaking the show a little bit
differently from how we normallydo it. We are joined by a live
audience right here at ourVermont Public studios. Say
hello everybody! We are sopleased to welcome you here for
(00:41):
our first ever Curious Kids Dayat Vermont Public and the theme
today is exploring music. So forthis episode, we're joined by
musicians from the VermontSymphony Orchestra. I have a few
questions for them, and thenwe'll turn the microphone over
to you guys. Okay. Is that okay?Okay, great. So joining me here
(01:01):
on stage first today is MelissaMeilens, who knows what
instrument she has brought withher?You can shout it out if you
know it.
Did they get it right, Melissa?
Melissa (01:10):
They did. I'm impressed.
Jane (01:11):
You play the flute. Can you take us through some of the
sounds that a flute can make?
Melissa (01:16):
Sure thing.
Jane (01:25):
What happens if you just blow through that hole at the
top of your flute like I'mblowing air out of my mouth like
this.
That doesn't sound as good.
Melissa (01:37):
No, but there's a fun thing to think of if you want to
get a nice sound on the flute.How many of you have slurped in
a spaghetti noodle? Yes, itmakes a nice, big mess. Anyways,
if you think about taking thespaghetti noodle back out of
your mouth the same way it camein, that's kind of what I do, to
make a sound on the flute. I doit across the flute and thank
goodness there's no noodlethat's coming out.
Jane (01:58):
Well, that would be gross. I'm picturing a lot of spaghetti
sauce inside your flute.
Melissa (02:04):
Oh, bad scene.
Jane (02:04):
So what does it sound like if you make a bad note on the
Melissa (02:07):
That's just not really having an embouchure. An
flute?
embouchure means the way youhold your mouth. So like I was
saying before, it's the wholesucking the noodle or spitting
out the noodle position. Anotherthing you could think about is
(02:27):
if you say the about is if yousay the word pool, pool, think
about how the corner of yourmouth goes pool. That's what I
do with the corner of my mouththat helps me shape my mouth to
get a better sound on the flute.
Jane (02:34):
What was that word you said again for how the shape of
your mouth is
Melissa (02:38):
Embouchure.
Jane (02:39):
How do you spell that?
Melissa (02:41):
E-M-B-O-U-C-H-U-R-E. It's actually a French word.
There's a lot of French historywith the flute.
Jane (02:48):
And how does it work? We know you blow air through it.
That's what you just told usabout. But what is actually
happening?
Melissa (02:55):
I'm actually blowing across and part of the air is
going into the flute, the sideof the flute, which then is
rocketed down, and vibrationsstart to go through the body of
the flute, and then a sound isproduced. And if I move my
fingers on these keys righthere, that will change the pitch
as I blow.
Jane (03:18):
It's beautiful. Let's see if we have any questions from
the audience. Melody and Sarahare here, so you can raise your
hand if you have a question forMelissa, and they will come
around and have you ask them.
Isabella (03:29):
My name is Isabella, and I live in Vermont in
Royalton, and I'm seven yearsold, and I wonder who taught you
to play the flute.
Melissa (03:43):
I had several teachers and flute was actually not my
first instrument. I startedviolin when I was four, then I
played piano, then I playedclarinet, and then I had to
figure out what instrument,because I just loved music and I
loved instruments, and by time Iwas in sixth grade, I decided
(04:05):
that flute was really what Iwanted to specialize in.
Blake (04:05):
My name is Blake, and I'm five. And why do you like to
play music?
Kid (04:10):
Why do you like to play flute?
Melissa (04:14):
I like playing the flute because of all those
instruments I mentioned before.For me, somehow it was the
easiest one. And there'ssomething when I opened up the
case, I really liked that Icould put it together in this
long, horizontal stick. And Ijust thought that was cool. And
I like the sound of it too. ButI don't know. There's just
something about being able tohold it up like this that was
(04:36):
different from otherinstruments.
Jane (04:36):
I don't know if you can take it apart right now, or if
that then you would need to tuneit again, but your flute doesn't
it's not always this long, andin case it comes apart into
different pieces.
Melissa (04:43):
Right. I could take it apart. There's three separate
pieces. There's the head joint,which I can make a sound on by
its own. If I stick my finger inthe end, I can change pitches
too. And so this. Then it'scalled the body of the
instrument, where you see mostof the keys. And then there's
(05:03):
the foot joint, which makes it alittle bit longer as well.
Oliver (05:06):
My name is Oliver. I'm five years old. And what kind of
musics can you play?
Jane (05:12):
What kind of music can you play, Melissa?
Melissa (05:15):
I can play music from all different kinds of history.
I can play it from 200, 300years ago. I can play music that
was written now. I can do somewhat's called extended
techniques. So that means, likeI can, it's called flutter
tonguing. But what it really isis I'm growling into my
instrument. So I get a differentsound, like this. Then there's
(05:41):
something that means you alsolike articulate or use your
tongue a little bit and get thatkind of thing.
Jane (05:50):
Do you ever listen to music on the radio and think I
could play that and play likeTaylor Swift for yourself?
Melissa (05:58):
No.
Kid (06:02):
I'm six, and I live in ferrisburg. How many, how much
music do you play?
Melissa (06:11):
When I practice, I'll practice two hours a day, and
then if I have orchestra work,that could be two and a half to
five hours a day, or if there'sa concert. So each day is a
little bit different. I alsoteach flute, and I'm playing my
flute while I teach, and somedays are crazy, and I'll be
teaching all day long, so it'shours and hours of playing, and
(06:33):
that's okay, because it's what Ilove to do.
Jane (06:35):
When you are playing for three or four or five hours,
you're practicing, and thenyou're teaching, and then you're
doing something else. Are yourlips really tired at the end of
the day, or your fingers?
Melissa (06:46):
They're not unless, if I haven't been...it's like a
sport like you don't justsuddenly go and run 25 miles.
You work yourself up to that. Soas long as I'm running several
miles a day or practicing myflute several hours a day, then
it's okay, but if I take sometime off, say I go on vacation,
this doesn't really happen, butif I went on vacation for two
(07:07):
weeks and I didn't touch theflute when I came back, I would
not sound so good, and I wouldget tired sooner, and it would
take some time to get back towhere I want to be.
Antonio (07:15):
My name's Antonio. I'm four years old, and I live in
Jericho, Vermont, and how do youplay the flute?
Jane (07:26):
So how do you you've told us a little bit about how you
play. So you're blowing throughyour mouth, and you told us
about your mouth position. Howabout your fingers? What are you
doing with your fingers?
Melissa (07:34):
For each different tone, I have a different finger
position. And what's interestingis the lower I go with the
pitches, I keep adding fingers,so I'll start a little bit
higher, and then I add a fingerand go lower, and I have to stop
and take a breath because I'mblowing the whole time. So if I
(07:56):
didn't take a breath, I'd bepassed out on the floor, and
that's not a good scene.
Adelaide (08:00):
My name is Adelaide. I'm nine. I live in Hartland,
and is the flute one of thehardest instruments because it
takes the most air.
Melissa (08:10):
I think that a lot of people might argue that their
instrument is harder, orsomething like that. I actually
don't know if flute is thehardest instrument, at least for
me. Maybe that's why I chose it,because it was kind of easy for
me. But if I was choosingsomething like oboe, I think
that would be a lot harder,because oboe has a reed that
they have to play through, andthe reeds have to be just right,
(08:32):
and they spend a lot of timejust working on the reeds. I'm
lucky, because I just put mymetal flute together and I blow
and I'm good to go.
Lulu (08:40):
My name is Lulu. I'm seven years old. I live in Vermont. My
question is, how many songs doyou know?
Melissa (08:52):
Honestly, maybe even 1000 so many, so many. Um,
because I've been playing a longtime, over 25 years, I've played
a lot of music, and I can alsohave a lot of experience. So I
can just look at something andplay something new. And
depending on how hard it is,like how many notes you see
here, right? Sometimes I canplay it perfectly the first
(09:16):
time. Sometimes I need topractice it on those two three
hours of practicing.
Harper (09:20):
My name is Harper. I'm six years old. And how many
instruments have you played?
Melissa (09:31):
Violin, piano, a little bit of trumpet, which was
terrible. My mother told me Isounded like a love sick moose
when I played it, whatever thatis. Clarinet, Piccolo, saxophone
and flute. So I guess that endsup being seven
Kid (09:45):
When you said that you played the piccolo. What is a
piccolo?
Melissa (09:51):
Ah, a piccolo is a relative of the flute. It is a
smaller version of the flute ismaybe the size of the head
joint. And you're, so it's verysmall. And so this is an
interesting thing to remember,the smaller the instrument, the
smaller the distance the air hasto travel, the higher the pitch.
So a piccolo sounds one octavehigher than the flute. So if I'm
(10:11):
playing on the flute, if I'mplaying this, it actually that's
one of the medium notes on thepiccolo. So it's a lot higher,
and I think that everyone beshaken out of their boots if I
play piccolo here right now.
Kid (10:27):
Isn't the flute in the brass family?
Melissa (10:31):
it's in the woodwind family. So originally, woodwinds
come from wood instruments. I'mnot so familiar about the brass
family history, but they're allmade out of brass. But you know
what? We're a little bit similarin that we all blow through an
instrument to create sounds.
Jane (10:47):
Well, since we're all now friends here, will you play a
song for us before we end toshow us what the flute can
actually do?
Melissa (10:54):
I would love to thanks. I want to tell you a little bit
about my song or piece that I'mgoing to play. It's called Dance
of the Goat. It's by ArthurHonegger, a French composer, and
it's a short piece, but there'slike a little story behind it
that I think works. So at firstthe goat is sleeping, then he
(11:14):
wakes up a little bit, and he'sa really playful goat, and he
likes to dance, so you'll hearlike a little bit of a dance
moment, but he's still wakingup. Has a little bit of
breakfast, nourishing breakfast.The breakfast starts to kick in,
and then his light, happy naturecomes out, and he starts to
dance. Breakfast kicks in somemore. He dances some more, a
(11:34):
little bit faster, a little bitharder, and he's having really
good time. And then he looksover on the horizon, Ah, love
interest, friend, I don't know,so you'll notice that the music
changes and becomes just alittle bit more relaxed and
mellow. And he meets his newfriend, and the friend likes to
dance too, and so they dancetogether crazily, wildly. They
(11:54):
exhaust themselves. And thenbefore you know it, the day is
over. They say goodbye. There'sone last little romantic melody
and he goes back to bed and goesto sleep. I hope you Enjoy it.
(12:42):
[music]
Jane (15:27):
That was beautiful. Thank you. That was Melissa Mielens,
who plays flute with the VermontSymphony Orchestra. Coming up.
What's an oboe?
I'm Jane Lindholm, and this isBut Why: a Podcast for Curious
Kids. Let's get back to our liveepisode with musicians from the
(15:48):
Vermont Symphony Orchestra.Joining us here today is Katie
Oprea, who plays the oboe.Katie, what a pleasure to have
you with us.
Katie (15:55):
Thank you. It's really a pleasure to be here.
Jane (15:57):
I already said it's the oboe, so I gave it away. But
what is an oboe?
Katie (16:02):
Well, an oboe is a member of what we call the woodwind
family. So the oboe is a windinstrument that you play by
blowing into it, and theinstrument itself is made out of
wood. Now, my oboe does not looklike wood because it's black,
but the wood that's used forthis instrument is special. It's
(16:24):
very, very dense, and it hasthis dark, dark color as part of
the fact that it's so dense,it's so dense that if I dropped
this in the water, it wouldsink. So I try not to do that.
The other thing that's specialabout the oboe is that the sound
is produced by a reed, which isnot that special. I mean,
(16:47):
clarinets and saxophones have areed, but the oboe has what's
called a double reed. So we sayit's double the trouble. But
what's cool about the doublereed is that it's two pieces of
cane that are tied together, andI can play the reed all by
itself. So this is the beautifulsound of the oboe reed.
Jane (17:08):
Oh, that is just so gorgeous. Couldn't you listen to
that all day? Yeah, Katie,that's beautiful.
Katie (17:13):
Well, you can actually play songs on it too. So if you
just kind of move it likefurther into your mouth and
further out of your mouth. Thatchanges the pitch. So I can play
like I can play a little songlike this.
Jane (17:34):
I mean, I'm still not sure that's beautiful.
Katie (17:36):
No, okay, all right.
Jane (17:38):
So what does it sound like when you put the reed in the
instrument. Can you play some ofthe sounds that an oboe can
make?
Katie (17:52):
That's a bit different from just the reed,
Jane (17:55):
that sounds much prettier. Take us through the range of
sounds an oboe can make fromhigh to low, or low to high.
Katie (18:00):
So the lowest sound noble can make is a B flat. Well, a
low B flat for us, the highestsound kind of depends, because
once you get it really high, itjust sounds like a bunch of
squeaks.
(18:23):
So that kind of, that end of theinstrument is a little bit more,
you know, picky and choosy.Like, do you really want to
sound like that? Sometimes youdo, but most of the time you
don't.
Jane (18:34):
How do you use your mouth to make that noise? Because if
you just put your mouth on theoboe and hum or blow, what's
that going to sound like?
Katie (18:42):
It doesn't sound like much. So if I just blow through
the reed, it doesn't sound likeanything. What my mouth really
does is just makes enough ofthere's enough pressure on the
reed between my mouth and my airthat it vibrates really, fast,
and that's what makes the sound.I don't make the sound. It's not
(19:04):
like an instrument where, youknow, I make a funny like a
buzzing with my lips, like youwould do with a brass
instrument. It all depends onthe reed.
Jane (19:13):
And you're not making the different sounds with your mouth
than once you're blowing throughit. You're not going doo doo doo
doo doo doo doo. You're doingthat with your fingers. What are
you doing?
Katie (19:21):
Well, the fingers, actually, all of the woodwind
instruments are kind ofengineered the same way. So a
woodwind instrument is just abig, long tube with a bunch of
holes in it. If anyone's everplayed the recorder before, you
kind of know how this works. Soto make a lower sound, I'm going
to have more holes on theinstrument closed so more of my
(19:43):
fingers are down. When I havejust one finger down, that
actually makes the tube the airis traveling through shorter.
The more fingers I put down, thelower the note, the less
fingers, the higher the note.
Fern (19:56):
My name's Fern. I'm seven years old. I live in Richmond,
Vermont, and my question is, whycan't you see music notes?
Jane (20:12):
Why can't you see music notes?
Katie (20:15):
Wow, that's a really good question. In a way, I can see
music notes because I can readthem off the page. But music is,
it's just sound. I say justsound, but it's, it's taking
sound and making something likea picture, painting, a picture
(20:36):
with sound. So like, if you lookat a piece of art. If you look
at a painting, can you hear apainting? You can't. Can you can
you read a painting? All you'redoing is, is looking at it and
seeing it with music. Whenyou're listening, that's that's
all you're really doing ishearing the sounds and listening
(20:58):
to the sounds. But those sounds,your brain takes all that in and
turns it into a story or apainting or an emotion or or
something more than just thesound. So I think that's what's
magical about music. That's whywe love to play music and listen
to music.
Harvey (21:15):
My name is Harvey, and I am six years old, and I live in
Bristol, Vermont, and myquestion is, can oboes be
different sizes?
Jane (21:25):
Can oboes be different sizes?
Katie (21:27):
I love that question. Yes, they can. This is, this is
a standard oboe, but the oboe...
Jane (21:34):
And if you you held that out, Katie, that's about the
length of your arm, right?
Katie (21:37):
Um, yeah, it is. It's about the length of my arm, but
you have a bunch of differentsizes of oboe, and the bigger
the oboe, the lower the sound.And I there is one size smaller
than this that plays a highersound. But you don't hear them
very much. You don't, it's notvery common. There is one kind
(21:58):
of relative of the oboe you heara lot, and that's called the
English horn, and that islonger, and it does look
different, because the thebottom of the oboe on the
English horn has a differentshape, but it just plays
everything lower. So it's kindof like a like a tenor oboe.
This is like a soprano oboe,which is high notes, and then
the tenor oboe is kind of alittle bit lower down.
Isa (22:20):
My name is Isa and and how old am? I am five, even, even I
live in Montpelier. And myquestion is, how can you really
(22:42):
play it by using my mouth?
Jane (22:46):
Yeah. How do you play it using your mouth? Tell us more
about the reed.
Katie (22:49):
Okay, so the reed is actually, I think, the the
coolest part of this instrument,and it's, it's made by taking
two pieces of material that arecalled cane and tying them
together onto a tube. Andactually, when you get to be a
good oboist, you make your ownreeds. So these are reeds that I
made at home. And when I playit, all I have to do is put the
(23:15):
reed in my mouth and hold it.You do have to kind of be
careful how you hold it. If youbite the reed, it's not going to
work. And if your lips are toofloppy, it's also not going to
work. So you have to kind ofpractice and get so that you're
holding it just right, and it'sjust the air that I'm blowing.
You have to blow very, very,very hard and very consistent
(23:37):
air to make the oboe work. Butif you blow hard enough, then
you get a sound with just thereed.
Kiel (23:45):
Hi, my name is Kiel, and I live in South Burlington,
Vermont. I'm six years old, andmy question is, how instruments
invented?
Jane (23:56):
Oh, how are instruments invented? We might have to do
some research on that. But doyou know Katie, anything about
the history of the oboe inparticular?
Katie (24:04):
Yeah, lots. I mean, the first instrument is an
instrument we all have, right?It's your voice. That's the
first instrument that any personever ever learned in the entire
history of humankind. So voiceswere the first we learned how to
talk, but we also learned how tosing. So you're carrying around
(24:25):
instruments with you every day,all day, every day, and you can
use those instruments anytimeyou want just to sing. Then they
kind of started hitting thingswith sticks, and probably
invented percussion instruments,right? But the first wind
instruments were flutes, and theoboe has been around for
hundreds and hundreds of yearswhen somebody thought, well, I
(24:45):
can make a sound with a flute.What if I stuck this reed on
there and tried to make a sound?Ooh, I like that sound. Let's
keep doing that.
Vera (24:52):
How did you learn to play the oboe? My name is Vera.
Katie (24:57):
My father actually was a music teacher. And when I was 10
years old, I said, whatinstrument do you need in your
band? And he said, I need anoboe or a French horn. And I
said, I don't want to play abrass instrument. I'll try the
oboe. And he taught me how toplay, and I started out just
playing the reed. So the firstthing that I did, and that I
(25:17):
have my students do, is justplay a long tone on the reed
without the instrument, andthen, as I got stronger and
better at that, I put the reedin the oboe, and I learned one
note at a time how to play everynote that I can play today.
Lily (25:33):
My name is Lily, and I'm seven years old, and I live in
South Burlington. What's yourfavorite song to play?
Katie (25:45):
Oh, wow, there's so many songs. It's hard to choose one
that's my favorite to play. Ithink sometimes it depends on
how I'm feeling. So some days Ilike to play things that are
that are very big and beautifuland peaceful sounding. And
sometimes I want to play thingsthat are really fast and happy
(26:08):
sounding. I think my favoritekind of music to play. I really
love playing in an orchestra,and I love playing music by
composers that wrote things likeJohannes Brahms, who wrote great
big symphonies that are just,just so gorgeous, and you get to
(26:30):
sit in an orchestra, you're inthe middle of this group of
people, and you're all workingtogether and making these
beautiful sounds. That's myfavorite thing to do.
Zane (26:41):
My name is Zane, and I'm four years old. What is your
favorite sound?
Katie (26:50):
I guess my favorite sound on the oboe would be a
particular note that I thinksounds prettiest. It's got a
very pure sound. It's a verystable note. So that's probably
my favorite note. My favoritesound in life, I think, is
(27:10):
laughter. I think hearing peoplelaugh because it makes you feel
like laughing yourself makes youfeel good.
Harvey (27:16):
My name is Harvey. I'm seven years old, and if you want
to play the oboe, whatinstrument would you start with
first?
Katie (27:26):
Well, I started with the oboe, and I have a lot of
students that start with theoboe, but sometimes it's good to
try a different instrumentfirst, because the oboe is
pretty challenging. So I thinkthe flute is very close to the
(27:47):
same fingerings as an oboe, sothat's a good one to start with.
The saxophone has almost exactlythe same fingerings as the oboe,
so I actually have a lot ofstudents that started on the
saxophone, and the clarinet ispretty good too, but the
clarinet fingerings aredifferent, so sometimes that's
confusing. But I would say thatif you start on an instrument,
(28:09):
even if it's doesn't haveanything to do, even if you
start, like on the tuba or thetrombone, if you think, Wait a
second, I think I like the soundof the oboe better, let me give
it a try. I would say try it.Because when you find that
instrument that you like, you'regoing to figure out how to play
it one way or another.
Grant (28:26):
My name is Grant, and I live in Essex Vermont. I'm nine
years old, and my question is,what was your favorite
instrument?
Katie (28:43):
Well, my favorite instrument is the oboe. But I
think I'm prejudiced if I also,I've actually, I think I love
just about every instrument I'veever heard, because they all
kind of add something new.
Seamus (28:56):
Hi, I'm Seamus. I am in Jericho, Vermont. I'm five years
old, and my question is, howwere instruments made?
Jane (29:11):
There are lots of different ways that instruments
are made and lots of differentmaterials. You mentioned that
your instrument is made out ofwood. How is it actually made?
Katie (29:19):
Well, they take blocks of the wood, and they drill up
through the bottom of the woodto make the inside. Because
that's actually it's funny,because we think the outside is
the most important part. Theinside is one of the most
important parts of of anyinstrument, because the shape
changes the sound. So the oboeis a conical instrument, so the
(29:43):
top is small and it graduallygets bigger all the way to the
bottom. The clarinet is more ofa cylindrical instrument, so the
top is one size, and the bottomgets a little bigger, but not
much, and that makes acompletely different sound. So
for. The oboe, specifically, wetake the wood and you bore a
hole up through, drill a hole upthrough the bottom of it that is
(30:07):
going to be conical, so small atthe top, big at the bottom. And
then they drill the holes tomake the keys. And they have
molds that they use where theytake silver and they make the
keys that are going to go inthere. But underneath the keys,
they have pads that are made ofthings like cork or paper,
because these can wear out. Sothese have to get changed
(30:27):
sometimes, and it takes a lot ofyears to learn to make an
instrument like this. It takes alot of experience and time and
practice. So our instruments,when we play an instrument, when
you play it seriously and arereally into it, you want to take
extra good care of it. And as amatter of like etiquette, it's
(30:48):
not polite to touch anotherperson's instrument without
telling them, and it's notpolite to pick up another
person's instrument or play itwithout asking permission first.
Kid (30:57):
I'm from Lyme, New Hampshire, and my question is,
do oboes have a certain numberof keys? Or can they have any
number?
Katie (31:06):
They have a certain number. I have to count now, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15,16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
This one has 23 some of themhave an extra key here that
would make 24 and studentinstruments have fewer, so like
(31:28):
1, 2, oh wait, no, I have 24 sominus 24 sometimes they have 25.
So a student instrument wouldhave around 21 keys. Okay, so if
you're starting out, you don'tget as many, because my pinkies
are what get busy. I have extrakeys for my pinkies, but a
student instrument wouldn't haveall those. So 25, 24 that's
(31:48):
pretty standard.
Jane (31:49):
Katie, will you play us a piece to really show off what
the oboe can do and tell us whatyou're going to play?
Katie (31:56):
Sure. So this is a piece for oboe by a composer from
Serbia. Her name was IsidoraZiebeljan. And I really like
this piece. I like the way itsounds, but I also like it was
written in 2005 and so the oboeis really old. It's been around
for a long time, and a lot ofthe music I play was written
(32:18):
hundreds of years ago. This waswritten in my lifetime, and it
actually uses a lot of kind offolk music from the area where
she lived, and it's called theMiracle in Chargon. [Music]
Jane (33:37):
That was Katie Opera on oboe.
(35:08):
Joining me here is StefanieTaylor, who plays what
instrument. If you know what itis, shout it out. I heard a lot
of violin. Is that what youplay, Stefanie?
Stefanie (35:21):
Not today, not today, but I did hear it. It is a
viola. It's a little so it's ait's a bigger version of the
violin. Some might even saybetter version of the violin.
Jane (35:35):
I don't know now, Stefanie's starting a fight. Why
do you think it's better thanthe violin?
Stefanie (35:40):
Well, the viola, the viola is, it is a lower sound.
It's a little bit more mellowsound than the violin, and I
think it really imitates a humanvoice. So I, I really love it,
but, but I do play the violin.
Jane (35:55):
Will you show us some of the sound a viola can make?
Stefanie (35:58):
It's made out of wood, and it has four strings, and
I'll play each of the fourstrings for you.
Jane (36:03):
It's tough for Stephanie to play and be in front of the
microphone. What happens whenyou move your top fingers up and
down on the strings while youplay.
Stefanie (36:23):
Well, when I want to change the pitch of the string,
I shorten the string by puttingmy finger down on it. So if I
play this as a D string, if Iput a finger down and another I
can play a scale, and what,really what I'm doing is I'm
(36:46):
just, I'm shortening the lengthof the string as I do that,
which raises the pitch.
Jane (36:50):
What happens when you play two or three strings at the same
time?
Stefanie (36:57):
We get to hear both pitches resonating at one time,
which I think is reallybeautiful.
Jane (37:03):
What you're using to make the sound or make that sound
smooth, is something in yourright hand called a bow. What is
a bow?
Stefanie (37:13):
So this, this is, it is a piece of wood with, does
anyone know what that whitestuff is? Your hand went right
up. What is that? That's right,it is from the tail of a horse,
and it's bleached. It's not justfrom white tails, and the horse
doesn't is not harmed when wetake the horse hair. It's just
(37:36):
kind of like having a haircut.So the horse hair is stretched
between these two ends, and ithas, actually has quite a lot of
tension, but the bow actuallystill needs to be flexible. And
a long time ago, the bow lookedactually more like a bow, like
what you think of like with abow and arrow.
Jane (37:56):
You can play this instrument without a bow with
just your fingers. Can youdescribe or show us the
difference in sound?
Stefanie (38:02):
Yes, so, so this, this technique is called pizzicato,
and it's an Italian word. Itjust means plucked. And what I'm
doing with my finger is I'mpulling the string, and that
makes it vibrate. Can then I cando a really hard, pizzicato like
that, that has a differentsound. So there's a big variety
(38:26):
of sounds that I can make withmy finger, but not as many as
that I can make with my bow.
When you're making your soundwith the bow, though, the string
is still vibrating, becausethat's how your instrument is
making the sound, rightThat istrue. What I'm going to do with
my bow is actually the samething I did with my finger. Is
I'm going to pull the string,but this time, I'm going to pull
(38:49):
it with the horse hair that hassome kind of little nub, nubs on
it that makes it a little stickyon the bow. Plus one thing you
didn't get to see is I put rosinon my bow. Now, has anyone ever
seen rosin people, gymnasts ordancers, put rosin on their
right rosin, powdered rosin issticky. And string players use
(39:10):
cake rosin and spread, excuseme, we spread it on the horse
hair of our bow, which helps itto be a little stickier, and
that helps me grab the stringwith the bow and makes the
string vibrate. So I'm going topull, I'm on the string, and I
pull the string, and that isessentially the same thing I'm
(39:34):
doing with the pizzcato, but Ican make the sound last much
longer now, so instead of I cando and I can make much more of a
singing sound with the bow.
Jane (39:47):
So we know we need the strings. We know how the bow
helps. Why do you need the restof the instrument?
Stefanie (39:52):
Has anyone ever made an instrument, even with an
oatmeal box and strings, all ofthose instruments that you made,
the body of the instrument isgoing to help, help amplify the
vibration, make the vibrationbigger, so the strings vibrate,
(40:13):
which also makes the woodvibrate. And there's a little
post in the instrument thatholds the two pieces together,
everything vibrates, and that iswhat makes the sound.
Hanaleia (40:26):
My question is, how frequently do you practice? And
my name is Hanaleia, and I livein Burlington, Vermont.
Stefanie (40:36):
As an adult, with my own children and a lot of
different things to do, I don'tpractice, I don't practice every
single day. I wish I did. Iwould feel better and I would
play better if I practiced everysingle day. I practice most
days, and I play most days. WhenI was a child, and I started
(41:00):
playing violin when I was seven,I didn't practice every day
until, I think, when I was about12, I started practicing every
day, and then I practiced a lotfor a long time.
Freya (41:13):
My name is Freya and New Jersey, and my question is, how
many instruments are there inthe world? And I'm five years
old.
Jane (41:24):
Oh my gosh, how many instruments are there in the
world? We might have to do someresearch to answer that one. But
do you have any guesses,Stefanie?
Stefanie (41:32):
Actually, my guess is maybe towards that infinity
number, because there are, thereare instruments that are very
traditional and that are part ofa certain music tradition, and
there are other instruments thatare traditional to other music
(41:52):
traditions. And then they're allthe instruments that people just
make up, that people when youwhen you take a pencil and and
tap out rhythms on on your desk.You're making an instrument.
You're making you're making somerhythm, you're making some
music.
Coco (42:11):
My name is Coco. I'm seven years old. I live in Essex,
Vermont, and my question is, whydo songs get stuck in your head?
Jane (42:26):
Do you know why songs get stuck in your head?
Stefanie (42:30):
Such a good question. I don't. I don't know exactly,
except I do think that's aquestion that a lot of us have
been asking for a long time. Sothank you for saying it out
loud. I think part of it isbecause music to us is a lot
like language, and when we hearsomething that sounds kind of
like a, like a, like a phrase,or like something, something
(42:55):
that sounds something that wecan kind of keep in our heads,
just like you'd say, like, youknow, how are you? I'm fine. You
know, that kind of thing getsthat music can kind of sound
like talking like that, and Ithink that's one way that it
stays in our head.
Alex (43:11):
Hi, my name is Alex, and I'm 10 years old. I'm from
Milton, Vermont, and why do yourfingers tremble when you're
holding the string on theviolin?
Stefanie (43:21):
Such a good question. Okay, so string instrument
players, we basically wave orroll our fingers from the pitch
in a little below our pitch topretty much make the vibrato
(43:42):
that is already there in thevibrato, make the vibration in
the string even more, even morevibrated. And that we use an
Italian word called vibrato. Andsingers use vibrato, and a lot
of other instrumentalists usevibrato. But in in a string
instrument, I'm going to play itreally slowly so you can hear
(44:03):
what I'm doing.
So very, very slowly, and then,then when it's when it's fast
and a little narrower, it justsounds like a little bit more
warm, and can sound a little bitmore shimmery, and actually
makes the sound louder too.
Nell (44:24):
My name is Nell, and I am six years old, and I live in
Williston, Vermont. Why doesmusic make you dance?
Jane (44:34):
You're getting the tough question, Stephanie, I have to
say.
Stefanie (44:37):
But that's also just such a beautiful question. I'm
not really sure. I think it'sjust one of the really amazing
and wonderful things about beingbeing a human.
Astra (44:49):
My name is Astra, and I live in New York, and I'm six
years old. What's the differencebetween playing and practicing?
Jane (45:01):
Oh, what's the difference between playing and practicing?
Stefanie (45:04):
I'm going to come here for all of my good questions.
These are very good questions.So the best way that I have
describing between playing andpracticing is something I heard
a famous pianist say once, andhe said, practicing, just
(45:24):
pretend you have a jet plane.And practicing is when you're
getting underneath the jet planewith all your all your tools,
and you're looking at the wires,and you're looking to see that
all the systems work, and maybefixing some things that are not
working, and when you're playingor you're performing, that's
when you're flying the jet planeand you're you're moving, and
(45:48):
you're going, and you're notactually thinking anymore about,
hmm, do I need to look atsomething, we hope you're not
thinking about fixing the wiresanymore then.
Ollie (45:59):
So my name is Ollie. I live in Burlington. I'm eight
years old, and my question is,how many instruments do you
play?
Stefanie (46:10):
I play the violin. That's what I started with. And
I started playing the viola whenI was about 20 or 21 and I play
the piano a very, very littlebit, not very well, and I love
to sing, but I'm not sure ifthat I'm not sure if that counts
(46:31):
in your in your count ofinstruments, but those are,
those are the instruments that Iplay.
Libby (46:35):
My name is Libby. I live in St Albans, Vermont. I'm five
years old, and my question is,why do some instruments look a
little alike, but they makedifferent sounds?
Stefanie (46:52):
This makes me think it would maybe be a good idea to
talk about the string family ofinstruments. So the string
family of instruments are allshaped like this, but they're
different sizes. So we have theviolin, then we have the viola,
then we have the cello, and thenwe have the double bass, which
(47:12):
is so big that people often siton a stool to play it. When the
body of the instrument getsbigger, the sound, the pitch
gets lower, but they have a lotof things in common, but it's
the pitch that changes.
Iggy (47:26):
How do you make the instrument? My name is Iggy, and
I live in Burlington, Vermont.
Jane (47:34):
There are lots of different ways to make lots of
different instruments, but howis a viola made?
Stefanie (47:38):
It's not easy at all, there are multiple pieces of
wood which are shaped to a veryspecific measurement, and then
they are glued together. Andthen the this piece is added,
and the strings are added. Andthen, of course, we also need
(47:59):
the bow.
Abdi (48:02):
My name is Abdi. I live in Burlington, Vermont. I'm seven.
Why? Why do people make music?
Stefanie (48:12):
Music is a form of communication. It's a form of
sharing feelings, emotions, withothers that are not words,
right? It's another it's anotherway of communicating. And I
think we've all experiencedprobably listening to music and
(48:35):
feeling like dancing, or feelinglike singing or some music makes
us feel kind of peaceful, andsome music can make us feel very
energetic, and some can make usfeel kind of sad. And when those
are all feelings that all of ushave inside us, and the music
helps us to find those emotionsand and experience them. But
(48:59):
also music is music is somethingthat brings people together.
Music is a very wonderful wayfor people to do something
collaboratively as a group andalso to share something, even as
(49:22):
we're doing right now, that weare all together and all from
different places and differentages, but we are all we are all
here appreciating music.
Otis (49:34):
My name is Otis, and I live in Charlotte. What um? What
horse is? What string is thathorse made out of?
Jane (49:48):
Yes, you mentioned that the bow is made out of horse
hair. Can you tell us a littlebit more about how they get the
horse hair onto a bow?
Stefanie (49:56):
Well, honestly, I'm not exactly sure how this
happens. Yes, but it is. It istaken from the tail of a horse,
not the mane, and to make itwhite, it's bleached and
cleaned. And then the person whois the bow repair person, puts
(50:20):
the hair on the bow. I didn'ttell you this is one, one
interesting thing is that everyfew months, I need to get new
hair on the bow. So they takeall the hair out and stretch new
hair over the bow. And becausethe little, the little, they're
little kind of little nubs thatare on the hair actually get
(50:42):
worn off when I play a lot, andthen I have to start over again
and get so I don't get a newbow, but I get new hair.
Jane (50:47):
And the strings on your Viola are not made out of horse
hair.
Stefanie (50:51):
No. And the strings, the strings on my viola, I also
have to change every few months,and they're made with metal, and
they're wrapped around a kind ofsynthetic material. But not too
long ago, all strings used to bemade out of sheep intestines,
and they were called gutstrings, but not any, mine are
not anymore, but I should tellyou, while I'm talking about my
(51:12):
instrument, that my instrumentis more than 200 years old.
Jane (51:16):
Wow.
Stefanie (51:17):
Can you believe it's, it's, it's, really, it seems so
much history. It was built. Itwas built in London in 1810 and
my bow was built a little bitafter that in France.
Jane (51:30):
Wow.
Naomi (51:31):
So my name is Naomi. I'm eight years old, and I live in
Rochester, Vermont, and myquestion is, how many songs are
there in the world?
Stefanie (51:40):
I think it's infinite. There are so many different
songs that are already in theworld. But then there are songs
being written. There are songsbeing when you're when you're
when you're sitting and playingLegos or something and and
humming to yourself and making anew song, there's songs
(52:02):
everywhere.
Jane (52:03):
Will you play one for us to really show off what your
instrument can do?
Stefanie (52:07):
So I'm going to play you a dancing song called a jig,
written by a pretty famouscomposer named Bach. And this
piece was written a long, long,long time ago. Was actually
written for the cello, but Ithink it sounds pretty good on
(53:22):
the viola.
Jane (54:05):
Big thanks to Melissa Meilens, Katie Oprea and
Stefanie Taylor from the VermontSymphony Orchestra for being
part of Vermont Public's CuriousKids day. And thanks to Elise
Burnelle, the orchestra'sExecutive Director, for making
their visits possible. The VSOis always interested in helping
kids understand music and learnto play. If you want to be in
(54:25):
the know when we have eventslike that, sometimes in person
and sometimes virtual, or whenwe're looking for questions from
you for future episodes, joinour mailing list. You can find a
link right on our web page,ButWhyKids.org. As always, if
you have a question aboutanything, send it to us. We get
a lot of questions, and we wishwe could answer them all. But
(54:46):
even if we don't get to answeryour question, we really want to
hear what's on your mind andwhat you're feeling curious
about. You can have an adulthelp you record your question
using a free app on a smartphoneor tablet, then have your adult
send the file toquestions@ButWhyKids.org. If you
like our show, please leave us areview or some stars on whatever
platform you use to listen. Ithelps other kids and families
(55:09):
and schools discover us. Ourshow is produced by Sarah Baik,
Melody Bodette, and me, JaneLindholm at Vermont Public and
distributed by PRX. Our thememusic is by Luke Reynolds, and
our video producer is JoeyPalumbo. Special thanks this
week to Frank Alwine, PhilEdfors, Peter Engisch and Dave
Rice for their help with ourlive event. And we also want to
(55:31):
recognize Amy Zielinski, theevent organizer and producer.
We'll be back in two weeks withan all new episode. Until then,
stay curious.
This is But Why
Jane Lindholm, and today we'remaking the show a little bit
differently from how we normallydo it. We are joined by a live
audience right here at ourVermont Public studios. Say
hello everybody! We are sopleased to welcome you here for
(00:41):
our first ever Curious Kids Dayat Vermont Public and the theme
today is exploring music. So forthis episode, we're joined by
musicians from the VermontSymphony Orchestra. I have a few
questions for them, and thenwe'll turn the microphone over
to you guys. Okay. Is that okay?Okay, great. So joining me here
(01:01):
on stage first today is MelissaMeilens, who knows what
instrument she has brought withher?You can shout it out if you
know it.
Did they get it right, Melissa?
Melissa (01:10):
They did. I'm impressed.
Jane (01:11):
You play the flute. Can you take us through some of the
sounds that a flute can make?
Melissa (01:16):
Sure thing.
Jane (01:25):
What happens if you just blow through that hole at the
top of your flute like I'mblowing air out of my mouth like
this.
That doesn't sound as good.
Melissa (01:37):
No, but there's a fun thing to think of if you want to
get a nice sound on the flute.How many of you have slurped in
a spaghetti noodle? Yes, itmakes a nice, big mess. Anyways,
if you think about taking thespaghetti noodle back out of
your mouth the same way it camein, that's kind of what I do, to
make a sound on the flute. I doit across the flute and thank
goodness there's no noodlethat's coming out.
Jane (01:58):
Well, that would be gross. I'm picturing a lot of spaghetti
sauce inside your flute.
Melissa (02:04):
Oh, bad scene.
Jane (02:04):
So what does it sound like if you make a bad note on the
Melissa (02:07):
That's just not really having an embouchure. An
flute?
embouchure means the way youhold your mouth. So like I was
saying before, it's the wholesucking the noodle or spitting
out the noodle position. Anotherthing you could think about is
(02:27):
if you say the about is if yousay the word pool, pool, think
about how the corner of yourmouth goes pool. That's what I
do with the corner of my mouththat helps me shape my mouth to
get a better sound on the flute.
Jane (02:34):
What was that word you said again for how the shape of
your mouth is
Melissa (02:38):
Embouchure.
Jane (02:39):
How do you spell that?
Melissa (02:41):
E-M-B-O-U-C-H-U-R-E. It's actually a French word.
There's a lot of French historywith the flute.
Jane (02:48):
And how does it work? We know you blow air through it.
That's what you just told usabout. But what is actually
happening?
Melissa (02:55):
I'm actually blowing across and part of the air is
going into the flute, the sideof the flute, which then is
rocketed down, and vibrationsstart to go through the body of
the flute, and then a sound isproduced. And if I move my
fingers on these keys righthere, that will change the pitch
as I blow.
Jane (03:18):
It's beautiful. Let's see if we have any questions from
the audience. Melody and Sarahare here, so you can raise your
hand if you have a question forMelissa, and they will come
around and have you ask them.
Isabella (03:29):
My name is Isabella, and I live in Vermont in
Royalton, and I'm seven yearsold, and I wonder who taught you
to play the flute.
Melissa (03:43):
I had several teachers and flute was actually not my
first instrument. I startedviolin when I was four, then I
played piano, then I playedclarinet, and then I had to
figure out what instrument,because I just loved music and I
loved instruments, and by time Iwas in sixth grade, I decided
(04:05):
that flute was really what Iwanted to specialize in.
Blake (04:05):
My name is Blake, and I'm five. And why do you like to
play music?
Kid (04:10):
Why do you like to play flute?
Melissa (04:14):
I like playing the flute because of all those
instruments I mentioned before.For me, somehow it was the
easiest one. And there'ssomething when I opened up the
case, I really liked that Icould put it together in this
long, horizontal stick. And Ijust thought that was cool. And
I like the sound of it too. ButI don't know. There's just
something about being able tohold it up like this that was
(04:36):
different from otherinstruments.
Jane (04:36):
I don't know if you can take it apart right now, or if
that then you would need to tuneit again, but your flute doesn't
it's not always this long, andin case it comes apart into
different pieces.
Melissa (04:43):
Right. I could take it apart. There's three separate
pieces. There's the head joint,which I can make a sound on by
its own. If I stick my finger inthe end, I can change pitches
too. And so this. Then it'scalled the body of the
instrument, where you see mostof the keys. And then there's
(05:03):
the foot joint, which makes it alittle bit longer as well.
Oliver (05:06):
My name is Oliver. I'm five years old. And what kind of
musics can you play?
Jane (05:12):
What kind of music can you play, Melissa?
Melissa (05:15):
I can play music from all different kinds of history.
I can play it from 200, 300years ago. I can play music that
was written now. I can do somewhat's called extended
techniques. So that means, likeI can, it's called flutter
tonguing. But what it really isis I'm growling into my
instrument. So I get a differentsound, like this. Then there's
(05:41):
something that means you alsolike articulate or use your
tongue a little bit and get thatkind of thing.
Jane (05:50):
Do you ever listen to music on the radio and think I
could play that and play likeTaylor Swift for yourself?
Melissa (05:58):
No.
Kid (06:02):
I'm six, and I live in ferrisburg. How many, how much
music do you play?
Melissa (06:11):
When I practice, I'll practice two hours a day, and
then if I have orchestra work,that could be two and a half to
five hours a day, or if there'sa concert. So each day is a
little bit different. I alsoteach flute, and I'm playing my
flute while I teach, and somedays are crazy, and I'll be
teaching all day long, so it'shours and hours of playing, and
(06:33):
that's okay, because it's what Ilove to do.
Jane (06:35):
When you are playing for three or four or five hours,
you're practicing, and thenyou're teaching, and then you're
doing something else. Are yourlips really tired at the end of
the day, or your fingers?
Melissa (06:46):
They're not unless, if I haven't been...it's like a
sport like you don't justsuddenly go and run 25 miles.
You work yourself up to that. Soas long as I'm running several
miles a day or practicing myflute several hours a day, then
it's okay, but if I take sometime off, say I go on vacation,
this doesn't really happen, butif I went on vacation for two
(07:07):
weeks and I didn't touch theflute when I came back, I would
not sound so good, and I wouldget tired sooner, and it would
take some time to get back towhere I want to be.
Antonio (07:15):
My name's Antonio. I'm four years old, and I live in
Jericho, Vermont, and how do youplay the flute?
Jane (07:26):
So how do you you've told us a little bit about how you
play. So you're blowing throughyour mouth, and you told us
about your mouth position. Howabout your fingers? What are you
doing with your fingers?
Melissa (07:34):
For each different tone, I have a different finger
position. And what's interestingis the lower I go with the
pitches, I keep adding fingers,so I'll start a little bit
higher, and then I add a fingerand go lower, and I have to stop
and take a breath because I'mblowing the whole time. So if I
(07:56):
didn't take a breath, I'd bepassed out on the floor, and
that's not a good scene.
Adelaide (08:00):
My name is Adelaide. I'm nine. I live in Hartland,
and is the flute one of thehardest instruments because it
takes the most air.
Melissa (08:10):
I think that a lot of people might argue that their
instrument is harder, orsomething like that. I actually
don't know if flute is thehardest instrument, at least for
me. Maybe that's why I chose it,because it was kind of easy for
me. But if I was choosingsomething like oboe, I think
that would be a lot harder,because oboe has a reed that
they have to play through, andthe reeds have to be just right,
(08:32):
and they spend a lot of timejust working on the reeds. I'm
lucky, because I just put mymetal flute together and I blow
and I'm good to go.
Lulu (08:40):
My name is Lulu. I'm seven years old. I live in Vermont. My
question is, how many songs doyou know?
Melissa (08:52):
Honestly, maybe even 1000 so many, so many. Um,
because I've been playing a longtime, over 25 years, I've played
a lot of music, and I can alsohave a lot of experience. So I
can just look at something andplay something new. And
depending on how hard it is,like how many notes you see
here, right? Sometimes I canplay it perfectly the first
(09:16):
time. Sometimes I need topractice it on those two three
hours of practicing.
Harper (09:20):
My name is Harper. I'm six years old. And how many
instruments have you played?
Melissa (09:31):
Violin, piano, a little bit of trumpet, which was
terrible. My mother told me Isounded like a love sick moose
when I played it, whatever thatis. Clarinet, Piccolo, saxophone
and flute. So I guess that endsup being seven
Kid (09:45):
When you said that you played the piccolo. What is a
piccolo?
Melissa (09:51):
Ah, a piccolo is a relative of the flute. It is a
smaller version of the flute ismaybe the size of the head
joint. And you're, so it's verysmall. And so this is an
interesting thing to remember,the smaller the instrument, the
smaller the distance the air hasto travel, the higher the pitch.
So a piccolo sounds one octavehigher than the flute. So if I'm
(10:11):
playing on the flute, if I'mplaying this, it actually that's
one of the medium notes on thepiccolo. So it's a lot higher,
and I think that everyone beshaken out of their boots if I
play piccolo here right now.
Kid (10:27):
Isn't the flute in the brass family?
Melissa (10:31):
it's in the woodwind family. So originally, woodwinds
come from wood instruments. I'mnot so familiar about the brass
family history, but they're allmade out of brass. But you know
what? We're a little bit similarin that we all blow through an
instrument to create sounds.
Jane (10:47):
Well, since we're all now friends here, will you play a
song for us before we end toshow us what the flute can
actually do?
Melissa (10:54):
I would love to thanks. I want to tell you a little bit
about my song or piece that I'mgoing to play. It's called Dance
of the Goat. It's by ArthurHonegger, a French composer, and
it's a short piece, but there'slike a little story behind it
that I think works. So at firstthe goat is sleeping, then he
(11:14):
wakes up a little bit, and he'sa really playful goat, and he
likes to dance, so you'll hearlike a little bit of a dance
moment, but he's still wakingup. Has a little bit of
breakfast, nourishing breakfast.The breakfast starts to kick in,
and then his light, happy naturecomes out, and he starts to
dance. Breakfast kicks in somemore. He dances some more, a
(11:34):
little bit faster, a little bitharder, and he's having really
good time. And then he looksover on the horizon, Ah, love
interest, friend, I don't know,so you'll notice that the music
changes and becomes just alittle bit more relaxed and
mellow. And he meets his newfriend, and the friend likes to
dance too, and so they dancetogether crazily, wildly. They
(11:54):
exhaust themselves. And thenbefore you know it, the day is
over. They say goodbye. There'sone last little romantic melody
and he goes back to bed and goesto sleep. I hope you Enjoy it.
(12:42):
[music]
Jane (15:27):
That was beautiful. Thank you. That was Melissa Mielens,
who plays flute with the VermontSymphony Orchestra. Coming up.
What's an oboe?
I'm Jane Lindholm, and this isBut Why: a Podcast for Curious
Kids. Let's get back to our liveepisode with musicians from the
(15:48):
Vermont Symphony Orchestra.Joining us here today is Katie
Oprea, who plays the oboe.Katie, what a pleasure to have
you with us.
Katie (15:55):
Thank you. It's really a pleasure to be here.
Jane (15:57):
I already said it's the oboe, so I gave it away. But
what is an oboe?
Katie (16:02):
Well, an oboe is a member of what we call the woodwind
family. So the oboe is a windinstrument that you play by
blowing into it, and theinstrument itself is made out of
wood. Now, my oboe does not looklike wood because it's black,
but the wood that's used forthis instrument is special. It's
(16:24):
very, very dense, and it hasthis dark, dark color as part of
the fact that it's so dense,it's so dense that if I dropped
this in the water, it wouldsink. So I try not to do that.
The other thing that's specialabout the oboe is that the sound
is produced by a reed, which isnot that special. I mean,
(16:47):
clarinets and saxophones have areed, but the oboe has what's
called a double reed. So we sayit's double the trouble. But
what's cool about the doublereed is that it's two pieces of
cane that are tied together, andI can play the reed all by
itself. So this is the beautifulsound of the oboe reed.
Jane (17:08):
Oh, that is just so gorgeous. Couldn't you listen to
that all day? Yeah, Katie,that's beautiful.
Katie (17:13):
Well, you can actually play songs on it too. So if you
just kind of move it likefurther into your mouth and
further out of your mouth. Thatchanges the pitch. So I can play
like I can play a little songlike this.
Jane (17:34):
I mean, I'm still not sure that's beautiful.
Katie (17:36):
No, okay, all right.
Jane (17:38):
So what does it sound like when you put the reed in the
instrument. Can you play some ofthe sounds that an oboe can
make?
Katie (17:52):
That's a bit different from just the reed,
Jane (17:55):
that sounds much prettier. Take us through the range of
sounds an oboe can make fromhigh to low, or low to high.
Katie (18:00):
So the lowest sound noble can make is a B flat. Well, a
low B flat for us, the highestsound kind of depends, because
once you get it really high, itjust sounds like a bunch of
squeaks.
(18:23):
So that kind of, that end of theinstrument is a little bit more,
you know, picky and choosy.Like, do you really want to
sound like that? Sometimes youdo, but most of the time you
don't.
Jane (18:34):
How do you use your mouth to make that noise? Because if
you just put your mouth on theoboe and hum or blow, what's
that going to sound like?
Katie (18:42):
It doesn't sound like much. So if I just blow through
the reed, it doesn't sound likeanything. What my mouth really
does is just makes enough ofthere's enough pressure on the
reed between my mouth and my airthat it vibrates really, fast,
and that's what makes the sound.I don't make the sound. It's not
(19:04):
like an instrument where, youknow, I make a funny like a
buzzing with my lips, like youwould do with a brass
instrument. It all depends onthe reed.
Jane (19:13):
And you're not making the different sounds with your mouth
than once you're blowing throughit. You're not going doo doo doo
doo doo doo doo. You're doingthat with your fingers. What are
you doing?
Katie (19:21):
Well, the fingers, actually, all of the woodwind
instruments are kind ofengineered the same way. So a
woodwind instrument is just abig, long tube with a bunch of
holes in it. If anyone's everplayed the recorder before, you
kind of know how this works. Soto make a lower sound, I'm going
to have more holes on theinstrument closed so more of my
(19:43):
fingers are down. When I havejust one finger down, that
actually makes the tube the airis traveling through shorter.
The more fingers I put down, thelower the note, the less
fingers, the higher the note.
Fern (19:56):
My name's Fern. I'm seven years old. I live in Richmond,
Vermont, and my question is, whycan't you see music notes?
Jane (20:12):
Why can't you see music notes?
Katie (20:15):
Wow, that's a really good question. In a way, I can see
music notes because I can readthem off the page. But music is,
it's just sound. I say justsound, but it's, it's taking
sound and making something likea picture, painting, a picture
(20:36):
with sound. So like, if you lookat a piece of art. If you look
at a painting, can you hear apainting? You can't. Can you can
you read a painting? All you'redoing is, is looking at it and
seeing it with music. Whenyou're listening, that's that's
all you're really doing ishearing the sounds and listening
(20:58):
to the sounds. But those sounds,your brain takes all that in and
turns it into a story or apainting or an emotion or or
something more than just thesound. So I think that's what's
magical about music. That's whywe love to play music and listen
to music.
Harvey (21:15):
My name is Harvey, and I am six years old, and I live in
Bristol, Vermont, and myquestion is, can oboes be
different sizes?
Jane (21:25):
Can oboes be different sizes?
Katie (21:27):
I love that question. Yes, they can. This is, this is
a standard oboe, but the oboe...
Jane (21:34):
And if you you held that out, Katie, that's about the
length of your arm, right?
Katie (21:37):
Um, yeah, it is. It's about the length of my arm, but
you have a bunch of differentsizes of oboe, and the bigger
the oboe, the lower the sound.And I there is one size smaller
than this that plays a highersound. But you don't hear them
very much. You don't, it's notvery common. There is one kind
(21:58):
of relative of the oboe you heara lot, and that's called the
English horn, and that islonger, and it does look
different, because the thebottom of the oboe on the
English horn has a differentshape, but it just plays
everything lower. So it's kindof like a like a tenor oboe.
This is like a soprano oboe,which is high notes, and then
the tenor oboe is kind of alittle bit lower down.
Isa (22:20):
My name is Isa and and how old am? I am five, even, even I
live in Montpelier. And myquestion is, how can you really
(22:42):
play it by using my mouth?
Jane (22:46):
Yeah. How do you play it using your mouth? Tell us more
about the reed.
Katie (22:49):
Okay, so the reed is actually, I think, the the
coolest part of this instrument,and it's, it's made by taking
two pieces of material that arecalled cane and tying them
together onto a tube. Andactually, when you get to be a
good oboist, you make your ownreeds. So these are reeds that I
made at home. And when I playit, all I have to do is put the
(23:15):
reed in my mouth and hold it.You do have to kind of be
careful how you hold it. If youbite the reed, it's not going to
work. And if your lips are toofloppy, it's also not going to
work. So you have to kind ofpractice and get so that you're
holding it just right, and it'sjust the air that I'm blowing.
You have to blow very, very,very hard and very consistent
(23:37):
air to make the oboe work. Butif you blow hard enough, then
you get a sound with just thereed.
Kiel (23:45):
Hi, my name is Kiel, and I live in South Burlington,
Vermont. I'm six years old, andmy question is, how instruments
invented?
Jane (23:56):
Oh, how are instruments invented? We might have to do
some research on that. But doyou know Katie, anything about
the history of the oboe inparticular?
Katie (24:04):
Yeah, lots. I mean, the first instrument is an
instrument we all have, right?It's your voice. That's the
first instrument that any personever ever learned in the entire
history of humankind. So voiceswere the first we learned how to
talk, but we also learned how tosing. So you're carrying around
(24:25):
instruments with you every day,all day, every day, and you can
use those instruments anytimeyou want just to sing. Then they
kind of started hitting thingswith sticks, and probably
invented percussion instruments,right? But the first wind
instruments were flutes, and theoboe has been around for
hundreds and hundreds of yearswhen somebody thought, well, I
(24:45):
can make a sound with a flute.What if I stuck this reed on
there and tried to make a sound?Ooh, I like that sound. Let's
keep doing that.
Vera (24:52):
How did you learn to play the oboe? My name is Vera.
Katie (24:57):
My father actually was a music teacher. And when I was 10
years old, I said, whatinstrument do you need in your
band? And he said, I need anoboe or a French horn. And I
said, I don't want to play abrass instrument. I'll try the
oboe. And he taught me how toplay, and I started out just
playing the reed. So the firstthing that I did, and that I
(25:17):
have my students do, is justplay a long tone on the reed
without the instrument, andthen, as I got stronger and
better at that, I put the reedin the oboe, and I learned one
note at a time how to play everynote that I can play today.
Lily (25:33):
My name is Lily, and I'm seven years old, and I live in
South Burlington. What's yourfavorite song to play?
Katie (25:45):
Oh, wow, there's so many songs. It's hard to choose one
that's my favorite to play. Ithink sometimes it depends on
how I'm feeling. So some days Ilike to play things that are
that are very big and beautifuland peaceful sounding. And
sometimes I want to play thingsthat are really fast and happy
(26:08):
sounding. I think my favoritekind of music to play. I really
love playing in an orchestra,and I love playing music by
composers that wrote things likeJohannes Brahms, who wrote great
big symphonies that are just,just so gorgeous, and you get to
(26:30):
sit in an orchestra, you're inthe middle of this group of
people, and you're all workingtogether and making these
beautiful sounds. That's myfavorite thing to do.
Zane (26:41):
My name is Zane, and I'm four years old. What is your
favorite sound?
Katie (26:50):
I guess my favorite sound on the oboe would be a
particular note that I thinksounds prettiest. It's got a
very pure sound. It's a verystable note. So that's probably
my favorite note. My favoritesound in life, I think, is
(27:10):
laughter. I think hearing peoplelaugh because it makes you feel
like laughing yourself makes youfeel good.
Harvey (27:16):
My name is Harvey. I'm seven years old, and if you want
to play the oboe, whatinstrument would you start with
first?
Katie (27:26):
Well, I started with the oboe, and I have a lot of
students that start with theoboe, but sometimes it's good to
try a different instrumentfirst, because the oboe is
pretty challenging. So I thinkthe flute is very close to the
(27:47):
same fingerings as an oboe, sothat's a good one to start with.
The saxophone has almost exactlythe same fingerings as the oboe,
so I actually have a lot ofstudents that started on the
saxophone, and the clarinet ispretty good too, but the
clarinet fingerings aredifferent, so sometimes that's
confusing. But I would say thatif you start on an instrument,
(28:09):
even if it's doesn't haveanything to do, even if you
start, like on the tuba or thetrombone, if you think, Wait a
second, I think I like the soundof the oboe better, let me give
it a try. I would say try it.Because when you find that
instrument that you like, you'regoing to figure out how to play
it one way or another.
Grant (28:26):
My name is Grant, and I live in Essex Vermont. I'm nine
years old, and my question is,what was your favorite
instrument?
Katie (28:43):
Well, my favorite instrument is the oboe. But I
think I'm prejudiced if I also,I've actually, I think I love
just about every instrument I'veever heard, because they all
kind of add something new.
Seamus (28:56):
Hi, I'm Seamus. I am in Jericho, Vermont. I'm five years
old, and my question is, howwere instruments made?
Jane (29:11):
There are lots of different ways that instruments
are made and lots of differentmaterials. You mentioned that
your instrument is made out ofwood. How is it actually made?
Katie (29:19):
Well, they take blocks of the wood, and they drill up
through the bottom of the woodto make the inside. Because
that's actually it's funny,because we think the outside is
the most important part. Theinside is one of the most
important parts of of anyinstrument, because the shape
changes the sound. So the oboeis a conical instrument, so the
(29:43):
top is small and it graduallygets bigger all the way to the
bottom. The clarinet is more ofa cylindrical instrument, so the
top is one size, and the bottomgets a little bigger, but not
much, and that makes acompletely different sound. So
for. The oboe, specifically, wetake the wood and you bore a
hole up through, drill a hole upthrough the bottom of it that is
(30:07):
going to be conical, so small atthe top, big at the bottom. And
then they drill the holes tomake the keys. And they have
molds that they use where theytake silver and they make the
keys that are going to go inthere. But underneath the keys,
they have pads that are made ofthings like cork or paper,
because these can wear out. Sothese have to get changed
(30:27):
sometimes, and it takes a lot ofyears to learn to make an
instrument like this. It takes alot of experience and time and
practice. So our instruments,when we play an instrument, when
you play it seriously and arereally into it, you want to take
extra good care of it. And as amatter of like etiquette, it's
(30:48):
not polite to touch anotherperson's instrument without
telling them, and it's notpolite to pick up another
person's instrument or play itwithout asking permission first.
Kid (30:57):
I'm from Lyme, New Hampshire, and my question is,
do oboes have a certain numberof keys? Or can they have any
number?
Katie (31:06):
They have a certain number. I have to count now, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15,16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
This one has 23 some of themhave an extra key here that
would make 24 and studentinstruments have fewer, so like
(31:28):
1, 2, oh wait, no, I have 24 sominus 24 sometimes they have 25.
So a student instrument wouldhave around 21 keys. Okay, so if
you're starting out, you don'tget as many, because my pinkies
are what get busy. I have extrakeys for my pinkies, but a
student instrument wouldn't haveall those. So 25, 24 that's
(31:48):
pretty standard.
Jane (31:49):
Katie, will you play us a piece to really show off what
the oboe can do and tell us whatyou're going to play?
Katie (31:56):
Sure. So this is a piece for oboe by a composer from
Serbia. Her name was IsidoraZiebeljan. And I really like
this piece. I like the way itsounds, but I also like it was
written in 2005 and so the oboeis really old. It's been around
for a long time, and a lot ofthe music I play was written
(32:18):
hundreds of years ago. This waswritten in my lifetime, and it
actually uses a lot of kind offolk music from the area where
she lived, and it's called theMiracle in Chargon. [Music]
Jane (33:37):
That was Katie Opera on oboe.
(35:08):
Joining me here is StefanieTaylor, who plays what
instrument. If you know what itis, shout it out. I heard a lot
of violin. Is that what youplay, Stefanie?
Stefanie (35:21):
Not today, not today, but I did hear it. It is a
viola. It's a little so it's ait's a bigger version of the
violin. Some might even saybetter version of the violin.
Jane (35:35):
I don't know now, Stefanie's starting a fight. Why
do you think it's better thanthe violin?
Stefanie (35:40):
Well, the viola, the viola is, it is a lower sound.
It's a little bit more mellowsound than the violin, and I
think it really imitates a humanvoice. So I, I really love it,
but, but I do play the violin.
Jane (35:55):
Will you show us some of the sound a viola can make?
Stefanie (35:58):
It's made out of wood, and it has four strings, and
I'll play each of the fourstrings for you.
Jane (36:03):
It's tough for Stephanie to play and be in front of the
microphone. What happens whenyou move your top fingers up and
down on the strings while youplay.
Stefanie (36:23):
Well, when I want to change the pitch of the string,
I shorten the string by puttingmy finger down on it. So if I
play this as a D string, if Iput a finger down and another I
can play a scale, and what,really what I'm doing is I'm
(36:46):
just, I'm shortening the lengthof the string as I do that,
which raises the pitch.
Jane (36:50):
What happens when you play two or three strings at the same
time?
Stefanie (36:57):
We get to hear both pitches resonating at one time,
which I think is reallybeautiful.
Jane (37:03):
What you're using to make the sound or make that sound
smooth, is something in yourright hand called a bow. What is
a bow?
Stefanie (37:13):
So this, this is, it is a piece of wood with, does
anyone know what that whitestuff is? Your hand went right
up. What is that? That's right,it is from the tail of a horse,
and it's bleached. It's not justfrom white tails, and the horse
doesn't is not harmed when wetake the horse hair. It's just
(37:36):
kind of like having a haircut.So the horse hair is stretched
between these two ends, and ithas, actually has quite a lot of
tension, but the bow actuallystill needs to be flexible. And
a long time ago, the bow lookedactually more like a bow, like
what you think of like with abow and arrow.
Jane (37:56):
You can play this instrument without a bow with
just your fingers. Can youdescribe or show us the
difference in sound?
Stefanie (38:02):
Yes, so, so this, this technique is called pizzicato,
and it's an Italian word. Itjust means plucked. And what I'm
doing with my finger is I'mpulling the string, and that
makes it vibrate. Can then I cando a really hard, pizzicato like
that, that has a differentsound. So there's a big variety
(38:26):
of sounds that I can make withmy finger, but not as many as
that I can make with my bow.
When you're making your soundwith the bow, though, the string
is still vibrating, becausethat's how your instrument is
making the sound, rightThat istrue. What I'm going to do with
my bow is actually the samething I did with my finger. Is
I'm going to pull the string,but this time, I'm going to pull
(38:49):
it with the horse hair that hassome kind of little nub, nubs on
it that makes it a little stickyon the bow. Plus one thing you
didn't get to see is I put rosinon my bow. Now, has anyone ever
seen rosin people, gymnasts ordancers, put rosin on their
right rosin, powdered rosin issticky. And string players use
(39:10):
cake rosin and spread, excuseme, we spread it on the horse
hair of our bow, which helps itto be a little stickier, and
that helps me grab the stringwith the bow and makes the
string vibrate. So I'm going topull, I'm on the string, and I
pull the string, and that isessentially the same thing I'm
(39:34):
doing with the pizzcato, but Ican make the sound last much
longer now, so instead of I cando and I can make much more of a
singing sound with the bow.
Jane (39:47):
So we know we need the strings. We know how the bow
helps. Why do you need the restof the instrument?
Stefanie (39:52):
Has anyone ever made an instrument, even with an
oatmeal box and strings, all ofthose instruments that you made,
the body of the instrument isgoing to help, help amplify the
vibration, make the vibrationbigger, so the strings vibrate,
(40:13):
which also makes the woodvibrate. And there's a little
post in the instrument thatholds the two pieces together,
everything vibrates, and that iswhat makes the sound.
Hanaleia (40:26):
My question is, how frequently do you practice? And
my name is Hanaleia, and I livein Burlington, Vermont.
Stefanie (40:36):
As an adult, with my own children and a lot of
different things to do, I don'tpractice, I don't practice every
single day. I wish I did. Iwould feel better and I would
play better if I practiced everysingle day. I practice most
days, and I play most days. WhenI was a child, and I started
(41:00):
playing violin when I was seven,I didn't practice every day
until, I think, when I was about12, I started practicing every
day, and then I practiced a lotfor a long time.
Freya (41:13):
My name is Freya and New Jersey, and my question is, how
many instruments are there inthe world? And I'm five years
old.
Jane (41:24):
Oh my gosh, how many instruments are there in the
world? We might have to do someresearch to answer that one. But
do you have any guesses,Stefanie?
Stefanie (41:32):
Actually, my guess is maybe towards that infinity
number, because there are, thereare instruments that are very
traditional and that are part ofa certain music tradition, and
there are other instruments thatare traditional to other music
(41:52):
traditions. And then they're allthe instruments that people just
make up, that people when youwhen you take a pencil and and
tap out rhythms on on your desk.You're making an instrument.
You're making you're making somerhythm, you're making some
music.
Coco (42:11):
My name is Coco. I'm seven years old. I live in Essex,
Vermont, and my question is, whydo songs get stuck in your head?
Jane (42:26):
Do you know why songs get stuck in your head?
Stefanie (42:30):
Such a good question. I don't. I don't know exactly,
except I do think that's aquestion that a lot of us have
been asking for a long time. Sothank you for saying it out
loud. I think part of it isbecause music to us is a lot
like language, and when we hearsomething that sounds kind of
like a, like a, like a phrase,or like something, something
(42:55):
that sounds something that wecan kind of keep in our heads,
just like you'd say, like, youknow, how are you? I'm fine. You
know, that kind of thing getsthat music can kind of sound
like talking like that, and Ithink that's one way that it
stays in our head.
Alex (43:11):
Hi, my name is Alex, and I'm 10 years old. I'm from
Milton, Vermont, and why do yourfingers tremble when you're
holding the string on theviolin?
Stefanie (43:21):
Such a good question. Okay, so string instrument
players, we basically wave orroll our fingers from the pitch
in a little below our pitch topretty much make the vibrato
(43:42):
that is already there in thevibrato, make the vibration in
the string even more, even morevibrated. And that we use an
Italian word called vibrato. Andsingers use vibrato, and a lot
of other instrumentalists usevibrato. But in in a string
instrument, I'm going to play itreally slowly so you can hear
(44:03):
what I'm doing.
So very, very slowly, and then,then when it's when it's fast
and a little narrower, it justsounds like a little bit more
warm, and can sound a little bitmore shimmery, and actually
makes the sound louder too.
Nell (44:24):
My name is Nell, and I am six years old, and I live in
Williston, Vermont. Why doesmusic make you dance?
Jane (44:34):
You're getting the tough question, Stephanie, I have to
say.
Stefanie (44:37):
But that's also just such a beautiful question. I'm
not really sure. I think it'sjust one of the really amazing
and wonderful things about beingbeing a human.
Astra (44:49):
My name is Astra, and I live in New York, and I'm six
years old. What's the differencebetween playing and practicing?
Jane (45:01):
Oh, what's the difference between playing and practicing?
Stefanie (45:04):
I'm going to come here for all of my good questions.
These are very good questions.So the best way that I have
describing between playing andpracticing is something I heard
a famous pianist say once, andhe said, practicing, just
(45:24):
pretend you have a jet plane.And practicing is when you're
getting underneath the jet planewith all your all your tools,
and you're looking at the wires,and you're looking to see that
all the systems work, and maybefixing some things that are not
working, and when you're playingor you're performing, that's
when you're flying the jet planeand you're you're moving, and
(45:48):
you're going, and you're notactually thinking anymore about,
hmm, do I need to look atsomething, we hope you're not
thinking about fixing the wiresanymore then.
Ollie (45:59):
So my name is Ollie. I live in Burlington. I'm eight
years old, and my question is,how many instruments do you
play?
Stefanie (46:10):
I play the violin. That's what I started with. And
I started playing the viola whenI was about 20 or 21 and I play
the piano a very, very littlebit, not very well, and I love
to sing, but I'm not sure ifthat I'm not sure if that counts
(46:31):
in your in your count ofinstruments, but those are,
those are the instruments that Iplay.
Libby (46:35):
My name is Libby. I live in St Albans, Vermont. I'm five
years old, and my question is,why do some instruments look a
little alike, but they makedifferent sounds?
Stefanie (46:52):
This makes me think it would maybe be a good idea to
talk about the string family ofinstruments. So the string
family of instruments are allshaped like this, but they're
different sizes. So we have theviolin, then we have the viola,
then we have the cello, and thenwe have the double bass, which
(47:12):
is so big that people often siton a stool to play it. When the
body of the instrument getsbigger, the sound, the pitch
gets lower, but they have a lotof things in common, but it's
the pitch that changes.
Iggy (47:26):
How do you make the instrument? My name is Iggy, and
I live in Burlington, Vermont.
Jane (47:34):
There are lots of different ways to make lots of
different instruments, but howis a viola made?
Stefanie (47:38):
It's not easy at all, there are multiple pieces of
wood which are shaped to a veryspecific measurement, and then
they are glued together. Andthen the this piece is added,
and the strings are added. Andthen, of course, we also need
(47:59):
the bow.
Abdi (48:02):
My name is Abdi. I live in Burlington, Vermont. I'm seven.
Why? Why do people make music?
Stefanie (48:12):
Music is a form of communication. It's a form of
sharing feelings, emotions, withothers that are not words,
right? It's another it's anotherway of communicating. And I
think we've all experiencedprobably listening to music and
(48:35):
feeling like dancing, or feelinglike singing or some music makes
us feel kind of peaceful, andsome music can make us feel very
energetic, and some can make usfeel kind of sad. And when those
are all feelings that all of ushave inside us, and the music
helps us to find those emotionsand and experience them. But
(48:59):
also music is music is somethingthat brings people together.
Music is a very wonderful wayfor people to do something
collaboratively as a group andalso to share something, even as
(49:22):
we're doing right now, that weare all together and all from
different places and differentages, but we are all we are all
here appreciating music.
Otis (49:34):
My name is Otis, and I live in Charlotte. What um? What
horse is? What string is thathorse made out of?
Jane (49:48):
Yes, you mentioned that the bow is made out of horse
hair. Can you tell us a littlebit more about how they get the
horse hair onto a bow?
Stefanie (49:56):
Well, honestly, I'm not exactly sure how this
happens. Yes, but it is. It istaken from the tail of a horse,
not the mane, and to make itwhite, it's bleached and
cleaned. And then the person whois the bow repair person, puts
(50:20):
the hair on the bow. I didn'ttell you this is one, one
interesting thing is that everyfew months, I need to get new
hair on the bow. So they takeall the hair out and stretch new
hair over the bow. And becausethe little, the little, they're
little kind of little nubs thatare on the hair actually get
(50:42):
worn off when I play a lot, andthen I have to start over again
and get so I don't get a newbow, but I get new hair.
Jane (50:47):
And the strings on your Viola are not made out of horse
hair.
Stefanie (50:51):
No. And the strings, the strings on my viola, I also
have to change every few months,and they're made with metal, and
they're wrapped around a kind ofsynthetic material. But not too
long ago, all strings used to bemade out of sheep intestines,
and they were called gutstrings, but not any, mine are
not anymore, but I should tellyou, while I'm talking about my
(51:12):
instrument, that my instrumentis more than 200 years old.
Jane (51:16):
Wow.
Stefanie (51:17):
Can you believe it's, it's, it's, really, it seems so
much history. It was built. Itwas built in London in 1810 and
my bow was built a little bitafter that in France.
Jane (51:30):
Wow.
Naomi (51:31):
So my name is Naomi. I'm eight years old, and I live in
Rochester, Vermont, and myquestion is, how many songs are
there in the world?
Stefanie (51:40):
I think it's infinite. There are so many different
songs that are already in theworld. But then there are songs
being written. There are songsbeing when you're when you're
when you're sitting and playingLegos or something and and
humming to yourself and making anew song, there's songs
(52:02):
everywhere.
Jane (52:03):
Will you play one for us to really show off what your
instrument can do?
Stefanie (52:07):
So I'm going to play you a dancing song called a jig,
written by a pretty famouscomposer named Bach. And this
piece was written a long, long,long time ago. Was actually
written for the cello, but Ithink it sounds pretty good on
(53:22):
the viola.
Jane (54:05):
Big thanks to Melissa Meilens, Katie Oprea and
Stefanie Taylor from the VermontSymphony Orchestra for being
part of Vermont Public's CuriousKids day. And thanks to Elise
Burnelle, the orchestra'sExecutive Director, for making
their visits possible. The VSOis always interested in helping
kids understand music and learnto play. If you want to be in
(54:25):
the know when we have eventslike that, sometimes in person
and sometimes virtual, or whenwe're looking for questions from
you for future episodes, joinour mailing list. You can find a
link right on our web page,ButWhyKids.org. As always, if
you have a question aboutanything, send it to us. We get
a lot of questions, and we wishwe could answer them all. But
(54:46):
even if we don't get to answeryour question, we really want to
hear what's on your mind andwhat you're feeling curious
about. You can have an adulthelp you record your question
using a free app on a smartphoneor tablet, then have your adult
send the file toquestions@ButWhyKids.org. If you
like our show, please leave us areview or some stars on whatever
platform you use to listen. Ithelps other kids and families
(55:09):
and schools discover us. Ourshow is produced by Sarah Baik,
Melody Bodette, and me, JaneLindholm at Vermont Public and
distributed by PRX. Our thememusic is by Luke Reynolds, and
our video producer is JoeyPalumbo. Special thanks this
week to Frank Alwine, PhilEdfors, Peter Engisch and Dave
Rice for their help with ourlive event. And we also want to
(55:31):
recognize Amy Zielinski, theevent organizer and producer.
We'll be back in two weeks withan all new episode. Until then,
stay curious.
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