Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And I bet you did not know that in just
two days you are expected to celebrate unusual instruments day
joining me now to talk about it. She is the
GM of Neighborhood Music School in Aurora. Sophie tell me
it's likens. Is it like the it should be? But
it's lichens like kitchens.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Dad nam it.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I went back and forth and I was like, no,
it's got to be like No, it's lichens. Sophie Lichins,
welcome to the show. First of all, thank you. Tell
me a little bit about Aurora's Neighborhood Music School.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
So we are a music school located in the Stanley
Market Place. We do private music lessons for students of
all ages, children and adults, mostly fairly tame things like
piano and guitar, but we have a few stranger things
or slightly more uncommon things harp and obo and and
I also.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Word of how people end up playing the harp.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I think you have to like be dead, like at
some point in your childhood you see harp and you go,
that's gonna be my instrument. I don't think it's like
everybody who plays the French horn. You ask them and
they're like everything else was in band class. That's how
you end up playing the french horn?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
For exactly that reason.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's why everybody plays the french horn, But with harp
it feels very intentional. So definitely, what kind of person
comes in and says, I want to learn how to
play the harp?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Exactly what you're picturing.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, we Our harp teacher is Rebecca Moritzky, who is
a fairly prominent harpist in the area. She plays with
the Denver phil and some other nice and Yeah, students
come in and they know they want to play the harp.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
That's that's when they come in. That's what they're asking for.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That's a bold choice. I mean, that's not something you
can schlep on the light rail to go to and
from your lesson. So let's get into what you're here
for today. You I like the way you said we
have some unusual instruments. Is it really we or is
it just you? Sophie has some unusual instruments?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's me. Okay, you're the one, yes, but what draws
you too?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And I've got to take a picture of you and
all your little instruments We're about to talk about here.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
What drew you to oddities in the musical world.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I think I was just a weird kid, you know,
sort of kids who want to play harp.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
No, they want to play harp, right.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I saw things like accordions and went, oh my god,
that you know that's I played the trombone growing up
for the same reason, like I just I was always
intrigued by sort of the more unusual things I saw.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You were like, no French hoord for me, We're going big.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
French one was too hard for Meah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So you do have an accordion here, But this is
a very What is the difference between this very simple
octagon or is that sectagon?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh gosh, that mine is a six, so.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's a sect sex sextigon. I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And it just has very basic buttons on the side.
How does this compare with what the giant accordions with
the keyboards down the side? Is that a different instrument
or is it just a smaller version different instrument?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
But they're very similar, so that what you're describing as
a piano accordion, okays the piano keys on right, This
is a concertina which functions in a very similar way.
You've got this bellows in the middle that pumps air
through reads, and that's how you get sound similar actually
to harmonica, but the air you're creating that era on
a harmonica, where the bellows is doing it on this.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Ah, well, they do sound a little similar. Now that
you said that, I'm like, wait a minute, they do
sound a little similar.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Same family.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Now that's just kind of odd. Okay, But if a
weird al fan would think that's not odd at all.
You've got a her, you know, you've got an accordion.
What are let's go down here to the Is that
a cigar box ukulele?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
This is a cigar box ukulele.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
A friend of mine made this for me as a
trade for an instrument that I made her. So it's
it's just got two strings on it, made of a
cigar box, and she made this beautiful fretboard.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Can you play a few little things for me so
I can hear hear a two string cigar box ukulele.
So how often do you whip out the cigar store ukulele?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
There?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Not as often as you'd think.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You know, I have it all over the place. It's very,
very very nice. And then you also make instruments out
of bones.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I do.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
In fact, I make and play an instrument called the
rhythm bones, which is a percussion instrument, one of the
more one of the oldest instruments that we have records of.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
This looks a little like you're about to play the spoons.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Very similar concept, ok.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Because that's the same way you hold spoons when you
play them. My people are hillbilly's, so I know how
like this. It's one of the few musical instruments that
I can actually play, yeah, because I'm not musically inclined.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So is this similar concept?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Similar concept percussive?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Those are cool?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So you get the two bones together.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
A lot of the times, the way we play spoons
in the States, you're hitting them against something on your leg, yeah,
where these are more sympathetic motions, so they're moving with
your arm and with your wrist. Though in other traditions
of a friend in Greece, spoons they are played more
like bones are here, right, there's you know, different ways
of doing What are those made out of?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
These are elk ribs actually, and did you carve on those?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I did.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
It's a technique called scrimshaw etra design In with something
sharp and then smear ink over the top.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Very nice, very very nice. Now do kids get to
play these instruments? And I have to see you play
the accordion? I can't let you leave here without playing
the accordion? Do kids get to play these instruments as
well at the neighborhood music school?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I usually these are my personal instruments, so I'll bring
them in. I usually mess around with them at the
front desk and kids ask and I let them kind
of fiddle and get us right. I'm determined to make
an army of rhythmbones players. Parents are not thrilled about
that yet, but we'll get them on board eventually.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I would say, that's like those annoying toys that you
buy other people's children that have a siren or something
like that, or the clackers. Did you when you were
a kid, did they have you there on two strings
and you just do this, It goes way quick quick,
and then you hit yourself in the head with them?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean the way.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
They're designed real big on banging things together to make noise.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Like we we love persion percussion. We're built for it.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So I mean anything that makes fun noise, Go ahead
and pick up your accordion. Now, when you're pushing these
little buttons on the side, what are you actually doing.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So it is a couple of different things happening at
the same time. So you're pushing down a button and
then you're also pushing the bellows and pulling the bellows
right out. Because if you just push a button, nothing happens.
You need to have that airflow going through. And this
is what they call an Anglo concertina. And the way
this one functions is each button has two notes, So
if you push, you get one note, and if you pull,
(06:20):
you get a different note. So there's a lot of
things happening when you're playing this instrument that you have
to kind of keep track of.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
This is why I'm not good at music, because anything
that requires your brain to talk to your head, I'm
not going to be good at that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I mean to talk to my hands.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It doesn't translate from here to my fingertips.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It just doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
The nice thing is, eventually it really comes down to
muscle memory. At the end of the day, right after
you get over that initial hurdle, I turn my brain
off if I think about the mechanics of what I'm doing,
They're not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Are you going to? What do you do to celebrate
unusual instruments day?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We mostly have.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Been doing it on a social media sense, So up
a few videos of weird instruments, including the bones. I
will definitely have my weird instruments at the desk this
week to show with students as well.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I think that you guys need to feature prominently. I'm
just telling you how to do your social media, even
though you didn't ask. I think you should prominently feature
the young man who's been an Internet sensation since he
first posted his version of the Final Countdown on the
Kazuki Leley.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh my gosh, that video Cgarbox shut up? Does he
think I have to go? Look?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
He's a multifaceted weird instrument guy. I feel like he's
probably the patron saint.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I like, there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Sophie Lichens like Kitchens. She's the general manager of Neighborhood
Music School. You can find out more if you want
to enroll your kids. I like I said, I've I've
said it multiple times. I've taken music lessons off and
on my entire life. And my last teacher was like,
you know what, precious, this just isn't for you.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It's not it's not I got a pity c in college.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I'm positive it was a pityc because when she looked
at me, is like, you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Just tried so hard you put it. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
It just it's not my thing us the point.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So, you know, we're pretty big at Neighborhood about like,
obviously students becoming very good musicians. It's a great thing.
But not every student wants to go on and do
this in college. You know, most of us just want
to have something to do at the end of the day,
something fulfilling, and so our goal really is to foster
that love of music rather than make it this very like,
oh you have to be good, you have to memorize everything.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
And be perfect. You know, it depends on what students
are after.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
There are tremendous positive associations for young people. I don't
know if the associations remain as we get older and
our brain sort of gets more fixed, but for young people,
for students especially, there are so many positive associations between
music and math, music and other parts of how their
brain develops. Music and all of these different pathways that
are developed specifically through that hand to brain coordination, which
(08:51):
I completely lack. So obviously that part of my brain
just dipped out on that day and was like, yeah,
sorry about your luck.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That's fine, Yeah, that is fine.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Oh geez wait nope, forgot what hours And Sophie, I
really appreciate you coming by. Is there anything else you
want to let our audience know?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Just if you are interested in music lessons, come check
us out a Neighborhood Musicstanley dot com and we'll get
you going
And I bet you did not know that in just
two days you are expected to celebrate unusual instruments day
joining me now to talk about it. She is the
GM of Neighborhood Music School in Aurora. Sophie tell me
it's likens. Is it like the it should be? But
it's lichens like kitchens.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Dad nam it.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I went back and forth and I was like, no,
it's got to be like No, it's lichens. Sophie Lichins,
welcome to the show. First of all, thank you. Tell
me a little bit about Aurora's Neighborhood Music School.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
So we are a music school located in the Stanley
Market Place. We do private music lessons for students of
all ages, children and adults, mostly fairly tame things like
piano and guitar, but we have a few stranger things
or slightly more uncommon things harp and obo and and
I also.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Word of how people end up playing the harp.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I think you have to like be dead, like at
some point in your childhood you see harp and you go,
that's gonna be my instrument. I don't think it's like
everybody who plays the French horn. You ask them and
they're like everything else was in band class. That's how
you end up playing the french horn?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
For exactly that reason.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's why everybody plays the french horn, But with harp
it feels very intentional. So definitely, what kind of person
comes in and says, I want to learn how to
play the harp?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Exactly what you're picturing.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, we Our harp teacher is Rebecca Moritzky, who is
a fairly prominent harpist in the area. She plays with
the Denver phil and some other nice and Yeah, students
come in and they know they want to play the harp.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
That's that's when they come in. That's what they're asking for.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
That's a bold choice. I mean, that's not something you
can schlep on the light rail to go to and
from your lesson. So let's get into what you're here
for today. You I like the way you said we
have some unusual instruments. Is it really we or is
it just you? Sophie has some unusual instruments?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's me. Okay, you're the one, yes, but what draws
you too?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
And I've got to take a picture of you and
all your little instruments We're about to talk about here.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
What drew you to oddities in the musical world.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I think I was just a weird kid, you know,
sort of kids who want to play harp.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
No, they want to play harp, right.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
I saw things like accordions and went, oh my god,
that you know that's I played the trombone growing up
for the same reason, like I just I was always
intrigued by sort of the more unusual things I saw.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You were like, no French hoord for me, We're going big.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
French one was too hard for Meah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So you do have an accordion here, But this is
a very What is the difference between this very simple
octagon or is that sectagon?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh gosh, that mine is a six, so.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's a sect sex sextigon. I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And it just has very basic buttons on the side.
How does this compare with what the giant accordions with
the keyboards down the side? Is that a different instrument
or is it just a smaller version different instrument?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
But they're very similar, so that what you're describing as
a piano accordion, okays the piano keys on right, This
is a concertina which functions in a very similar way.
You've got this bellows in the middle that pumps air
through reads, and that's how you get sound similar actually
to harmonica, but the air you're creating that era on
a harmonica, where the bellows is doing it on this.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Ah, well, they do sound a little similar. Now that
you said that, I'm like, wait a minute, they do
sound a little similar.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Same family.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Now that's just kind of odd. Okay, But if a
weird al fan would think that's not odd at all.
You've got a her, you know, you've got an accordion.
What are let's go down here to the Is that
a cigar box ukulele?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
This is a cigar box ukulele.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
A friend of mine made this for me as a
trade for an instrument that I made her. So it's
it's just got two strings on it, made of a
cigar box, and she made this beautiful fretboard.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Can you play a few little things for me so
I can hear hear a two string cigar box ukulele.
So how often do you whip out the cigar store ukulele?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
There?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Not as often as you'd think.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You know, I have it all over the place. It's very,
very very nice. And then you also make instruments out
of bones.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I do.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
In fact, I make and play an instrument called the
rhythm bones, which is a percussion instrument, one of the
more one of the oldest instruments that we have records of.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
This looks a little like you're about to play the spoons.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Very similar concept, ok.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Because that's the same way you hold spoons when you
play them. My people are hillbilly's, so I know how
like this. It's one of the few musical instruments that
I can actually play, yeah, because I'm not musically inclined.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
So is this similar concept?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Similar concept percussive?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Those are cool?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So you get the two bones together.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
A lot of the times, the way we play spoons
in the States, you're hitting them against something on your leg, yeah,
where these are more sympathetic motions, so they're moving with
your arm and with your wrist. Though in other traditions
of a friend in Greece, spoons they are played more
like bones are here, right, there's you know, different ways
of doing What are those made out of?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
These are elk ribs actually, and did you carve on those?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I did.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
It's a technique called scrimshaw etra design In with something
sharp and then smear ink over the top.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Very nice, very very nice. Now do kids get to
play these instruments? And I have to see you play
the accordion? I can't let you leave here without playing
the accordion? Do kids get to play these instruments as
well at the neighborhood music school?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I usually these are my personal instruments, so I'll bring
them in. I usually mess around with them at the
front desk and kids ask and I let them kind
of fiddle and get us right. I'm determined to make
an army of rhythmbones players. Parents are not thrilled about
that yet, but we'll get them on board eventually.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I would say, that's like those annoying toys that you
buy other people's children that have a siren or something
like that, or the clackers. Did you when you were
a kid, did they have you there on two strings
and you just do this, It goes way quick quick,
and then you hit yourself in the head with them?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean the way.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
They're designed real big on banging things together to make noise.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Like we we love persion percussion. We're built for it.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So I mean anything that makes fun noise, Go ahead
and pick up your accordion. Now, when you're pushing these
little buttons on the side, what are you actually doing.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So it is a couple of different things happening at
the same time. So you're pushing down a button and
then you're also pushing the bellows and pulling the bellows
right out. Because if you just push a button, nothing happens.
You need to have that airflow going through. And this
is what they call an Anglo concertina. And the way
this one functions is each button has two notes, So
if you push, you get one note, and if you pull,
(06:20):
you get a different note. So there's a lot of
things happening when you're playing this instrument that you have
to kind of keep track of.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
This is why I'm not good at music, because anything
that requires your brain to talk to your head, I'm
not going to be good at that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I mean to talk to my hands.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It doesn't translate from here to my fingertips.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It just doesn't work.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
The nice thing is, eventually it really comes down to
muscle memory. At the end of the day, right after
you get over that initial hurdle, I turn my brain
off if I think about the mechanics of what I'm doing,
They're not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Are you going to? What do you do to celebrate
unusual instruments day?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
We mostly have.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Been doing it on a social media sense, So up
a few videos of weird instruments, including the bones. I
will definitely have my weird instruments at the desk this
week to show with students as well.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I think that you guys need to feature prominently. I'm
just telling you how to do your social media, even
though you didn't ask. I think you should prominently feature
the young man who's been an Internet sensation since he
first posted his version of the Final Countdown on the
Kazuki Leley.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh my gosh, that video Cgarbox shut up? Does he
think I have to go? Look?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
He's a multifaceted weird instrument guy. I feel like he's
probably the patron saint.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I like, there you go.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Sophie Lichens like Kitchens. She's the general manager of Neighborhood
Music School. You can find out more if you want
to enroll your kids. I like I said, I've I've
said it multiple times. I've taken music lessons off and
on my entire life. And my last teacher was like,
you know what, precious, this just isn't for you.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
It's not it's not I got a pity c in college.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I'm positive it was a pityc because when she looked
at me, is like, you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Just tried so hard you put it. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
It just it's not my thing us the point.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So, you know, we're pretty big at Neighborhood about like,
obviously students becoming very good musicians. It's a great thing.
But not every student wants to go on and do
this in college. You know, most of us just want
to have something to do at the end of the day,
something fulfilling, and so our goal really is to foster
that love of music rather than make it this very like,
oh you have to be good, you have to memorize everything.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
And be perfect. You know, it depends on what students
are after.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
There are tremendous positive associations for young people. I don't
know if the associations remain as we get older and
our brain sort of gets more fixed, but for young people,
for students especially, there are so many positive associations between
music and math, music and other parts of how their
brain develops. Music and all of these different pathways that
are developed specifically through that hand to brain coordination, which
(08:51):
I completely lack. So obviously that part of my brain
just dipped out on that day and was like, yeah,
sorry about your luck.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
That's fine, Yeah, that is fine.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Oh geez wait nope, forgot what hours And Sophie, I
really appreciate you coming by. Is there anything else you
want to let our audience know?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Just if you are interested in music lessons, come check
us out a Neighborhood Musicstanley dot com and we'll get
you going
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