(NEWS10) — January 28, 2020 celebrates 200 years of one of America’s most interesting instruments, the Kazoo!
The Kazoo was invented in the 1840’s and brought into popularity by inventor “Alabama Vest of Macon Georgia” with his partner Thaddeus Von Clegg. However, the instrument was not introduced into American culture until 1912 when businessmen, Michael McIntyre and Harry Richardson got a hold of the idea from a traveling salesman. The duo opened “The Original American Kazoo Company” in Eden, NY producing the first metal kazoos.
From then onward, the popularity of the instrument’s interesting sound and shape flourished in popular music for years to come.
To celebrate the instruments rhythmic melodies, enjoy these fun facts about the kazoo that you might not know brought to you by Nationalkazooday.com:
- The kazoo was invented in the 1840’s
- It was first presented to the world at the Georgia State Fair in 1852 as the “Down South Submarine”
- The tone quality of a kazoo is determined by the quality of the membrane or resonator
- You don’t blow into a kazoo, you hum into it
- The instrument is a member of the mirliton or membranophone family
- They are not related to vuvuzelas
- The kazoo was played often in popular music in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s
