Louisville Bats baseball fans soon will engage music—almost—to swing for a record as their team drives for an International League pennant.
They’ll use 3,000 kazoos in the Bats’ purple and white colors, bearing the name “National Jug Band Jubilee,” to break the existing Guinness World Record for largest kazoo ensemble. The kazoos’ packages bear the slogan “It Ain’t Music, But It’s Close.”
On August 22, the Richmond Braves will face both the Bats and the kazoos in a 7:15 p.m. game at Louisville Slugger Field. Led by the West Louisville Boys Choir, which also will sing the pre-game National Anthem, fans will kazoo “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch.
Organizers of the National Jug Band Jubilee (NJBJ) devised the event to best the Guinness Book Record—1,791 kazoos--for the largest kazoo ensemble in the world. The existing record was set June 30, 2004, by the Quincy Park Band and First Bankers Trust Company in Quincy, Ill.
“This record belongs in Louisville—it’s a matter of civic pride,” said NJBJ founder and president Rod Wenz. “Kazoos are a major component of jug bands and jug bands are a major component of Louisville’s unique musical history.”
The record attempt promotes the inaugural National Jug Band Jubilee, which Louisville will host Oct. 21-22 on the campus of the St. Joseph’s Children’s Home on Frankfort Avenue. The Jubilee will feature jug bands from across America celebrating Louisville’s role as the early home of jug band music at the turn of the 20th century.
Contrary to popular belief, jug music originated not in the hills of Appalachia, but as an urban art form, with African-American front-porch musicians fashioning instruments from all manner of household goods, including washboards, cans, jugs and, of course, kazoos. As early as 1903, professional groups such as Earl McDonald’s Original Louisville Jug Band, were performing at the Kentucky Derby. Louisville is widely regarded as the birthplace of jug band music.
Wenz, who will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, describes the jug band sound as “America’s happiest music.” Jug bands were influential in the development of the blues, jazz, folk and rock music. Contemporary artists as diverse as the Lovin’ Spoonful, Grateful Dead and Old Crow Medicine Show have acknowledged their debt to the style.
To facilitate the attempt, the Bats are doing their part to fill the ballpark for their last August home game. They will distribute FREE purple and white kazoos to the first 3,000 fans who sign the Record Breaker roster, a Guinness requirement to authenticate the record. The game will feature $1 hot dogs and $1 soft drinks, and will include an appearance by SpongeBob SquarePants. Fans will get $2 off a Field Reserve seat when they show an AAA card at the Bats’ box office. And each kazoo will come with a card good for discounted tickets to the Jubilee.
Fans also may bring their own kazoo to the park, buy a ticket to the ballgame, sign the roster and participate in the record attempt.
“We want everyone to come out to bite and hum,” Wenz said, referring to the customary kazoo-playing method. “It truly ain’t music, but it’s close.”
Performance and ticket information for the National Jug Band Jubilee are available at www.jugbandjubilee.org [4]
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Fun Kazoo Facts
Kazoos have been featured in a variety of contemporary music, including songs by Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Three Dog Night, Toby Keith, Los Lonely Boys, Pink Floyd, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Ringo Starr, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dion, the Kinks, Mungo Jerry, Norman Greenbaum and others.
Kazoos are the world’s most versatile musical instrument. They represent the grassroots of America: They’re dirt cheap, like to clump together, and crop up everywhere.
Kazooisms
What are “kazooisms”? They’re witty little sayings about kazoos and the people who play them, like "It ain't music but it's close.” Other examples:
“Poor man's harmonica”
“Slightly irregular music”
“Harmful if swallowed”
“Neutralizes good music”
How to play the kazoo:
Hum, don’t simply blow through a kazoo, a common mistake among first-time kazoo users.
View the kazoo as a singing drum. The physics behind the instrument are that a kazoo player—by singing or speaking through the instrument—induces an air current that makes the membrane vibrate to create a "nasal" sound.
The membrane is the key point of the kazoo, distinguishing it from the “horn-section instruments.” Wholly or partially covering up the membrane hole creates great sound diversity. Making a hole in the membrane ruins the instrument.