Pizzicato!

Every morning while Jack takes his nap Grace & I have what I call "our special all girl book time." One of Grace's favorite books right now is called Musical Instruments, which is created by Gallimard Jeunesse. Grace has learned so much from this book. Grace has been learning that sounds are made through rapid movements called vibrations. Today Grace learned how a piano makes music --how small hammers strike piano strings of different lengths which then vibrate to produce sound. Grace also learned that longer strings make lower sounds and shorter strings make higher sounds. We opened up my piano after reading this book this morning so Grace could experiment with the padded hammers and strings. Grace has also learned that there are 88 keys on the piano, she can tell me what a scale is, and she can name all of the instruments in a symphony orchestra! Grace's favorite new word right now is pizzicato, which means to pluck strings on instruments like a violin, cello, bass, or guitar. Grace has also learned about musical instruments from around the word and can name several including: an Indian sitar, a Lapland flute, Spanish castanets, Swiss bells, an Amazon flute, and Kora of Mali. The last page of the book demonstrates how you can make your own musical instruments at home. Grace made her very own guitar by stretching rubber bans of different widths around a box. Grace enjoyed making the rubber bands vibrate to make music -- pizzicato! Here is Grace making her homemade guitar by stretching rubber bands around a wooden box.