‘Meet the Instruments’ gives kids hands-on music experience

Eight-year-old Tierra Lindley gripped a bow and slid it back and forth along the strings of a cello, feeling the vibrations of the different chords and deciding that it is the instrument she wants to learn to play.

At the WonderLab’s “Meet the Instruments” weekend, children were allowed to place their lips on a trumpet and fight to make a sound, use a bow to play the bass or listen to a clarinet for the first time.

“Since she was a little toddler, she’s always been interested in music, but when you go to a music store, you can’t really touch them,” said Todd Lindley, Tierra’s father. “Here they tell them about the instruments, and it’s good exposure.”

The two-day event started with hands-on experience with instruments from the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and performances by Hoosier Hotcakes and the Little Bands School.

“Some parents saw us as kids at the Farmers’ Market, and now they’re coming to see us as adults,” said Eileen Rice of Hoosier Hotcakes. “We’ve seen three generations before. We’ve got to know a lot of these kids.”

Eileen Rice and her husband Mitch Rice perform at about 40 farmers’ markets a year.
“That’s our natural audience, little kids. This little buddy has been coming for years. Well not years, he’s only 1,” said Mitch Rice as he pointed to a boy swaying back and forth and holding little maracas.

Hoosier Hotcakes is geared more for preschool-aged children. One-year-old Molly Slota sat on her knees and swayed back and forth to the old-time music.

“When her brothers sing the alphabet song, we can sometimes hear her trying to sing along,” said Dorothy Slota, Molly’s grandmother. “She’s not talking yet, but she loves music.”

For the older kids, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra had stations of strings, brass and woodwinds set up for kids to try their hand at playing instruments.

“They can hear how the individual instruments sound,” said Kelley Latshaw, a flute player. “They also get the feel of how hard it really is to play on stage.”

Upstairs, kids placed their lips on the mouth piece of trumpets and French horns, giving it their all to make any kind of sound come out of the brass instruments.
“It reminds me when I was in the fifth grade and I wanted to play the clarinet or the trumpet,” said trumpet player and symphony director Charles Latshaw. “They just happened to put a trumpet in my hand first.”

On Sunday, the theme was African Music. The Ethnomusicology Student Association along with the Mathers Museum provided African instruments for kids to touch and play.

IU’s Gumboot Dance Group, a group that uses rubber boots that reach the knee with bottle caps hanging off the sides, also performed Sunday.

“They’re so curious. Seeing how excited they get when they play an instrument for the first time,” said French horn player Catherine Barnhill. “Like buzzing their lips and making a beautiful sound. It’s fun to see how much fun they’re having.”

After testing out all the instruments, Tierra Lindley decided the cello is her favorite and said she hopes to perform one day with cello in hand.

“If I can get a parent involved and they like it, there’s a better chance they will help their children get involved,” said bass player Frank Watson.