Miniature Instrument #1: Tongue Drum

Photo caption: Storyteller Jessica Baris plays the tongue drum while performing a Romanian folktale at the Sam Hinton Folk Fest in Poway, California.

The instrument that started it all for me is the tongue drum. I was walking through the Little Italy Arts Festival in San Diego when I heard musical sounds coming from one of the art booths. I followed the sound and was led to a booth that was filled with dozens of carved wooden boxes that were being played with mallets. I was completely enchanted by the music made from these wooden boxes.

It turns out the makers are a father-son team. They select and carve the wood to create these tongue drums. The son offered me a pair of mallets so that I could play. All I had to do was lightly hit the "tongues" of a drum and out came a melodious sound. Each note lingered in the air and overlapped with the next one played. It was a singing box.

"This is it," I thought. This is what I can use to add music to my storytelling! I was sold. I walked right out of that booth with my first tongue drum.

I really respect and admire musicians for their ability to create beautiful sounds from the instruments they play. As someone with not much natural ability to learn and play an instrument, the tongue drum opened a door to the musical world for me. It gave me the chance to create captivating music with little effort. That was a true gift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YXscilVxNI

Welcome to The Miniature Instruments Blog!

Yipee! This is my first blog post ever, so this is exciting.

A while ago I decided that my new goal in life is to become a miniature instrument expert. This is what I envision: several years from now, I will have discovered dozens, if not hundreds, of small instruments from around the world, and will be able to name them, know where they originated, and be able to play them!

How did this start? Well, I'm a storyteller. I practice the old art of traditional fireside storytelling. I research folktales from around the world, and when I find stories that resonate with me, I learn them and perform them to audiences. I've performed at festivals, libraries, coffee shops, open mikes -- my stories are for kids and grown-ups. (You are welcome to visit my storytelling site, www.storycharmed.com)

A truly great storyteller can captivate an audience with just her / his voice and performance. But history shows that storytellers were multi-talented -- they were poets, musicians, actors, mimes, singers. . .

So I started to explore ways that I could add texture to my performances. And one way to do that is to add music.

But I am not a musician. I tried to be. When I was in elementary school, I played the flute for two years. I tried really hard, studied the music sheets, but stopped playing eventually. Several years later, my younger brother, who was into the guitar, tried to teach me. I learned a few chords, but got frustrated after a (short) while. I simply lack the patience with learning an instrument and reading music.

Storytelling, however, has brought me back to instruments. I realized one day (I'll share that story soon), that there are instruments out there that I CAN play, that aren't highly complicated and don't require me to read music. I'm just looking for things that are relatively easy to learn and they create interesting and pleasing sounds!

I hope that people discover this blog and participate in discussions about miniature instruments. I'd love for non-musicians to get inspired by the instruments I post about and perhaps pick them up too, and I'd love for serious musicians to jump in as well and offer some advice and thoughts about playing these tiny music makers. Any knowledge anyone can contribute about mini instruments they know about would be, well, GREAT!

I'm Jessica, and I look forward to this blog connecting people who have a passion for instruments -- miniature style!

Here's me doing straight-up storytelling. No instruments, just voice. That will be changing soon. :-) I don't remember what "three" is for -- in folklore, there are lots of threes. Three days, three nights, three kings, three pieces of gold, three wishes...