How About Spoons

[EZYPIKINS]

When I was a kid, my first musical experience was in 1st or 2nd grade.

The teacher got the entire class involved.

I knew I wanted to play something.

Tried the Recorder and the bongos.

After a trip to Disneyland, where I saw a kid performing, playing the spoons.

I never got as good as the kid at Disneyland, but was the beginning of my journey.

Taught me how to play beats. Very similar to tapping your fingers, only louder.

[Rudy4]

David Holt is probably the most well known "instructional video" author from his Homespun instructional video:

[frankmcr]

A LOT louder than tapping your fingers, and the sound starts to grate even if the spoonist is very very good.

[Bob Womack]

I've a modern set of spoons that my wife got me as a gag gift one Christmas. They are set together and sprung.

Bob

[ifret]

Elderly Instruments now carries these. The videos are well done and they look fun and relatively easy.

https://www.musicalspoons.ca/

[kkrell]

Just say NO. There are very rare instances of good spoon playing.

Printed lyrics below are somewhat bleeped for curse words, but those words are uttered in the YouTube video (audio only) at the end of my message.

THE SPOONS MURDER (by Con O'Drisceoil)

1.
In the tavern one night we were sitting;
I'm sure 'twas the last week of March.
From our drinks we were cautiously sipping,
To ensure that our throats didn't parch.

2.
We played music both lively and dacent
To bolster our spirits and hopes.
While we gazed at the females adjacent,
And remarked on their curves and their slopes.

3.
Till this gent wandered into our session,
And decided to join in the tunes.
Without waiting to ask our permission,
He took out a large pair of soup spoons.

4.
Our teeth in short time we were gritting.
As he shook and he rattled his toys;
And the company's eardrums were splitting,
With his ugly mechanical noise.

5.
Hopping spoons off our heads to provoke us,
He continued the music to kill.
Whether hornpipes, slow airs or polkas
They all sounded like pneumatic drills.

6.
Then he asked could we play any faster,
As his talent he wished to display.
With a grin on the face of the b******,
Like a cat as she teases her prey.

7.
Our feelings by now were quite b*****,
And politely we asked him to quit.
We suggested a part of his body
Where those spoons could conveniently fit.

8.
This monster we pestered and hounded.
We implored him with curses and tears.
But in vain; our appeals they resounded
In the desert between his two ears.

9.
When I went out the back on a mission,
He arrived as I finished my leak.
He said, 'This is a mighty fine session,
I think I'll come here every week.'

10.
When I heard this, with rage I was leppin'
And no more of this torture I'd take.
I looked round for a suitable weapon
To silence this d*** rattlesnake.

11.
Outside towards the yard I did sally.
To find something to vanquish my foe;
I grabbed hold of a gentleman's Raleigh
With fifteen-speed gear and dynamo.

12.
Then I battered this musical vandal;
As I shouted with furious cries,
'My dear man your last spoon you have handled,
Say your prayers and await your demise.'

13.
With the bike I a**ailed my tormentor;
As I swung in a frenzy of hate,
Till his bones and his skull were in splinters;
And his health in a very poor state.

14.
And when I was no longer able,
I forestalled any last minute hitch;
By removing the gear-changing cable,
And strangling the s*************.

15.
At the end of my onslaught ferocious
I stood back and surveyed the scene.
The state of the place was atrocious,
Full of fragments of man and machine.

16.
At the spoons player's remains I was staring;
His condition was surely no joke,
For his nose was clogged up with ball bearings,
And his left eye was pierced by a spoke.

17.
At the sight I was feeling quite squeamish;
So I washed up and went back inside.
Then I drank a half-gallon of Beamish,
For my throat in the struggle had dried.

18.
Unpolluted by cutlery's clatter,
The music was pleasant and sweet.
For the rest of the night nothing mattered,
But the tunes and the tapping of feet.

19.
At the inquest, the following September,
The coroner said, 'I conclude
The deceased by himself was dismembered,
As no sign could be found of a feud.'

20.
'For the evidence shows that the fact is;
As reported to me by the Guards,
He indulged in the foolhardy practice
Of trick cycling in public house yards.'

21.
So if you're desperately keen on percussion,
And to join in the tunes you can't wait,
Be you Irishman, German or Russian
Take a lesson from his awful fate.

22.
If your spoons are the best silver plated,
Or the humblest of cheap stainless steel,
When you play them abroad you'll be hated;
So just use them for eating your meal.

[ssstewart]

the spoons are a foundation instrument here in Atlantic Canada. you always learned a string instrument as a kid and the spoons were critical for teaching time measure/beats/etc. The last party at my buddies house had 2 little girls playing the spoons with the guys on gits and they kept increasing the tempo to see if the young ones could keep up and keep time..was quite the highlight of the night and the kiddies were prouder than peacocks

[SpruceTop]

... and what would any talk of spoons be without mentioning Abby The Spoon Lady often seen on the streets over to Asheville, North Carolina?

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

A LOT louder than tapping your fingers, and the sound starts to grate even if the spoonist is very very good.

This is true, but I find that wooden spoons are alot less grating than metal spoons.

I have, and can play spoons. But these days if I'm looking at playing hand held percussion I go with an egg shaker in my left hand filling in the high hat work, and a tamborine in my left. I hit the tamborine with my right (egg shaker) hand on the 2, and 4, or where the snare drum would go. If you get under the tamborine and hit it with the back stroke of your shaking you can do some cool offbeat variations and fills. Setting the tamborine on a table, with a folded up towel or other padding under it, and just striking it on the back beats with your left hand while you do 8th or 16th notes with the shaker in your right also works nicely.

Even just an egg shaker, while a little more tricky to learn than spoons allows for a fair bit of creativity and is far less likely to start anoying everyone. Add a set of bongos, learn to play those three humble instruments on their own and togeather, and you can tastefully lay down a whole pile of groove to pretty much any type of music you like.

[ssstewart]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

... and what would any talk of spoons be without mentioning Abby The Spoon Lady often seen on the streets over to Asheville, North Carolina?

OMG!!! Im in love. Abby is the Neil Peart of da Spoons. that lady can hold the line like a Lee Sklar. that was awesome SpruceTop tks for posting. Makes me wanna have soup for supper and then play with my food

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by ssstewart

OMG!!! Im in love. Abby is the Neil Peart of da Spoons. that lady can hold the line like a Lee Sklar. that was awesome SpruceTop tks for posting. Makes me wanna have soup for supper and then play with my food

Me too. I don't know how long I could listen to just the acoustic and her. But that really made me smile.

Thanks for sharing.

[ifret]

I tried the bones at a workshop years ago (part of a dulcimer festival I attend annually). That took some coordination to hold them correctly and get the sound to come out clear, in addition to learning the rhythm. But those who play are fun to watch, just like Abby is on spoons.

[Denny B]

No...just...NO...

If I'm somewhere and someone pulls out spoons, I break out my Bob Seger act..in 10 minutes I'll be late for the door...

Just...NO.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by ssstewart

OMG!!! Im in love. Abby is the Neil Peart of da Spoons. that lady can hold the line like a Lee Sklar. that was awesome SpruceTop tks for posting. Makes me wanna have soup for supper and then play with my food

Lol, in Atlantic Canada thats a 10.

[Rudy4]

I played with a percussionist for several years who much preferred "bones" to the clang of metal spoons. The tone was much more pleasant and blended in more easily with an acoustic guitar.

He had me fashion a few pairs from wood scrap that I had in the shop. It was a good use for wood that was too nice to throw away but generally too small to use for anything else.