Includes instructions for making a variety of simple musical instruments from ordinary household items. Duet for Zipper and Velcro. Sonata for Milk Carton Guitar. Kitchen Concerto. The projects range from simple castanets made from walnut shells to a complex zither built from wood. John Langstaff teaches children how to make music with their homemade instruments - whether solo, in a duet with a friend, in a small family ensemble, or with a full classroom orchestra. He starts with rhythm games and then moves on to teaching kids such music basics as tempo. And he includes fascinating "Soundscapes" exercises in which kids use their instruments to suggest a storm or a sunrise.

Beginning notes -- Kitchen things that ring and ping -- Scrapers and rasps -- Guiro -- Names and notation -- Fruit salad -- Crying water bowls and cooking pots -- Pot cover cymbals -- Clock music: Opus 1 -- Bells-chimes-triangle -- Glass harmonica -- Tambourine -- Maracas: Rattle and clatter -- Rainstick -- Thimble fingers and tapping gloves -- Clave and rhythm sticks -- Jingling Johnny -- Castanets and clappers -- Tongue drums -- Drum improvisations -- Mallets -- Playing the room -- Percussion conversations -- Canons and rounds -- Talking drums -- Hardware orchestra -- Conduit pipe xylophone -- Wooden xylophone -- African thumb pianos -- Bugles & horns -- Random pipes -- Flutes and whistles -- Shepherds' pipes -- Dandelion trumpets -- Window wind harp -- Board and box zither -- One-string box bass -- Bushman's bow-lyre -- Milk carton guitar -- Plucking fiddle -- Musical saw -- Conducting an orchestra -- Kitchen concerto -- Pre-Hispanic orchestra -- Paper orchestra -- Clock music: Opus 2 -- Clock music: Opus 3 -- Soundscapes -- Velcro-zipper duets -- Single-note compositions -- Orchestrating -- Clapping and body drumming -- Family fun -- End notes -- Resources -- Index.