Tuesday, May 05, 2009

The Inventor

For the past two months and as many rolls of tape, the little one has been building a musical instrument. I believe the core of this thing (for lack of a better word) is paper, but it is layered and covered with tape upon tape; giving it a belled horn at one end and 10 inches away, a small hole at the other; with four holes aligned down it's body. At times she spends hours quietly working away at her project.

Two weeks ago she asked her sister for one of her clarinet reeds. All she got was, "It won't work. You don't have a mouthpiece." It was true. A clarinet reed needs to vibrate against something.

But what about an oboe double reed? Everyday, sometimes twice, she would ask if my errands would take me by our favorite music store, Centre Music. Finally, with the inventor in the car, we stopped.

"That will be $12?"

"Is it worth it," I asked. "Do you have the money?"

Yes she answered to both.

Twelve dollars. That is a lot of money to be spending on a maybe this will work, or a what if when you are a second grader. Confidently, she parted with her own cold hard cash without blinking an eye.

And after a slight modification, making a tiny hole in the top bigger, it worked. Seeing her delight, I want to find her all sorts of instrument making materials and let her work away.

1 comment:

Tammy H. said...

Bravo, little one! Just goes to show that ingenuity knows no age limits. You have a little creator on your hands.