kazoo

Kazoo is an American English word of uncertain origin. It first appeared in print in the 1840s. Some sources suggest it derives from an onomatopoeic imitation of the instrument's buzzing sound. Others propose a connection to African American musical traditions, possibly related to the eunuch flute or mirliton — membrane instruments that modify the voice by vibrating a membrane against it. Alabama inventor Thaddeus Von Clegg is often credited with creating the modern metal kazoo around 1840, though this attribution is debated.

The kazoo is a mirliton — a class of instruments that modify sound produced by the player's voice rather than producing their own sound. You hum into it. The membrane vibrates sympathetically with your voice, adding a buzzing overtone. You cannot blow into a kazoo. You must vocalize. This makes the kazoo the most democratic of instruments: if you can hum a melody, you can play the kazoo. No training, no technique, no talent required.

The Original American Kazoo Company, founded in Eden, New York, in 1916, has been manufacturing metal kazoos continuously for over a century. It is one of the few remaining factories in the United States that produces a single, simple product by the same method. The kazoo has resisted improvement because there is nothing to improve. A tube, a membrane, and a voice. That is the entire technology.

The word kazoo has entered American English as a colloquial expression. 'Out the wazoo' (a rhyming variant of kazoo) means in excessive quantity. The instrument's association with children's music and novelty has kept it from being taken seriously, though jug bands, skiffle bands, and some rock musicians have used it to musical effect. The kazoo is the instrument that music theory forgot.