05.04.2020

Yoshi's Island Kazoo

Yoshi's Island is a Spin-Off series of the Super Mario Bros. The games all star Mario's faithful dinosaur steed Yoshi, who originally debuted in Super Mario World. An interesting aspect of the series is that most of the games in the. Yoshi's Story, Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's New Island in particular suffer from this: the former is specifically designed for young children, while the latter two have a more childish soundtrack than previous installments (largely played on toy xylophones in the case of DS, kazoos in the case of New and other toy-like instruments). Yoshi's Island is a 1995 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.To reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by Kamek, the player controls Yoshi, a friendly dinosaur, through 48 levels while carrying Baby Mario. Stream Yoshis Island - Athletic Theme by Michael Hawk from desktop or your mobile device. Kazoo's island athletic theme. 2019-11-17T08:11:27Z Comment by Beeoven. Stream Yoshis Island - Athletic Theme by Michael Hawk from desktop or your mobile device.

A metal kazoo with a 1 euro coin for comparison: 23.25 mm (0.92 inch)
Examples of kazoos

The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a 'buzzing' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes or hums into it. It is a type of mirliton (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifies its player's voice by way of a vibratingmembrane of goldbeater's skin or material with similar characteristics.

Jan 24, 2014  The latest entry in the Yoshi’s Island series looks technically sound, but does little to leave a lasting impression. The developers used simple piano loops and even an occasional kazoo. Mar 13, 2014  Gaming & Culture — Review: Yoshi’s New Island is a solid new Yoshi’s Island It doesn't reach the brilliance of the original, but it does a decent imitation. Kyle Orland - Mar 13, 2014 3:00.

Yoshi's Island Kazooie

Similar hide-covered vibrating and voice-changing instruments have been used in Africa for hundreds of years, often for ceremonial purposes.

Playing[edit]

A kazoo player hums, rather than blows, into the bigger and flattened side of the instrument. [1] The oscillating air pressure of the hum makes the kazoo's membrane vibrate.[1] The resulting sound varies in pitch and loudness with the player's humming. Players can produce different sounds by singing specific syllables such as doo, ‘’too’’, who, rrrrr or brrrr into the kazoo.

Some people refer to the kazoo's membrane as a reed, considering it performs the same action in the kazoo as it would a woodwind instrument, however reeds are made of cane (or a synthetic equivalent), while the membrane (most commonly made of waxy paper) is not.[citation needed]

History[edit]

Machines at the Kazoo Factory and Museum
Kazoo manufacturing steps

It's popularly believed that Alabama Vest, an African-American in Macon, Georgia, was the one who invented the kazoo around 1840, although there is no documentation to support that claim.[2] The story originated with the Kaminsky International Kazoo Quartet, a group of satirical kazoo players, which may cast doubt on the veracity of the story,[3] as does the name 'Alabama Vest' itself.

In 1879, Simon Seller received a patent for a 'Toy Trumpet' that worked on the same principle as a kazoo: 'By blowing through the tube A, and at the same time humming a sort of a head sound, a musical vibration is given to the paper covering c over the aperture b, and a sound produced pleasing to the ear.'[4] Seller's 'toy trumpet' was basically a hollow sheet-metal tube, with a rectangular aperture cut out along the length of the tube, with paper covering the aperture, and a funnel at the end, like the bell of a trumpet. The first documented appearance of a kazoo was that created by an American inventor, Warren Herbert Frost,[2] who named his new musical instrument kazoo in his patent #270,543 issued on January 9, 1883. The patent states, 'This instrument or toy, to which I propose to give the name 'kazoo' '..'[5] Frost's kazoo did not have the streamlined, submarine shape of modern kazoos, but it was similar in that the aperture was circular and elevated above the length of the tube. The modern kazoo—also the first one made of metal—was patented by George D. Smith of Buffalo, New York, May 27, 1902.[2][6]

In 1916, the Original American Kazoo Company in Eden, New York started manufacturing kazoos for the masses in a two-room shop and factory, utilizing a couple of dozen jack presses for cutting, bending and crimping metal sheets. These machines were used for many decades. By 1994, the company produced 1.5 million kazoos per year and was the only manufacturer of metal kazoos in North America.[7][8] The factory, in nearly its original configuration, is now called The Kazoo Factory and Museum. It is still operating, and it is open to the public for tours.[2]

In 2010, The Kazoo Museum opened in Beaufort, South Carolina with exhibits on kazoo history.[9]

Professional usage[edit]

Problems playing this file? See media help.

The kazoo is played professionally in jug bands and comedy music, and by amateurs everywhere. It is among the acoustic instruments developed in the United States, and one of the easiest melodic instruments to play, requiring only the ability to vocalize in tune.[2] In North East England and South Wales, kazoos play an important role in juvenile jazz bands. During Carnival, players use kazoos in the Carnival of Cádiz in Spain and in the corsos on the murgas in Uruguay.

National Youth Administration: 'rhythm band' plays in Sandwich, Illinois, 1936

In the Original Dixieland Jass Band 1921 recording of Crazy Blues, what the casual listener might mistake for a trombone solo is actually a kazoo solo[2] by drummer Tony Sbarbaro.

Red McKenzie played kazoo in a Mound City Blue Blowers 1929 film short.[10] The Mound City Blue Blowers had a number of hit kazoo records in the early 1920s featuring Dick Slevin on metal kazoo and Red McKenzie on comb and tissue paper (although McKenzie also played metal kazoo). The vocaphone, a kind of kazoo with a trombone-like tone, was occasionally featured in Paul Whiteman's Orchestra.[11] Trombonist-vocalist Jack Fulton played it on Whiteman's recording of Vilia (1931) and Frankie Trumbauer's Medley of Isham Jones Dance Hits (1932). The Mills Brothers vocal group originally started in vaudeville as a kazoo quartet, playing four-part harmony on kazoo with one brother accompanying them on guitar.[12]

The kazoo is rare in European classical music. It does appear in David Bedford's With 100 Kazoos, where, rather than having professionals play the instrument, kazoos are handed out to the audience, who accompany a professional instrumental ensemble.[2]Leonard Bernstein included a segment for kazoo ensemble in the First Introit (Rondo) of his Mass. The kazoo was used in the 1990 Koch International and 2007 Naxos Records recordings of American classical composer Charles Ives' Yale-Princeton Football Game, where the kazoo chorus represents the football crowd's cheering. The brief passages have the kazoo chorus sliding up and down the scale as the 'cheering' rises and falls.

In Frank Loesser's score for the 1961 Broadway musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, several kazoos produce the effect of electric razors used in the executive washroom during a dance reprise of the ballad I Believe in You.

In 1961 Del Shannon's 'So Long Baby' issued on Big Top Records featured a kazoo on the instrumental break. In addition to the single release it featured on the UK London American release of his album Hats Off To Del Shannon. Joanie Sommers' 1962 hit single 'Johnny Get Angry' featured a kazoo ensemble in its instrumental bridge, as did Ringo Starr's 1973 cover of 'You're Sixteen'.

Jesse Fuller's 1962 recording of his song 'San Francisco Bay Blues' features a kazoo solo,[13] as does Eric Clapton's 1992 recording of the song on MTV's Unplugged television show and album. On the song 'Alligator' on the Grateful Dead album Anthem of the Sun three members of the band play kazoo together. Many Paolo Conte performances include kazoo passages.

Short kazoo performances appear on many modern recordings, usually for comic effect. For example, in his first album, Freak Out!, Frank Zappa used the kazoo to add comic feel to some songs[2] — including one of his best known, 'Hungry Freaks, Daddy'. In the song 'Crosstown Traffic' from the album Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix used a comb-and-paper instrument to accompany the guitar and accentuate a blown-out speaker sound.[2][14] The song 'Lovely Rita', from the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, uses combs-and-paper instruments.[2][15] Kazoo playing parodied the sound of a military brass band in the Pink Floyd song 'Corporal Clegg'.[16]

In the McGuinness Flint recording When I'm Dead and Gone, Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle play kazoos in harmony during the instrumental break. The New Seekers' live track (Ever Since You Told Me That You Loved Me) I'm A Nut features a kazoo solo by singer Eve Graham. British singer-songwriter Ray Dorset, the leader of pop-blues band Mungo Jerry, played the kazoo on many of his band's recordings, as did former member Paul King.

One of the best known kazooists of recent times is Stewart (1941–2011).[2] Stewart, a classically trained singer, wrote a book on the kazoo, formed the 'quartet' Kazoophony, performed kazoo at Carnegie Hall and on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien television show.[2][17] The steampunk band Steam Powered Giraffe has audience members play kazoos at some of their concerts. They also sell Kazookaphones, a standard kazoo with optional bugle horn and phonograph.

The kazoo is used regularly on the radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

The video game Yoshi's New Island, released in 2014, has synthesized kazoos in several tracks of its soundtrack.[18]

The American glam metal band Steel Panther released in December 2014 the Christmas track 'The Stocking Song', which includes a kazoo hook from Deck the Halls.

The Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala released a single in 2009 'Sundown Syndrome', which includes kazoo rhythmic part.

The Swedish rock band Ghost have performed live acoustic renditions of their song 'Ghuleh/Zombie Queen', which features the kazoo in place of the recorded version's keyboards.

The Ukrainian polka band Los Colorados released a cover of Rammstein song 'Du Hast', which features a kazoo.[19]

Yoshi's Island can refer to: Yoshi's Island, the place from which many Yoshis originate. Yoshi's Island 1, the first 'Yoshi's Island' level of Super Mario World. Yoshi's Island 2, the second 'Yoshi's Island' level of Super Mario World. Yoshi's Island 3, the third 'Yoshi's Island' level of Super Mario World. Yoshi's Island is a 1995 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.To reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by Kamek, the player controls Yoshi, a friendly dinosaur, through 48 levels while carrying Baby Mario. As a Super Mario series platformer, Yoshi runs and jumps to reach the end of the level while solving. Yoshi island zeta. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a 1995 platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In order to reunite baby brothers Mario and Luigi, the latter who has been kidnapped by Bowser's minions, the player controls Yoshi, a friendly dinosaur, through 48 levels while carrying Baby Mario. Find reviews, trailers, release dates, news, screenshots, walkthroughs, and more for Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island here on GameSpot.

South Korean singer Kim Jonghyun was known for his use of the kazoo in his solo concerts, most notably 'The Story by Jonghyun' concert series which continued from 2015 until his death in 2017.

Records[edit]

On March 14, 2011, the audience at BBC Radio 3's Red Nose Show at the Royal Albert Hall, along with a star-studded kazoo band, set a new Guinness World Record for Largest Kazoo Ensemble. The 3,910 kazooists played Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and the Dambusters March.[20] This surpassed the previous record of 3,861 players, set in Sydney, Australia in 2009.[21] The current record of 5,190 was set later the same night in a second attempt.[20]

On August 9, 2010 the San Francisco Giants hosted a Jerry Garcia tribute night, in which an ensemble of an estimated 9,000 kazooists played Take Me Out to the Ball Game.[22]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ abHow to Play Kazoo, Kazoos.com, 2013, accessed July 12, 2013
  2. ^ abcdefghijklHarness, Jill, Great Moments In Kazoo History, Mental Floss, January 28, 2012, accessed July 12, 2013
  3. ^Jensen-Brown, Peter. 'Bazoo, Kazoo, Bazooka, From Playful Instrument to Instrument of War (a History and Etymology of Kazoo and Bazooka)'. Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History Blog. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  4. ^Seller, Simon. 'US Patent 214,010'. Google Patents. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  5. ^Kazoo Patent, U.S. Patent Office, Washington, D.C., accessed July 12, 2013
  6. ^Smith's Kazoo Patent, U.S. Patent Office, Washington, D.C., accessed July 12, 2013
  7. ^Allen, Frederick (Winter 1994). 'The Kazoo Monopoly'. American Heritage of Invention & Technology. 9 (3). Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  8. ^Wolk, Bruce H. (2009). Made here, baby! the essential guide to finding the best American-made products for your kids. New York: American Management Association. p. 258. ISBN9780814413890. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  9. ^Jordan, Meredith (October 7, 2010). 'Kazoo factory tunes in to Beaufort County'. Bluffton Today. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  10. ^Mound City Blue Blowers 'St. Louis Blues' 1929, performance video 1929, accessed July 12, 2013
  11. ^Rayno, Don (19 December 2012). Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, 1930-1967. Scarecrow Press. pp. 608–. ISBN978-0-8108-8322-2. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  12. ^The Mills Brothers - InducteesArchived 2008-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, accessed July 12, 2013
  13. ^Peter Siegel, liner notes to Friends of Old Time Music (Smithsonian Folkways, SFW40160) Media.smithsonianglobalsound.org
  14. ^Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix, Songfacts, 2013, accessed July 12, 2013
  15. ^Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN0-517-57066-1.
  16. ^Corporal Clegg by Pink Floyd, Songfacts, 2013, accessed July 12, 2013
  17. ^Stewart, Barbara (2006). The Complete How to Kazoo [With Kazoo]. Workman Publishing Company. ISBN978-0-7611-4221-8. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
  18. ^Orland, Kyle (13 March 2014). 'Review: Yoshi's New Island is a solid new Yoshi's Island'. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  19. ^LosColoradosBand (2012-05-24), Los Colorados - Du Hast (Official Rammstein Cover), retrieved 2018-07-16
  20. ^ abLargest Kazoo Ensemble, Guinness World Records, 2013, accessed July 12, 2013
  21. ^BBC Radio 3's Red Nose Show breaks Guinness World Records title for largest ever kazoo ensemble, Big Red Nose Show, March 15, 2011, accessed July 12, 2013
  22. ^Kukura, Joe (August 2010). 'Giants Fans' Kazoos Create World Record Buzz'. NBC Bay Area. NBC Universal, Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-14.

Further reading[edit]

  • Roberto Leydi; Febo Guizzi (2002). Gli strumenti della musica popolare in Italia. Libreria musicale italiana. ISBN978-88-7096-325-0. Retrieved 12 July 2013. Invaluable survey of popular instruments in use in Italy, ranging from percussion, wind and plucked instruments to various noise makers.
  • Kassinger, Ruth (30 January 2004). Build a Better Mousetrap: Make Classic Inventions, Discover Your Problem-Solving Genius, and Take the Inventor's Challenge. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-0-471-42991-3. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  • Lombardi, Fabio (2000). Canti e strumenti popolari della Romagna bidentina: canzoni, ninne-nanne, filastrocche, balli, canti di nozze, stornelle, urli, bovare, strumenti e altro ancora, in una memorabile raccolta dei canti e della musica popolare della valle del Bidente. Il Ponte Vecchio. ISBN978-88-8312-087-9. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  • Lombardi, Fabio (1989). I suoni perduti: mostra di strumenti musicali popolari romagnoli, Teatro Comunale G.A. Dragoni, 26-29 agosto 1989 : raccolti da Fabio Lombardi nella vallata del Bidente, Comuni di. Centro stampa provincia. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  • McGlynn, Don, 1986, The Mills Brothers Story, VHS, Kultur Videos, OCLC26796337

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kazoo.
  • The Original Kazoo Company, kazoo museum and manufacturer based in Eden, N.Y.
  • Kazooco, kazoo museum and historic manufacturer
  • 'This is a kazoo!' Captain Kazoo: The world's largest private kazoo collection. More history, including details on the mirliton.
  • The Kazoo Museum, website of the Beaufort, South Caroline kazoo museum
  • Miss G and her Blues Kazoo, Woodstock Wooden Kazoo in Woodstock, New York
  • Doc Kazoo and his Wooden Folk Kazoo, in Lake Seneca, Florida
  • The Association of American Kazoologists, Information, including history, design and construction, of the kazoo
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kazoo&oldid=945774012'
Trying to improve on the original YoshiYoshi's Island is, in some ways, a fool's errand. When the original game came out in 1995, it both redefined what a Mario game could be and set a new definition for inventive, original, and entertaining platform games. Some might be more partial to Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World, but for my money, Yoshi's Island is the pinnacle of the 2D Mario games (and I have spent a fair bit of time thinking and writing about Mario games to reach that conclusion).

Nintendo has tried to follow up on the perfection of Yoshi's Island a few times in the past. I had high hopes for Yoshi's Story on the Nintendo 64, but that spiritual sequel took a hard turn toward overly simplistic level designs, sloppy controls, and a presentation that turned the cuteness dial well past cloying (oh god, that level-ending music). Yoshi's Island DS was a bit better at capturing the essence of the original, but it felt a bit gimmicky in its use of new character powers and just a bit off in the control department. The best follow-up so far may actually be Super Mario Advance 3, a Game Boy Advance port which added six excellent new secret levels on top of those already hidden in the original game.

Yoshi's New Island is Nintendo's latest attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle, and it does a solid if imperfect job of doing just that. Familiar without being overly familiar and faithful without being a mere carbon copy, Yoshi's New Island doesn't quite live up to its namesake, but it doesn't really mess too much with what isn't broken, either.

A remixed expansion pack

This means, of course, that those looking for something completely new won't find much of what they're looking for in Yoshi's New Island. The game does nearly the opposite of reinventing the wheel, instead seeming to take familiar pieces of the first game and reassembling them into new patterns, to the point where an attentive player can start picking out the tropes and design elements they expect to resurface.

Oh look, here's a few levels with those annoying monkeys jumping among the trees, just like in Yoshi's Island. And here's one with those floating penguins that Yoshi can bounce off harmlessly. Here are those overly flappy goonie birds that you can ride like a floating platform. Here's a level where a giant chain chomp chases Yoshi down a series of floating platforms. Here's another extremely long and slow auto-scrolling level in a lava-filled cave (thankfully there's only one of these, and it's not nearly as annoying as in the first game).

Just because the overall design and the individual set pieces are familiar, though, doesn't mean the game is just directly copying levels from the title that inspired it. Much like New Super Mario Bros. before it, the levels in Yoshi's New Island feel like modern remixes of familiar patterns and arrangements that were proven timeless decades ago. Platforms and enemies are placed with a certain care and deliberation, and nothing feels thrown together haphazardly just to fill space. There's a natural flow to each level, and the game never dwells too long on any one type of enemy or design theme.

In short, it feels like the expansion pack that Yoshi's Island never got, full of new levels that iterate on the same great old themes established in the original game. It might feel a bit too familiar to some, but there are much worse games to evoke the memory of.

Like the original Yoshi's Island, the challenge in Yoshi's New Island isn't simply in getting to the end of the levels. There wasn't a single area in the game that cost me more than three or four lives to get through, in stark contrast to a game like Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, where I could lose four lives on a single jump.

Instead, the challenge is in finding the 20 red coins and five giant flowers hidden within each level (not to mention finishing the stage with a perfect health meter of 30 stars). Some of these items practically smack you in the face with obvious placement, but plenty are squirreled away in out-of-the-way or hidden areas. Collecting these items constantly requires going outside the run-left-to-right comfort zone in terms of both platforming and puzzle solving.

In the greatest Mario tradition, it always feels like there's something just beyond the surface waiting to be discovered if you look hard enough. I wasn't scouring levels with a fine-toothed comb or anything, but despite looking in the most obvious likely hiding spots, I still finished my first playthrough missing a few items in almost every level. Finding the rest will be an enjoyable reason to go back and really explore the well-designed levels once more.

Nitpicks and changes

That's not to say nothing has changed since 1995. Nintendo has thrown some new game mechanics into the mix, seemingly out of a sense of duty to satisfy an 'innovation' checkbox. The most notable new feature is the gargantuan, screen-filling eggs that can take out solid concrete blocks as they fly. It's a promising idea, but it's used exclusively in extremely contrived situations, where the game gives you as many giant eggs as you need to easily clear a roadblock and move on.

Yoshi's New Island also makes a slight modification to the sections where Yoshi transforms into a number of different machines (a submarine, a jackhammer, a bobsled etc.) These sections are now somewhat annoyingly controlled by tilting the entire 3DS to change Yoshi's direction, with occasional button taps to slow or advance his progress. Overall, these sections aren't integrated very well into the rest of the game, and they feel like distractions from the platforming and puzzle solving it does best.

Most of the things I didn't like about Yoshi's New Island were primarily disappointments when compared to the near perfection of the original game. (Have I mentioned how much I liked the original Yoshi's Island recently? In case it was unclear, I liked it a lot). The new game's bosses, for instance, alternate between battles with the Magikoopa Kamek and fights against giant-sized versions of familiar enemies from recent levels.

Each battle requires a unique strategy, and some show off especially clever design, like a battlefield littered with arrow-clouds that redirect both your projectile eggs and the incoming blasts of the boss in hard-to-follow patterns. Still, the bad guys seem a little less animated than those in the first Yoshi's Island, and they don't show the same level of inventiveness in the strategies needed for their defeat (throwing an egg at the right place/time is pretty much always the way to go).

It also feels like the developers are trying a little too hard to emulate the unique, hand-drawn art style and animation that made Yoshi's Island so distinctive. It's as if the artists took basic 3D models of all the characters and layered a crude 'paintbrush stroke effect' filter on top to imbue them with a slightly uncanny facsimile of a human touch. Everything animates a bit too perfectly as well, like the morphing shapes and stiff movements of the early days of Flash animation. It doesn't look bad, exactly, just a little overdone and lifeless compared to the effortless verve and charm of the original game, or even Yoshi's Island DS.

Yoshi's Island Online

Since we're still in nitpicking territory, I feel I have to mention the slight changes to the tight, pitch-perfect controls found in the original Yoshi's Island. When Yoshi starts aiming an egg, for instance, there's now a half-second or so of animation before the targeting reticle is fully extended and ready to fire. It's not the end of the world, but it's a distracting alteration that messes with any muscle memory left over from the original game. The same goes for Yoshi's now-familiar mid-air flutter, which is now just a little harder to execute multiple times on a single jump.

Yoshi Island Rom

These are minor issues, though, compared to the relative failure of the game's music. Compared to the vibrant, catchy tunes of the original, the new background songs are overproduced, meandering ditties, often featuring a sort of high-pitched kazoo effect that comes across like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. At least the sound effects are comfortingly familiar.

Yoshi's Island Theme

If it feels like I'm being hard on a game I enjoyed, it's only because it shares most of its name with a game that I feel sets the standard for its genre. Even judged on that lofty scale, Yoshi's New Island holds its own quite well, serving as a solid alteration and extension of a true classic, with a minimal amount of changes to screw things up.

The Good

  • Largely captures everything that made Yoshi's Island brilliant
  • Level design that shows care and deliberation
  • Plenty of well-hidden items that encourage exploration and discovery

The Bad

  • General design and set pieces may be too familiar for some players
  • New game mechanics seem thrown together and unecessary
  • Controls are off ever so slightly from Yoshi's Island's perfection

The Ugly

  • The background music—load up the original game's soundtrack on your phone instead

Verdict: Buy it, but don't expect another flawless masterpiece like its predecessor (which I loved).