How to Play the Spoons: Music From the Kitchen

There are some definite bennies to playing the spoons; you can carry your instrument in your pocket (try doing that with an oboe), you're fully armed and ready if forced into deadly hand-to-spoon combat, and most importantly, you're always prepared to eat. It's really the perfect instrument, and thanks to Jim Cruise a.k.a. "The Spoon Man," you too can be a spoon aficionado in your spare time in the privacy of your own home. Cruise has combined solid and organized instruction with a delightful sense of humor to create a winning ‘how-to' for anyone who thinks playing an instrument is either too complicated or takes years and years of practice. Viewers learn how to choose the right spoons (matching stainless steel tablespoons are preferred...but not your mom's good ones), the spoon-holding techniques (thumb or pointer method), and the seven basic rhythms, including the single beat, the horsebeat, the blizzard, and my personal favorite, the drag. Cruise has a real knack for teaching and before we know it, we're playing along to music ranging across such diverse styles as classical, rock, jazz, swing, rap, and country. We be jammin'! I got a little carried away and ended up with a blister on my left thumb, and a tablespoon sticking out of my right ear, but I can't vary well dock the tape for that now, can I? Wildly entertaining and highly recommended. Aud: E, I, P. (N. Plympton)