I have to say that when Kelly Bennett
asked me to make a guide for her newest picture book One Day I Went Rambling, I was stoked! This book celebrates the unbridled creativity of a free-thinking child like no other book I've ever read does...which totally speaks to the true Simple Saturday spirit that resides within me.
Without giving too much of the story away, the protagonist sees the world in a marvelous, creative way as demonstrated when, in his eyes, an old women's slips become sails, a weather wooden crate becomes a pirate ship, and a pop top becomes treasured jewels. The kid is cool. There's no getting around it.
In one of the final scenes, the protagonist leads a rag-tag band of neighborhood kids in a parade, of sorts. To illustrate the final scene and the theme of this darling book, when Kelly contracted me, she stated that she wanted me to orchestrate a homemade band. Truly music to my ears!!!! Rock on.
So, in celebration of Kelly's latest picture book success, let's begin with the string section. Let's make a Simple Saturday shoe box guitar! It's so, so simple to do. All you need to make this accoustic wonder is a handful of rubber bands, a shoe box and some scissors - for real!
Simply cut a sound hole (Thanks, Wikipedia) out of lid of the box. Then, lengthwise, stretch the rubber bands over the sound hole. Now close the box and you're in the music business, baby!
Pretty slick, huh?
Through the course of the guide I created homemade instruments to fill the brass, percussion, string, and the woodwind sections of the orchestra. Plenty of symphonic Simple Saturday fodder for a long time, my dear friends. Plenty.