Waldorf Wednesday: Kinder Lyre Part 3: Learning to Tune Your Lyre,

Using the phrase "Learing to play the kinder lyre" is almost an oxymoron.  I felt compelled to buy song books when I first got it in the mail.  The thing that makes the kinder lyre so special is that you don't need to know how to read music, play music or have dreams of doing so.  You can strum or pluck any notes in any order and as long as the lyre is in tune,  they come out sounding amazing. 

I learned how to tune my kinder lyre from Sarah at Bella Luna toys.  She made a simple to understand You Tube video seen here:



The tuning instruction follows a brief introduction to the lyre and then she plays a couple of tunes at the end that help you hear the simplicity of the instrument. 

Waldorf Wednesday: Kinder Lyre Part 2, Creating Rhythm

As I posted last week, we have been slowly integrating the kinder lyre into our daily lives.  When we first received it, I thought we would be waking Narina up with the lyre singing our morning song.  I thought we would use it to summon the family to meals, and then again to put her to bed.  Well Narina wakes up five minutes before the alarm goes off so that didn’t work.  The family meals?  Yeah, we didn’t even try that one. Finally to go to sleep... I think this will work in the future but at the moment Narina is too excited about the lyre and wants to touch it herself.  So after bath time and before we go upstairs, Narina has a breastfeed.  The fire is lit, the lights are dim, and Dan plays they lyre for a few minutes while Narina feeds.  Our evenings have become so sacred and this aspect of them has only enhanced that. 

Waldorf Wednesday: Kinder Lyre/ Pentatonic Lyre Part 1

For Narina's first birthday we were given a Kinder Lyre.  I didn't know anything about lyres prior to having a child and now have only learned a smidgen through different websites and books we have bought.  I will spread the ways that we use our lyre over a few posts.  Some cool things about a kinder lyre, also known as a pentatonic lyre, is that you don't need to know how to play any music and you will still sound beautiful.  Not just sweet, but full on running over the English countryside in a white gown beautiful.  This is because the 7 strings are tuned to a 5 note scale.  It is very calming and even when Narina strums just one string over and over, it is peaceful.  Both Dan and I have learned a few songs and have our own songs that seem to be played over and over.  Two famous examples of  songs played in the pentatonic scale are "I'd like to teach the world to sing" and "Amazing Grace".  Dan busts out the first every now and then and I can't help but think of Coke commercials.

The pentatonic scale is used in a lot of traditional folk music from around the world.  Sometimes when you are playing it you can hear a glimpse of Celtic, Indian, or even Chinese traditional sounds.  It is an expensive gift and one that seems like it should have a special place in our home.  Instead it sits on the back of the couch within reach.  There is nothing better than having it in the background while breastfeeding or hearing Narina strum with vigor and smile with pride.