FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 27 August 1908, Page 38

FAMILY FUN

The Pin Piano. — Have you a cigar-box, a bit of tissue paper, a paper of pins, and a tack hammer? Well, that is all you need to make a pinnetta, and I am sure the pleasure and amusement it will afford you and your friends wilt amply repay you for the trouble. First, you take the box' and nail down the lid, then cover the whole box with bright-colored paper, so that it will look prejtty. Then tack, the pins along the edges of the bottom of the box. • You must be .very careful in the pounding of the pins, for this is the difficult part of- the work. Have your sister or somebody sing the soprano part of any song you like, note by note. Perhaps, unless the singer has a perfectly true voice, you had better use some instrument to .tune your pinnetta by. Use new, straight pins, and pound them in until they sound exactly like the singing, just as a violin is tuned with a piano. The deeper the pins are driven the higher the sound. If a very high note is desired, sma:l black pins are best, and 1 for bass notes large needles are best, but common pins can be used for all. A very little difference in the depth of the driving makes a great difference in the sound.' Holding the box firmly in your left hand, or, better, placing it on a table, you take a long pin in your right • hand and run the point along the middle of the pins in the box as they stand upright. You should run the pin in your hand according to the time the piece is written in; The pinnetta can be made in perfect tune, played in perfect time, and has' a clear, sweet sound, like water running over stones. If you possess any musical talent, you can make the accompaniment of chords N on another box, and have a very pretty duet.