Kazoo and Chicken Run's 'Great Escape'

The kazoo is a membranophone — it works through humming, not blowing, which vibrates a thin membrane to create that signature buzzing sound. It's considered the most democratic instrument alive; if you can hum, you can play it. Blues legends like Big Bill Broonzy and Jimi Hendrix recorded with one seriously. That iconic humming in Chicken Run's "Great Escape" scene taps into a surprisingly rich musical tradition you'll want to explore further.

Key Takeaways

• The kazoo is classified as a membranophone, producing its signature buzzing sound when a player hums rather than blows into the instrument.
• Folklore credits Alabama Vest, a freed slave, with inventing the kazoo in 1840s Macon, Georgia, inspired by African mirliton instruments.
• The kazoo crossed racial and genre boundaries, appearing in jazz, blues, vaudeville, and even Carnegie Hall by the early 2000s.
• Chicken Run's iconic score features the kazoo prominently in its rendition of "The Great Escape" theme, reinforcing the film's comedic tone.
• Despite being dismissed as a novelty, the kazoo is used therapeutically by speech therapists to strengthen oral muscles and aid brain injury recovery.

What Exactly Is a Kazoo and How Does It Work?

The kazoo is a tube-shaped American musical instrument with both ends uncovered — one end flattened and the other a small circular opening.

Two-thirds down its body sits a circular hole leading to a membrane chamber, where a wax membrane secured by a cylinder-ring vibrates freely.

To play it, you sing or hum into the flattened end — no blowing required. Think of it like microphone technique: you place your lips around the opening and use vowel sounds or consonants. Your breath control and humming quality directly affect the pitch, volume, and tone produced.

The air current vibrates the membrane, creating that signature buzzing, nasal sound.

You can also partially cover the membrane hole to vary the sound further. This makes the kazoo a mirliton-type instrument, a family defined by the use of a vibrating membrane as the central mechanism of sound production.

Notably, the kazoo has found use beyond music, with speech therapists employing it to strengthen oral and speech skills and even aid recovery after brain injury.

The Kazoo's Forgotten Origins in 1840s Georgia

Now that you understand how the kazoo works, you might wonder where this peculiar instrument actually came from. Its folklore origins point to Macon, Georgia, where freed slave Alabama Vest allegedly invented the kazoo during the 1840s, drawing inspiration from African mirlitons used in ceremonial traditions.

Vest reportedly:

• Crafted a wooden tube prototype resembling voice-altering African instruments
• Partnered with clockmaker Thaddeus von Clegg to refine the design
• Debuted the invention at the 1852 Georgia State Fair as the "Down South Submarine"

However, no historical records confirm Vest's existence. Curator Jeff Bruce labels the story probable folklore, and historians haven't found conclusive documentation despite extensive searching. The difficulty in pinpointing an exact invention date is further complicated by the likelihood that similar devices were used across many cultures worldwide. Much like how the Berlin Conference shaped borders across Africa during the colonial era, outside powers often determined whose stories and inventions were formally recorded and whose were forgotten.

The Tubman African American Museum still presents this legend while honestly acknowledging its unverifiability. Visit Macon's Director of Marketing Marisa Rodgers has noted that Alabama Vest was a Black inventor who, as a freed slave, was largely erased from history.

How the Kazoo Went From Gourds to Metal

Long before metal stamping machines churned out millions of identical kazoos, musicians buzzed through instruments crafted from gourds and cow horns stretched with spider egg silk membranes. These gourd origins shaped the kazoo's fundamental design for centuries before George D. Smith patented the first metal kazoo on May 27, 1902, in Buffalo, New York.

That manufacturing shift changed everything. Emil Sorg brought the concept to Western New York around 1912, partnering with craftsmen who eventually launched mass production by 1914. The American Kazoo Company followed in 1916, using jack presses to cut, bend, and crimp metal sheets into the submarine shape you'd recognize today. By 1994, they're producing 1.5 million kazoos annually, all from the same Eden, New York facility. Today, that same factory has been preserved nearly in its original configuration and operates as The Kazoo Factory and Museum, offering public tours to visitors.

The kazoo's origin story stretches back even further, as the instrument was first invented by Alabama Vest in the 1840s and later crafted to his specifications by German clock master Thaddeus Von Clegg in Macon, Georgia.

Inside the Only Kazoo Factory Still Running in America

Tucked inside a 1907 sheet-metal workshop in Eden, New York, the American Kazoo Company's factory is the last of its kind in the United States. You can explore it free through museum tours that show kazoos being made exactly as they were in 1915. A single 10-horsepower motor powers over 20 original machines through overhead jack shafts and leather belts.

Here's what makes visiting worthwhile:

• Make your own metal kazoo on-site for just $3.50
• See volunteer employment in action — SASI employs adults with developmental disabilities here
• Browse the gift shop for kazoos, teas, and silk scarves

The historical exhibit features info boards, old photos, and display cases walking you through the kazoo's full manufacturing story. The metal kazoo patent was granted to Michael McIntyre in 1923, recognizing his role in shaping the design that the factory still produces today. The factory's origins trace back to 1912, when traveling salesman Emil Sorg partnered with McIntyre to bring metal kazoo mass production to Western New York. Much like Ethiopia's Addis Ababa serves as a hub for continental gatherings, Eden, New York has quietly become a gathering point for kazoo enthusiasts and music historians from across the country.

The Most Democratic Instrument Ever Made

The kazoo is often called the most democratic instrument ever made — and it's hard to argue otherwise.

Unlike the guitar, which earns its reputation for egalitarian access because you can learn it in your bedroom, the kazoo demands even less. You don't need lessons, sheet music, or years of practice. If you can hum, you can play.

Jazz shares a similar democratic spirit — Louis Banks called it the world's most democratic music, built on collective improvisation where every performer contributes equally. Virginia Woolf explored this tension between access and exclusion in her essay arguing that material conditions and creative freedom are inseparable, particularly for those historically shut out of artistic participation.

The kazoo operates the same way. Nobody's voice dominates because nobody needs special training to participate. You pick it up, hum a tune, and you're already making music alongside everyone else. That's a kind of equality few instruments can honestly claim. The guillotine was proposed under a similar ideal, designed to ensure equal punishment for crimes regardless of a person's rank or status.

Sweden's 1809 Instrument of Government was built on a comparable principle, shifting power away from an absolute monarchy toward a system where legislative and executive powers were deliberately separated and shared.

How the Kazoo Found Its Way Into Blues, Jazz, and Vaudeville

By the 1920s, the kazoo had embedded itself into nearly every corner of American popular music.

You'd find it across wildly different stages and styles:

• Jazz: The Mound City Blue Blowers scored multiple hits, while early recordings fooled listeners into mistaking kazoo for trombone.
• Blues and jug band: Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Pete Williams wove kazoo into raw, expressive performances.
• Vaudeville harmony: The Mills Brothers launched their career as a kazoo quartet, playing four-part harmony with guitar accompaniment.

Even Dickey Wells' Shim Shammers recorded kazoo sessions in 1933.

The instrument crossed racial and genre boundaries effortlessly, slipping into jazz clubs, street parades, and theater stages alike, proving its remarkable versatility throughout American music's most experimental decades. The kazoo's journey into American popular music can be traced back to African tribal instruments, which were used for ceremonial purposes for hundreds of years before inspiring its introduction in America.

Despite its widespread appeal, the kazoo was frequently dismissed as a novelty, with its lack of prestige stemming from the fact that playing instructions were often printed directly on the packaging, making it seem too accessible to be taken seriously as a musical instrument.

What Makes the Kazoo Sound Like Nothing Else?

What gives the kazoo its unmistakable sound isn't air pressure or a reed — it's a thin, vibrating membrane that classifies it as a membranophone rather than a traditional wind instrument. When you hum into it, your vocalization causes the membrane to oscillate, adding that signature buzzing nasal timbre to your voice rather than generating an independent note.

Membrane mechanics determine everything here. Thinner membranes produce sharper tones, while thicker ones yield deeper resonance. You control pitch and attack through syllables like "doo," "too," or "vrrr," and vibrato emerges from pulsed humming. No reed, no lip buzzing — just your voice transformed. That unconventional process is precisely why no standard wind instrument can replicate what a kazoo does. Metal kazoos take this further by producing a sharper, more resonant sound compared to their plastic or wooden counterparts.

Despite its simple design, the kazoo is capable of a wide range of tones and pitches, making it a surprisingly versatile instrument for both casual players and dedicated music enthusiasts alike.

The Kazoo's Unlikely Survival Into the Modern Era

Few instruments have defied obsolescence quite like the kazoo, whose survival from ancient ceremonial use into the modern era traces a path through factory floors, therapy rooms, and concert halls. Its ceremonial resilience carried it from African rituals and Mexican flutes into Alabama Vest's 1840s Georgia State Fair debut, sparking American mass production.

You'll find its therapeutic adaptation equally surprising:

• Speech therapists use it to rehabilitate adult patients and help shy children open up vocally
• Classical composers and pop artists like Jimi Hendrix embraced it seriously
• Swiss-designed AFK kazoos now position it as a precision front-stage instrument

The kazoo didn't survive by accident. It survived because people kept finding new reasons to pick it up. Barbara Stewart built an entire career around that idea, culminating in recordings, educational outreach, and a Carnegie Hall recital before her death in 2011. The AFK Triton, for instance, features three independent membranes that deliver a powerful, grungy sound particularly well suited to blues performance and front-stage roles.