A to Z Xylophone

Today’s letter is “X” and one that is usually a bit hard to come up with a word. But not for Lia because she has had a toy xylophone since she was a baby and still loves to play it. Here is A to Z Xylophone for the blog challenge.

Lia’s mommy also had a Chimalong which is a Xylophone style instrument made with chime tubes that you can play actual music. I think we gave this to Alexandra when she was about six or seven years old and she would play some interesting tunes for many years.

At one of our garage sales I had the old Chimalong on the table to sell since it had been stored for years. Alex grabbed it off the table and said, “You aren’t selling my Chimalong are you?” So I put it back in storage where it had been. Fast forward a few years later and we pulled it out for Lia to play. Last March when Lia was about 18 months old she was hitting the keys and checking the different sounds out. It brought back memories of when her mommy use to do the same thing.

I love to hear children making up songs and play musical instruments even if they are toys. This is a piano duet that Lia and mommy played last Christmas.

When I was in high school band I played a variety of instruments. One was the Glockenspiel which has bars similiar to a Xylophone but made of steel. Back in my school days, the Glockenspiel I carried when marching was a huge, heavy one with harness type metal straps going over my shoulders. I wonder if I can find an old picture of me in my marching days to show Lia and Alex. Lia loves singing and music, maybe she will play an instrument in school band too when she’s older.

I’ve enjoyed the A to Z Xylophone blog today even though it got off track with the letter “X” but because it brought back memories of both Alexandra and her Chimalong Xylophone and also my Glockenspiel days back almost 60 years ago.