What’s an oboe? How does a flute work? What’s a viola?

But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

Vermont Public

Nature, Language, Kids & Family, Science

4.4 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do musical instruments make their sounds? Why do people play music in the first place? What’s a viola bow made out of? How are musical instruments made? How much do professional musicians practice? Three musicians from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra joined families at the Vermont Public Studios for a special live episode during our Curious Kids Day live events. We hear from Melissa Meilens on flute, Katie Oprea on oboe and Stefanie Taylor on viola.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	But Why, a podcast for curious kids, is known for serious answers to silly questions sent in by kids just like you.
0:09.0	But did you know that But Why is now a book series?
0:12.4	Our first book, Our Lama's Ticklish, answers questions from real kids about farm animals.
0:18.5	This colorfully illustrated book is perfect for kids ages 8 to 10.
0:23.2	And our second book, Do Fish Breathe Underwater, explores the underwater world of the ocean.
0:28.7	Learn more at butyKids.org slash books.
0:31.7	Music This is But Why? A podcast for Curious Kids.
0:57.0	I'm Jane Lindholm. And today we're making the show a little bit differently from how we normally do it.
1:03.0	We are joined by a live audience right here at our Vermont Public Studios. Say hello everybody!
1:09.0	We are so pleased to welcome you here for our
1:14.5	first ever curious kids day at Vermont Public and the theme today is exploring music. So for
1:21.9	this episode we're joined by musicians from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. I have a few questions for them and and then we'll turn the microphone over to you guys, okay? Is that okay? Yeah. Okay, great. So joining me here on stage first today is Melissa Mielens. Who knows what instrument she has brought with her? You can shout it out if you know it. Did they get it right, Melissa? They did. I'm impressed.
1:44.9	You play the flute.
1:46.2	Can you take us through some of the sounds that a flute can make?
1:49.9	Sure thing.
1:58.5	What happens if you just blow through that hole at the top of your flute like I'm blowing air out of my mouth like this
2:05.3	that doesn't sound as good no but there's a fun thing to think of if you want to get a nice sound on the flute
2:15.1	how many of you have slurped in a spaghetti noodle yes it makes a nice sound on the flute, how many of you have slurped in a spaghetti noodle? Yes, it makes a nice big mess. Anyways, if you think about taking the spaghetti noodle back out of your mouth the same way it came in, that's kind of what I do to make a sound on the flute. I do it across the flute. And thank goodness there's no noodle that's coming out on. Yeah, that would be gross. I'm picturing a lot of spaghetti sauce inside your flute. Oh, bad scene. So what does it sound like if you make a
2:39.5	bad note on the flute? That's just not really having an ambusher. An ambusure means the way
2:48.0	you hold your mouth. So like I was saying before, it's the whole sucking in the noodle or spitting out the
2:53.9	noodle position.
2:54.9	Another thing you could think about is if you say the word pool, pool.
	...

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