Last year near the end of winter, Michael and I were walking in the prairie at St Olaf and loving the way the big bluestem grasses sounded in the wind. I took a couple of stems home and began playing with them . . .  when I dropped them on the stone countertop, they rang with an almost bell-like quality.

I wanted to make a shaker, but wasn’t sure how to assemble them, without losing the lovely tonal quality.

Spring came and the musical grass stems melted back to the earth. And then summer came with fresh new grass and other fun projects.

Still the thought of making something with these beautiful prairie grasses lingered.

This spring I got the aha to make a housing using recycled paper clay and natural cord, fastened to the sections with masking tape. It made a good shaker and I had fun painting it.

Then I had another thought — I could hang them on a wire and play them like chimes. Sweet!! almost like the sound of water trickling.

Then my son Aidan came over and had a whole bunch of fun ideas to try. I loved watching him listen and experiment, and I learned some things.

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