- [Jake] I'm Jake.

- [Esther] I'm Esther.

- [Jake] I play music in a polka band.

- [Esther] I'm a soul and R&B singer and songwriter.

- [Jake] We love music so much!

- [Esther] And we wanna share that with you.

- This is "In Tune."

- This is "In Tune."

(bristles twanging) (ball thumps) (hammer thuds) (wood rattles) - Vibration.

(music note tinkles) (violin wailing) I want you guys to check this out.

I found this super stretchy, awesome length of green rubber hose.

And you know what I'm gonna do with it?

I'm gonna run over here.

I'm gonna have our cameraman, Jeff, hold one side of it, and then I run back over here with the rest of it.

- Jake, I don't think that's a great idea.

- And then listen to that.

(band twangs) That's the same way you create sound with any stringed instrument, whether it be a harp, a guitar, a banjo, or a violin.

When you pluck (band twangs) or strum the string, (band twanging) it creates the vibration that creates the sound that you hear!

Isn't that cool?

(band snaps) (Jake gasps) (equipment rattles) (Esther gasps) Great Scott, Jeff, are you okay?

(audio humming) - Kids, it looks like we've got some cleaning up to do, but in the meantime, check out some of our friends that play stringed instruments.

- My name is Philip and I play the violin.

My favorite part about playing the violin is learning the finger pattern and learning a lot of new songs.

(bright violin music) - Hello.

My name is Lachlan and I do violin.

I got interested in playing violin because I quit karate and my mom told me I could do violin instead.

When I play violin, it makes me feel calm and relaxed.

(lively violin music) - Hi, my name's Madelyn and I play guitar.

(guitar strumming gently) When I play guitar, it makes me very, very happy.

(guitar strumming gently) - Hi, my name is Hannah, and I play the violin.

(relaxing violin music) My favorite thing about playing music, or just listening to it in general, is that it makes me feel things that normal things in my life can't comprehend.

And so, the emotions that go through me is really nice.

(relaxing violin music continues - When you see an instrument with strings on it, chances are, it's in the string family.

- And if you're watching The Chardon Polka band, those strings are gonna be played by my buddy, Mike Franklin.

He's been jamming with me in The Chardon Polka Band for almost two decades.

He strums, he shreds, he's totally awesome, and we're gonna meet him right now.

This is Mike and he's holding a- - Banjo.

- A banjo, which is a member of the string family.

Mike, what got you into the string family?

- Well, when I was 16, I hurt my leg on the first day of summer, and I couldn't walk for the entire summer.

- [Jake] And that changed your life?

- It did.

So, I was fortunate when I was injured that I had a guitar teacher who would come out to my house every week.

Normally, you have to go to the guitar teacher.

He came out to me and I had my right leg in a boot up in the air, and just sat and played guitar.

- So, how do you play a string instrument, whether it be the banjo or the guitar?

They both work similar?

- Yeah, yeah.

So, the string vibrates, (banjo strums gently) as you may be able to see when you either pick, pluck, or strum it.

Strumming is a little something (upbeat banjo music) It's more for rhythm, and you're strumming all the strings at the same time so I'm going up and down across all of them.

And then you can pick, which looks something like this.

(gentle banjo music) And plucking is when you don't have a pick in your hand and... (gentle banjo music) And you're just using your fingers to pull on the strings.

- So you can use your fingers or What's this thing?

- This is a guitar pick.

- What kind of opportunities have you had playing stringed instruments?

- Well, it's been an amazing career.

We've gotten to travel as far west as Oregon, far south as Texas, as far north as Canada.

We've gotten to play at cool venues like Red Rocks.

I mean, the list goes on forever - (laughs) I forgot we played Red Rocks.

We're a terrific band.

And you can hear Mike Franklin play the strings in this band, and we're gonna hear you on a guitar solo right now.

(energetic polka music) - You know, Jake, you can find strings to pluck and strum in your own home.

- What?

- Rubber bands, fishing wire, dental floss.

Here's an example.

- All right, check it out.

(band twanging) This is just an old Kleenex box with a rubber band stretched across it.

You can use a Kleenex box or cut a hole in a cereal box, (band twanging) and they make great substitutes for stringed instruments so you can see and feel how a string instrument would work.

Now, check this out.

This is a bit more sophisticated We took an old guitar string and we attached it to an old can and a piece of wood, and this is our homemade stringed instrument.

Should we try and do something with it?

- We should try and do something with it, Jake.

(string strumming gently) ♪ Took my baby on Saturday bang ♪ Is that girl with you?

♪ ♪ Yeah, we're one and the same ♪ ♪ Yeah, I believe in miracles ♪ ♪ And a miracle has ♪ ♪ Miracle has ♪ ♪ Happened tonight ♪ ♪ Happened tonight ♪ (string strumming gently) ♪ If you wanna be my baby ♪ ♪ It don't matter if you Black or white ♪ (string strumming gently) (groovy music) (groovy music ends)