Mudlark said: I have occasionally heard spoons played well enough to be an asset, usually to bluegrass type music.

I immediately pulled out the well-known "Ten Commandments of playing Bluegrass music" - pardon me, "...of playing The Bluegrass Music." I won't take up this thread with all ten, but the third is relevant:

III.) Rattle not your tableware, nor strike it first against thy leg, then thy rib cage, all the while assuming the countenance of the stooge, for it is unclean and an abomination before me. Such apish behavior is damnable for seven generations.

Peter.