Cats and musical instruments.

I have an 8~9 months old birman female cat and recently I was playing an irish whistle and she seemed to like the sound of it. She jumped on my lap and started to rub her face on the instrument.
Another day I was playing a guitar and she started making some funny noises, something between cackling and laughing. It was a very unusual sound, I've never heard she make that before. And it seems that the sound of the guitar is not pleasant for her (or maybe it's my playing ) beacause if I keep playing she runs away.
Have any of you experienced anything like this?
BTW, its an acoustic guitar, not electric, so she's not complaining about the volume.

My cats love guitars. One of them, Pearl, sleeps among the cases in the closet. When she comes out, she usually sit beside one somewhere in the house, (they're everywhere)and gives it "kitty loves." When we still had Leo named for guitar builder, Leo Fender, he would always lay between 2 guitars and sleep, or roll on his back. When my s/o would sit on the couch and play, Leo would lay his head against the the guitar and purr like crazy. We can't leave a case open, or there will be Fred and Georgia sleeping in it. I am thinking about looking for an old case to make a kitty bed out of.

Back in the days when I had time to play my electric guitar, when Midnight was an only cat, he would lounge in the empty case when I had the guitar out. He never seemed to mind the music, with or without the amp!

Max seems to like when I sing, she comes up to me and jumps on my lap and meows. Then again, maybe she's pleading with me to shut up already!

My husband and I are both professional musicians, he plays clarinet and I play piano. Our cat Buster just can't stand the clarinet. She only has to see Phil taking it out of the case and she literally runs away immediately. Little Maestro, on the other hand, will sit right next to him and seems fascinated by it. He also likes to sit on the piano while I play and watch my fingers. I think he likes feeling the sound vibrations underneath him. Buster doesn't mind piano either, though she likes to sit underneath when Maestro's not around.
I have also discovered that when Buster is feeling touchy and is growling at Maestro, if I start to sing or hum very softly, it seems to calm her down.
I read in this book called Dancing with Cats, that cats have music tastes just like us, and that if you can find out which type of music your cat likes (which they apparently show by swaying or beating their tail in time!) you can even get them to dance with you. I tried it once and only once - Buster just looked at me like I'd gone completely wacko!

I just finished an article about two feral cats who play the guitar. They even have cut a CD called Hiss Hop- The Happenin Cats! It was a fascinating interview and the story was fun to write.

"Canned" music seems to disturb JC, but he loves it live. My husband plays all types of guitar (classical, flamenco, blues, metal), and the cat hangs around whenever he's playing. What he really loves is the piano. As soon as hubby is playing, the cat joins him, often sitting right on his lap. JC also tries to play the piano himself, but the sound is indescribable. He also "plays" our telephone/fax machine - he likes the sound it makes when you press the buttons.

We did share a house with a friend of my partner's. He plays an electric guitar and Russell didn't like it at all. I didn't like it much either. It was loud and more deafening than soothing.

Though there is one piece of Cuban music that I have that features a guitar that Russell and Esper seem mesmerised by and become very calm by it. Needless to say this is the music I play during nights of unrest.

Though generally, their tails make the best little metronomes as they flick them in time with the beat of most music that I play.

I had a mama cat that would turn on the radio. She would stand on her hind feet, and stretch up to get the button. Then she would lay on the couch with her kittens and relax. If we changed it from the classic rock station, she would leave the room.

Bobbie loves jazz. She gets really playful... The old stuff not the new type of jazz.... she'll leave the room if it's anything else.

Peaches hides when I have music on. About the only music she likes is the sound of birds chirping! LOL

The cats don't mind listening to music as long as it's not blaring! It was funny the first time Tiki heard me singing. I love to sing and when I'm by myself I'll put in a CD & sing right along with it.
Tiki wasn't sure what was going on! She'd look at me with such a funny face...like mass confusion! The other two are so used it, it doesn't affect them at all. I've noticed if I'm singing a ballad, both Echo and Bud will sprawl on the floor, stretch out completely and zonk out. Tiki's still not digging my singing! I don't blame her though...I'm rather rusty now!

Fred loves me to sing to him. He likes to be held on my shoulder and have me sing softly in his ear. He will stay that way for hours. Once when we were moving, I discovered if I played the radio, the cats would stop howling. With about 4 hours left on the trip, the radio quit, and the cats started. It was either sing to them, or listen to them. I was hoarse by the time we got to the end of the trip.