Make Your Own Instrument

Supplies and Materials

• Use a hollow tube (paper towel roll?)

• paint or color markers

• some type of beads to put inside (rice? Large beans? Small beans?)

• thin wire, pipe cleaners, or garden twine

• pencil

• paper

• tape

Assembly

Begin by creating an interesting design on your towel roll. You may want to add some images that have personal significance, describe some of the things that are happening right now, or show things we can do to help change the world into a better place. You make want to begin with a pencil sketch, especially if you want a more intricate or detailed picture or pattern. Now add some colour.

Now you need something for the beans to HIT on their way down through the tube. Find some kind of wire (pipe cleaners? Garden twine?) and wrap it round and round a pencil. Seal one side of your tube by cutting a circle of paper a little larger than the end of your roll and taping it firmly in place. Remove the pencil from inside your twirled wire and stick the wire and the beans inside the tube. Seal the other end.

I Wonder...

• Listen to the sounds your rainstick can produce. Does it sound different when you tip it slowly?

• How does the speed of the tip change the sound?

• Is it louder when you tip it completely upside down?

• What changes when you use small pieces of rice? lima beans? small pebbles?

• How does the sound change when you have both small and large beans?

• What do you think the science behind why your instrument produces different sounds is?

Supplies and Materials

Find 6-8 identical glass containers (glasses, pop bottles, jars…)

Assembly

Fill them with different amounts of water. Add food colouring if you like.

Two ways to play them:

1. "Hit" the sides of the containers. Sound will vibrate in the glass, so the amount of water in the bottle is the “length” of your instrument.

2. "Blow" across, not into, the openings of the bottles. Sound will vibrate in air so the amount of air, not water, in the bottle is the “size” of your instrument.

I Wonder...

• If there's lots of air in the bottle, is the sound higher or lower? If there is only a small amount of air in the container, is the sound higher or lower?

• How does this compare to other instruments you know about, like Boomwhackers or a wooden xylophone?

• Do longer instruments produce lower sounds? or shorter instruments?

• Can you research why this instrument works to produce sounds and why the sounds are different depending on their length?

• See if you can explain the science behind your homemade instrument to a family member.

To see the experiment, you can also visit : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at5hnotr1vo

Did you know that straws can make music… or rather, that if you cut drinking straws into different lengths, they will make different sounds when you blow into them?

Supplies and Materials

You will need 8-16 straws, some sticky tape and a pair of scissors.

Assembly

Cut your straws into 4 or more different lengths (2 of each same length). Pull out a long strip of sticky tape and line up the straws on the sticky side, arranging them in twos from the shortest ones to the longest ones. (Make sure all the straws are LINED UP across the top.)

Secure well with more sticky tape so that the straws will not move around. Blow ACROSS the tops of the straws (open holes should be facing UP) not INTO them to get the best sound.

I wonder...

• Can you play a simple melody on your pan flute?

• Can you play hot cross buns?

• What about Mary Had A Little Lamb?

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Pan-Flute-Out-of-Straws/

Supplies and Materials

• Strong box (shoe box works), plastic or styrofoam container

• rubber bands of different widths and lengths

• pencils

Assembly

Simply wrap the bands around the box.

I Wonder...

• Which bands make the highest sounds? the lowest sounds?

• What happens if you move the rubber band on a diagonal?

• What about if you put a pencil underneath all the strings to lift them up a bit?

Supplies and Materials

• 2 Popsicle Sticks ~ We used the wide ones

• 2 Rubber Bands ~ You could also use string

• A strip of paper the same size as the Popsicle Stick

• 2 toothpicks cut the width or just wider than the Popsicle Stick

Assembly

• Sandwich the paper strip in between the 2 popsicle stickls

• Wrap a rubber band around one end until it is snug

• Slide a toothpick to the inside of the rubber band

• Sandwich the last toothpick at the other end of the popsicle sticks and wrap with a rubber band

It might work best if you place one toothpick on top of the paper and one toothpick under the paper. You can click here for images: http://www.housingaforest.com/popsicle-stick-harmonica/

I Wonder...

• Do you get a better “buzzing” sound when you breathe in or out?

• When the toothpicks are on the outside ends of the rubber bands or on the inside of where you’ve tied the rubber bands

• Is there a change when you insert 2 toothpicks or just 1?

• What if the toothpicks are the flat? rounded?

Supplies and Materials

• 28 oz (236 mL) plastic water bottles

• 2 toilet paper rolls

• Electrical tape (colorful, if possible)

• Filling For your maracas. (Sand, salt, pebbles, birdseed, rice, beans, small beads, large beads, dried pasta, rice, dried peas or beans, small washers, paper clips, small erasers.) Try 2 different fillings, one for each hand to get different “pitches”.

Assembly

Fill your maracas and tighten (or hot glue) the cap on your two water bottles. The next step is to create the handle. Take your two toilet paper rolls and make a straight cut from one end to the other. Tighten the roll in on itself to about the size of a 3/4 inch dowel and then apply your electrical tape. Start wrapping the tape around the bottom part of the rattle on the bottle and move down onto the new handle. Wrap slowly, covering all the cardboard of the toilet paper roll and you will have created a rather sturdy handle for your new instrument.

I Wonder...

• Does the sound change depending on what you fill your maraca with?

• Can you go to the Rhythm Reading section of the website and try to play along with some of the activities using your home-made percussive instrument?

• Can you teach another family member how to play along with you?