Build a Band
Our Task
My group of four was tasked with each building instrument capable of playing 8 notes. At first, we had planned to make a flute, bass guitar, drums, and another flute. After thought and consideration, we decided it would be easier to make a tambourine, flute, drums, and a guitar for a larger range/variety of sounds. We had 6 build days to complete this project.
Guitar
My guitar creates vibrations by plucking the strings over a box to propagate the sound. The box below the strings amplifies the sound and spreads it over a larger area while allowing a natural vibration to effect. The planned wavelengths of my guitar range from C5, the highest, at 65 centimeters to C4, the highest, at 130 centimeters. Unfortunately, I was not able to get one of my notes, B4. The string length of my instrument is half of the wavelength. Strings with shorter wavelengths and higher tension play higher notes. On my instrument to change the notes, you can either tighten/loosen the strings or replace the strings with thicker or thinner strings. Tightening the strings and/or replacing them with thinner strings will result in a higher note. Loosening the strings and/or replacing them with thicker strings will result in lower notes. This instrument used longitudinal waves rather than transverse as its way of sending sound to the listener. The frequency of my instrument is not high enough to produce dangerous ionizing waves.
Reflection
This project was so much fun. We had the opportunity to design and build instruments from scratch. During this project, I believe that I excelled at Critical Thinking and Creativity. There were multiple times during this project when I had trouble constructing my instrument, but I persevered and found workarounds. To make my instrument more visually appealing I added a maker's mark and filed down the end of the stem for a cooler look. I believe that I could have done better during the communication and collaboration only because this was a mostly solo project.