Do It Better

Build a Band (but better):

My process and how i did it better:

My first time completing this project was right before school was closed, so we barely got any time to work on it. It was a group project though so it was much more fun. It was kind of hard doing a project by myself. It was boring and I had no one to talk to and compare instruments with. But I decided to re-do the build a band project because my instrument did not turn out the way I liked it last time. I had a wind instrument before, so I tried to make a pan flute. However I must not have chosen the right material for the pipes because they did not turn out well. So for my do it better project I have chosen to fix my build a band instrument to make it much better than before. I decided to do chimes this time to switch things up since wind might not be the best choice for me any more. To make the vibrations and each note to sound correct, I found that metal works the best for the chime sound. I was able to go to the store and find these metal pipes that I cut into the right lengths for each note. Then once I made my instrument, I chose the same song as before because it was amazing, and I re-did the instrument description since I was now doing chimes instead of wind. After those were completed, my work here was done!

What i learned:

From re-doing the build a band project, I have learned a lot of things about hand-made instruments and how to build them to be the best they can be. The first time I did this project, I used pc pipes for my wind instrument. I learned though that vibrations don't bounce off of that material well enough to make each note sound the way it's supposed to. So for this project, I did it better and decided to build chimes. Chimes are all about vibrations, so I knew I had to find a material where the vibrations bounced off very well and produced each note perfectly. I decided on metal pipes as my chimes because when something strikes metal, it vibrates for a long time. So after completing my do it better project, I was able to put together a few things that I learned from it, which were that material has a huge part in making instruments and that metal is better than pc pipe or plastic because vibrations are able to bounce off the sides of the metal for much longer, creating the exact noise each note is supposed to sound like.

Content:

(same content as before)

• Frequency: the number of vibrations or waves per second. the equation is f = v/𝝺 and it is measured in Hertz (Hz)
• Wavelength: the distance from crest to crest of one wave (or compression to compression). the equation for wavelength is 𝝺 = v/f and it's measured in meters (m)
• Wave speed: this is how fast a wave travels (velocity). it's equation is v = 𝝺f and it's measured in meters/second (m/s)
• Period: the amount of time for one wave (or per vibration cycle). the equation for this is T = 1/f and it is measured in seconds (s)
• Amplitude: the height of a wave from the midline to the crest. there is no equation for amplitude, but it is measured in meters (m)
• Transverse wave: this is when particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of the wave motion. both longitudinal and transverse waves are models of how energy is transferred. no medium is required for transverse waves and they are found in an electromagnetic spectrum. light is also a transverse wave
• Longitudinal wave: this is when particles compress and rarify as energy moves along (parallel to wave motion). it is a model of how energy is transferred and it does require a medium. sound also travels in longitudinal waves
• Electromagnetic spectrum: it is the range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation extending from gamma rays to the longest radio waves and it even includes visible light

Reflection:

This project was fun just because I got to re-do something I have already done but make it even better. Chimes were way more fun to create rather than a wind instrument because I could hear the notes more clearly with the chimes. However, they were also harder to make than the pan flute I made last project. I had to find way more pieces and materials for the chimes than I did for my pan flute. For the pan flute all I had to do was find different lengths of pc pipes and a few quarters to block the bottoms, but for the chimes, I had to find metal pipes of different lengths and try to cut them which was very hard. I also needed to find wood or a structure of some type to hold them up. And I even needed something to tie them and something to hit them with in order to make each note.

But anyways, the project was still fun and I got to be more independent with this one. A few of the six C's I did well in were critical thinking and character. My critical thinking skills were pretty good for this project since I was by myself and had no one else to talk to or ask questions to. I had to think by myself and come up with answers and solutions for my problems. I am never good at critically thinking about things, so working independently forces me to do that. During this project, my character improved a lot too. I took my time and thought about things and how they worked, and I think that helped my character out because I wasn't rushing or stressing about anything since I knew I had everything under control. I had a lot more respect for myself this project since I was the only one working on it. Usually I have respect for my teammates, but because it was only me, my character improved as an individual.

But of course, I also did pretty bad in a few of the C's too. Along with all of the other projects, I didn't do well with conscientious learning. Even for our final project of the year, I still had very bad time managment. I am not sure why but it just takes me so long to do things during quarantine because I have no motivation and get distracted a lot. It is also the end of the school year so I am just ready for summer to start now. I did pretty bad with communication as well. Since I had no partners for this project, I had to rely on myself and my parents to help me out. I was bad at communicating with them though, so I never told them what materials I needed from the store until the last few days left. So I didn't do well with communication or conscientious learning for our last project :(