Our school wants to create an end-of-year jam session jubilee to celebrate all of the hard work we’ve done this year. We need you to be part of our school-wide band but we can’t give anyone instruments since the school building is closed! In this project, you will learn about how instruments were first made and what they were used for. You will then have the opportunity to experiment making sounds with different resources you have available in and around your home. At the end of two weeks you will share with other Watershed Turtles what you have discovered about creating a special sound for our jam session jubilee!

In the second half of this 4 week project you will be creating an instrument that you will play in our end-of-year celebration. Make it fun, make it snazzy, make it yours.

Weeks 1 & 2: Sound Off!

OUTCOMES:

I can…

• Identify how instruments produce sound.

• Find objects that can be reused to create instruments.

• Use objects to make sound.

• Compare and contrast the sounds I make.

Step 1 - THINK ABOUT IT: Sounds are all around us

1. How do instruments produce sound? Make a list or tell a family member about some instruments you know about. How do they work? Do they produce high pitches or low pitches?

Step 2 - LEARN ABOUT IT: Seeking Sounds

New Vocabulary:

• Sound - a form of energy we can hear that is created when matter vibrates

• Vibration - a rapid movement back and forth

• Sound Wave - a vibration that travels through the air

• Musical Instrument - an object that can be used to produce a sound or create music

• Rhythm - a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound

• Natural resource - A natural resource is something that is found in nature and can be used by people. Earth's natural resources include light, air, water, plants, animals, soil, stone, minerals, and fossil fuels. People need some natural resources to stay alive. They use others to make their lives better.

• Pitch - How high or low a musical sound, or note is.

Any object that can be used to produce sound or create music can be considered a musical instrument. Musical instruments are found in almost all cultures and periods of history.

Musical instruments were used for rituals and religious ceremonies, communication, hunting, and entertainment.

Many of the earliest instruments were made using natural resources like animal hides, horns, bones, stones, shells, clay, and wood from trees. These instruments looked different depending on where they were made because different natural resources are available in different places. For instance many instruments in Asia are made from bamboo because that is what grows there naturally. In Australia the wood of the eucalyptus tree was frequently used because that is what is most available. As you look at the slideshow below, think about how the resources available might have impacted the instruments that people made.

Step 3 - TRY IT: Students will experiment with ready-made, household and natural resources to make music.

1. Find 3 resources in your home that you can use to make a sound.

2. Find 3 resources in nature that you can use to make a sound.

Step 4 - Final Product ASSESSMENT: Create a Sound Story

1. Reflect on the different sounds made by each of the resources that you tried. Pick your favorite sound that you discovered these past two weeks and draw a picture, write a story, or create a video showing others how to create your sound.

Weeks 3 & 4: Come Together

OUTCOMES:

I can…

• I can find and list resources that can produce sound that are available in nature and found materials in the home.

• I can explain the techniques I used to create my instrument.

• I can produce sound with my instrument.

• I can create an instrument using resources available in nature and found materials in our home.

• I can join a shared performance using my instrument to celebrate the conclusion of our inaugural year as a school family.

Step 1 - THINK ABOUT IT: What natural resources are available to you use for your instrument

1. Look in and around your home to discover what resources you can use to make your instrument.

2. Test out the different resources. What sounds can they produce?

3. Think about the volume and sound of the resource and see if you can change them through the way you interact with each object.

4. Do you have any ideas about how the various materials that you’ve been testing for the last two weeks affect the sound your instrument makes? What about:

• metal vs wood

• hollow vs. solid

• rough vs. smooth

• large vs. small

• long vs. short

Step 2 - LEARN ABOUT IT: Construction Techniques

New Vocabulary:

Pitch - How high or low a musical sound, or note is.

Timbre - A quality of sound such as richness or color.

Rhythm - A strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.

Vibration - A rapid movement back and forth.

Volume - The measure of loudness.

Sensational Sounds

An instrument creates sound when part of it vibrates rapidly. The column of air inside a wind instrument, the string of a string instrument, or the stretched skin of a drum all vibrate when played. This vibration produces sound waves in the air, which we hear as musical notes.

Listening and Learning About Sound

Creating

How will you put the different pieces of your instrument together? There are lots of ways to join materials and resources. First decide on what type of materials you want to use, then decide on the best way to attach them!

Don’t have any tape or glue at home? Try these attachment methods using string, pipe cleaners, & more!

Look inside and outside for resources that you can use to hold the parts of your instrument together- string, twine yarn, vines, grasses, staples, rubber bands, wire, fishing line- the possibilities are endless! Try different ways of attaching the parts together- wrapping, tying, weaving, sewing, stringing stapling, even stacking!

Resources:

What resources do you have at your house? A resource is anything that you can make something out of, a natural resource in something that occurs naturally that you can make into something useful. Look at the list below and think about what other resources you have available.

Our resources are limited since we are not in school. Keep in mind that in the past many people around the world were limited to the resources they could find around them because it was all they had. There were no stores to visit, they had to make the things they needed. Have fun being creative and experimenting with the resources you can gather!

**Optional Extension: All of the man-made objects we interact with are actually made from natural resources, even though they don’t always seem that way. Rubber bands are made from rubber which comes from a tree. Shellac is made from insect slime trails! Even a smartphone is made from various components that have been processed and manufactured from natural substances. Pick something in your home that doesn’t seem natural and research how it’s made and what natural resources were used.

Watch this presentation to see how other artists have combined art and sound to get inspired!

Step 3 - TRY IT: Make your instrument

1. Try different ways to create your instrument. Watch the presentation below for ideas of how to create your own instrument using everyday items, food, and natural resources. How can you make your instrument create the most pleasing sound possible? Look at this website for different ways to experiment with your instrument.

2. Gather all the resources you’ve found over the last two weeks that make sounds you enjoy. Where did the resources come from? Did you find them in nature? Is there a story about how your family came to own the object?

3. Think about how you create a sound with your resource. Do you play the strings on it? Do you blow air on or through it? Did you stretch something over an object like a drum? Is it solid? Look at the chart below for suggestions on how to experiment with and get different sounds from your instrument.

4. Try different ways to make your instrument. Once you have finalized how it works and it is constructed, take time to make it look as nice as it sounds! Make sure to test out your instrument with everything you add because it can change the sound!

Step 4 - Final Product ASSESSMENT: Use your instrument to produce sound independently, in a group and create a diagram labeling where your resources used in construction were found.

1. Now that you have made an instrument, use the instrument to produce sound in your specials class. Ms. Hogan will showcase and share the music composition your grade level will play in the End-of-Year Turtle Jubilee Jam Session.

2. If you are able to, record yourself playing your instrument and explaining what resources you used. Share it with your classroom teacher, Ms. Hogan and Mrs. Newport.

3. Make a diagram of your instrument. Now label each of the resources you used to make your instrument and what category your instrument would be in (Strings, Air, Stretched, Solid, Unclassified).

For example, if you used fishing line to make a string instrument, label the fishing line. Here are some examples:

3. Attend the End-of-Year Turtle Jubilee Jam Session and play with your entire Turtle Family online on June 10th at 12:30pm.