BUild a band
In this project my group consisting of Nick Radcliffe and Joe Maliaras, we were tasked to create three instruments, one wind, string, and percussion. Each of these instruments had to be able to play a full musical scale of 7 notes.
instrument #1 - The Harmonica
This instrument is the harmonica made from regular wood, masking tape, staples, and rubber bands. We came upon making this instrument from looking online for instruments that were able to be made by hand and this was one of the first websites. We began constructing an earlier version of this, by taking a popsickle -stick and wrapping the making tape multiple times around each end, then put the rubber band around from end to end, and lastly taping another popsickle-stick in line with the other. This worked, but it wasn't loud enough to hear well, so we enlarged the prototype using the wood shown in the picture and also more tape. For making the different notes was all from varying and testing the amounts of tape, how far apart the tape is, and the type of rubberbands.
instrument #2 - The guitar
Instrument #3 - the drums
description
Wind Instrument:
For our wind instrument, we made many harmonicas that all made different
notes. Our large harmonica is made of wood, rubber bands, tape, and
staples. Our harmonica has a total of 8 harmonicas stapled together.
This harmonica works by blowing into it causing the rubber band to vibrate
creating sound. To find the different notes, we had to configure the rubber
band’s tension and figure out where to tape the rubber band so we can shorten or
increase the wavelength. If we shorten the wavelength we increase the
frequency and the pitch. Also, if we want to increase the pitch, we can blow
harder causing the rubber band to vibrate faster.
Guitar:
First for the guitar, we had to find a solid wood plank. We
found a brown Walnut wood plank. that is 32in long. To find the different notes,
we had to measure the length of the string from the mini wood block to the fret
of the certain note. We then had to found a glass bottle and glued it on to the
wood plank to amplify the sound of the strings. We put screws on the front of
the wood plank so that we could attach the the wire to the screws. While we were
attaching the wire, we made the strings slide over the glass bottle because that
will help the strings be tighter. We tightened the wire around the screw
and then ziptied it to the screws. Then, when we had our strings tightened, we
found the different notes by using a digital tuner. We use a metal pipe to get
the all seven notes out of our strings. That is how our guitar works.
Drums-
The drums are made from cardboard, cedar wood, plastic, plastic golf balls and
also two popsickle drumsticks. All of these parts consrtuct two seperate box
drums. One of the boxes with cardboard and golf balls forms a snare drum and
when hit the balls rattle giving the notes of C and A. The rattle of the balls
vibrates on the cardboard and expands on to whatever surface it's on. The other
part of the drums has the rest of the notes. each of the sides has different
properties and aspects to create the notes. This box is 25 by 26
cm.
NOTE
A4 440.00 78.41
B4 493.88 69.85
C4 261.6 131.87
D4 293.66 117.48
E4 329.63 104.66
F4 349.23 98.79
G4 392.00 88.01
Reflection
I learned quite a few things and gained some new experiences from doing this project with my awesome group of Nick Radcliffe and Joe Maliaras. Some of the things that I learned from creating these instruments is many musical concepts, scientific items like vibrations and air flow, but also more constructive ways to work with my group. During this project I believe our group was extremely productive and well time oriented. From the very start of the project we were dedicated and worked hard on creating good and original instruments, that worked. Throughout the rest of the project we maintained this process and completed each of these instruments with diligence.