The musical instrument project was very enjoyable as it involved a lot of work with wood and drills, etc which i like. To start it off, we all got in about ten different groups around the room based on our musical interests. It started with something very soft, it might have been lullabies and ranged to heavy death metal. I was in the middle of the rap and pop, which was right next to each other. Then, we were to get with 4 people of similar music interests and begin. In my group was Justin Keizer, Alex Sheron, and Connor Moylan. Our task was to create three fully functioning instruments using only what we had in the classroom (pvc pipe, metal pipe, wood, screws, wire). We had to make three types of instruments, a woodwind, a string, and a percussion instrument. We settled on making a clarinet-trumpet hybrid, a ukelele, and chimes.
Woodwind
The first thing we did was work on our clarinet. We decided that we wanted to use pvc pipe to make it and that making a mouthpiece was too much time and that we could blow on the end of the pipe like a trumpet and it would make a sound. We tried many different pipe sizes to see what worked best. We saw that the smaller the pipe, the easier it was to make a sound and the better it sounded. But, we had to have all eight notes of an octave so the pipe had to be long enough to cut 8 holes for the right frequency for the correct notes. We got a piece of pipe and we cut it as short as we could while still having the eight holes in the right spots. We tried to play it and it didn’t sound very good. We put in all of the holes and it sounded still bad when we played it, but we had a trumpet player try and it sounded pretty good.
The first thing we did was work on our clarinet. We decided that we wanted to use pvc pipe to make it and that making a mouthpiece was too much time and that we could blow on the end of the pipe like a trumpet and it would make a sound. We tried many different pipe sizes to see what worked best. We saw that the smaller the pipe, the easier it was to make a sound and the better it sounded. But, we had to have all eight notes of an octave so the pipe had to be long enough to cut 8 holes for the right frequency for the correct notes. We got a piece of pipe and we cut it as short as we could while still having the eight holes in the right spots. We tried to play it and it didn’t sound very good. We put in all of the holes and it sounded still bad when we played it, but we had a trumpet player try and it sounded pretty good.
Strings
Next, we worked on our strings instrument. We were making a 4 stringed ukulele. To begin, we made a small box with a hole in it to amplify the sound. The box was about 8x8 inches. THen, we attached a long neck to one side of the box that was 65 centimeters long. We had to also attach a small wooden block under it to stabilize it so it wouldn't break off. Next, we put on the strings. We used thick fishing wire and attached them by wrapping the wire around a screw and then drilling that screw into the wood. This was very difficult as we had to pull the strings as tight as we could to get enough tension, and we had to have it at a certain length. We had to do this many times because the wire would snap or become way too loose.
Next, we worked on our strings instrument. We were making a 4 stringed ukulele. To begin, we made a small box with a hole in it to amplify the sound. The box was about 8x8 inches. THen, we attached a long neck to one side of the box that was 65 centimeters long. We had to also attach a small wooden block under it to stabilize it so it wouldn't break off. Next, we put on the strings. We used thick fishing wire and attached them by wrapping the wire around a screw and then drilling that screw into the wood. This was very difficult as we had to pull the strings as tight as we could to get enough tension, and we had to have it at a certain length. We had to do this many times because the wire would snap or become way too loose.
Strings
Next, we worked on our strings instrument. We were making a 4 stringed ukulele. To begin, we made a small box with a hole in it to amplify the sound. The box was about 6x6x2 inches. THen, we attached a long board to one side of the box. We had to also attach a small wooden block under it to stabilize it so it wouldn't break off. Next, we put on the strings. We used thick fishing wire and attached them by wrapping the wire around a screw and then drilling that screw into the wood. This was very difficult as we had to pull the strings as tight as we could to get enough tension, and we had to have it at a certain length. We had to do this many times because the wire would snap or become way too loose.
Next, we worked on our strings instrument. We were making a 4 stringed ukulele. To begin, we made a small box with a hole in it to amplify the sound. The box was about 6x6x2 inches. THen, we attached a long board to one side of the box. We had to also attach a small wooden block under it to stabilize it so it wouldn't break off. Next, we put on the strings. We used thick fishing wire and attached them by wrapping the wire around a screw and then drilling that screw into the wood. This was very difficult as we had to pull the strings as tight as we could to get enough tension, and we had to have it at a certain length. We had to do this many times because the wire would snap or become way too loose.
Reflection
This project was frustrating because everything kept breaking, but I enjoyed it. I had my friends in my group and we ended with a good product.
Peak: When trying to get all the notes for the chimes, we immediately found four of the eight that we needed. It saved us a lot of time.
Peak: We had built out ukulele and it was done, but we had a problem. No one had any idea how to play the eight different notes. But, while another group was presenting, I watched them and figured out how to do it. And our presentation was good.
Pit: Someone in our group didn't do any work. He was either to other groups or in his phone. We still got the work done, but it would've been easier if they had helped out.
Pit: Our guitar strings kept snapping and coming loose. We had to restring it probably 5 times. It was very frustrating but we had to do it if we wanted it to sound good.
This project was frustrating because everything kept breaking, but I enjoyed it. I had my friends in my group and we ended with a good product.
Peak: When trying to get all the notes for the chimes, we immediately found four of the eight that we needed. It saved us a lot of time.
Peak: We had built out ukulele and it was done, but we had a problem. No one had any idea how to play the eight different notes. But, while another group was presenting, I watched them and figured out how to do it. And our presentation was good.
Pit: Someone in our group didn't do any work. He was either to other groups or in his phone. We still got the work done, but it would've been easier if they had helped out.
Pit: Our guitar strings kept snapping and coming loose. We had to restring it probably 5 times. It was very frustrating but we had to do it if we wanted it to sound good.