Build a band
This project started with us learning about sound waves then we started blueprinting musical instruments, we could choose string,wind, or chime instruments. I chose a guitar so i chose a string instrument.
Build a Band
By: Chloe, Holly, Howard, and Landon
For our project we had to design and build a band which had at least three instruments which you have to perform to the class. The instruments must all be able to play the notes A through G. One of our instruments must use strings, one must use air movement (like a brass or wood or wind style instrument), and one must use chimes or something that you hit to make vibrations and noise. Our driving questions was:
How are waves used to create music?
Chimes: -chloe and holly
In order to create a chime instrument, there are a few very important key things to know. Chimes are dependent on the natural frequency of a material to make sound. If you use a material like paper, you won’t get much sound, while if you use metal, you will get a lot of sound. This is due to the thickness and composition of metal compared to paper. Harder materials usually work much better than soft material.
Our chime instrument is made from metal pipes with different lengths but the same thickness. The length of the pipes changes the pitch of each chime. --This is because if you have a short pipe, there is less room on the metal for the sound to vibrate, while a long pipe has much more room. The more length, the more metal the sound has to vibrate on.
We started off with a 26.5 cm pipe as our longest pipe. We then used a chart to figure out how long each pipe should be. By taking the length (26.5cm) and multiplying it by a number for each different Major, we were given a length for each of our 7 pipes. We then cut each of these pipes to length. Below is the chart we used for the multiplying numbers along with the lengths we found using those numbers. Plus, the notes found from each different length pipe.
Interval
Notes
Multiply Longest Chime Length by
Length (cm)
Unison
B6
1.0000
26
Major second
C7
0.9428
24.5
Major third
D7
0.8944
23.3
Fourth
E7
0.8660
21.9
Fifth
F7
0.8165
21
Major sixth
G7
0.7746
20.1
Major seventh
A7
0.7303
18.9
Wind: -howie
In order to create a wind instrument one must know the basic working of a wave and how they interact through certain mediums. In a wind instrument a long curved or straight tube is needed to blow wind through to allow the waves to be made either by the splitting of air (flute) of the vibrations of the player's lips (trumpet).
For our group we decided on a flute like design that would rely on the splitting of air to create the vibrations that would create the sound waves. The long PVC pipe would be the tube of the flute that would hold one quarter of a wavelength. Then holes would be drilled into various parts of the 24 inch long tube. The hole that is blown into is just slightly larger and has flied down edges that split the air more efficiently than the regular thickness of the tube. Below is the wavelengths of the different notes.
Notes on Flute
Length of Tube(cm)
F4
65,4
E5
27,27
D5
32,5
C5
37,65
B4
43,6
A4
46,9
G4
52,95
Because the tube had a smaller diameter, the distances of the holes has to be altered.
The flute doesn't work perfectly due to human error. Some of the holes may not be perfectly placed and calculations of the distances may be off. There is also an issue that I am not a flute player and struggle with being able to make the correct form to get the air to split right.
String: -landon
String Instruments, How do they work? Well string instruments make sound by vibrating strings, You can change pitch by changing thickness,tension, or length of the strings.So i changed the tension and length of the strings. I changed the length of the strings to make half of the wavelength of a note to produce that note, for example if a C4 was 50cm. the string length would be 25cm. The tension makes the pitch higher or lower. These changes alter the vibrations in the string resulting in different wave frequencies. String instruments vary from a simple lyre to the modern guitar then to the classic piano or violin.
Our group chose to make somewhat of a banjo using an octagonal base that is 14in x 14.5in x 3.5in, the base has a hole in the middle as well to increase its amplitude and the neck of the guitar that is 58.5in x 3.5in.
Note
wavelength
Frequency
String Length
A3
156.82
220
78
B3
139.71
246.94
70
C4
131.87
261.63
66
D4
117.48
293.66
59
E4
104.66
329.63
52
F4
98.79
349.23
49
G4
88.01
392
44
By: Chloe, Holly, Howard, and Landon
For our project we had to design and build a band which had at least three instruments which you have to perform to the class. The instruments must all be able to play the notes A through G. One of our instruments must use strings, one must use air movement (like a brass or wood or wind style instrument), and one must use chimes or something that you hit to make vibrations and noise. Our driving questions was:
How are waves used to create music?
Chimes: -chloe and holly
In order to create a chime instrument, there are a few very important key things to know. Chimes are dependent on the natural frequency of a material to make sound. If you use a material like paper, you won’t get much sound, while if you use metal, you will get a lot of sound. This is due to the thickness and composition of metal compared to paper. Harder materials usually work much better than soft material.
Our chime instrument is made from metal pipes with different lengths but the same thickness. The length of the pipes changes the pitch of each chime. --This is because if you have a short pipe, there is less room on the metal for the sound to vibrate, while a long pipe has much more room. The more length, the more metal the sound has to vibrate on.
We started off with a 26.5 cm pipe as our longest pipe. We then used a chart to figure out how long each pipe should be. By taking the length (26.5cm) and multiplying it by a number for each different Major, we were given a length for each of our 7 pipes. We then cut each of these pipes to length. Below is the chart we used for the multiplying numbers along with the lengths we found using those numbers. Plus, the notes found from each different length pipe.
Interval
Notes
Multiply Longest Chime Length by
Length (cm)
Unison
B6
1.0000
26
Major second
C7
0.9428
24.5
Major third
D7
0.8944
23.3
Fourth
E7
0.8660
21.9
Fifth
F7
0.8165
21
Major sixth
G7
0.7746
20.1
Major seventh
A7
0.7303
18.9
Wind: -howie
In order to create a wind instrument one must know the basic working of a wave and how they interact through certain mediums. In a wind instrument a long curved or straight tube is needed to blow wind through to allow the waves to be made either by the splitting of air (flute) of the vibrations of the player's lips (trumpet).
For our group we decided on a flute like design that would rely on the splitting of air to create the vibrations that would create the sound waves. The long PVC pipe would be the tube of the flute that would hold one quarter of a wavelength. Then holes would be drilled into various parts of the 24 inch long tube. The hole that is blown into is just slightly larger and has flied down edges that split the air more efficiently than the regular thickness of the tube. Below is the wavelengths of the different notes.
Notes on Flute
Length of Tube(cm)
F4
65,4
E5
27,27
D5
32,5
C5
37,65
B4
43,6
A4
46,9
G4
52,95
Because the tube had a smaller diameter, the distances of the holes has to be altered.
The flute doesn't work perfectly due to human error. Some of the holes may not be perfectly placed and calculations of the distances may be off. There is also an issue that I am not a flute player and struggle with being able to make the correct form to get the air to split right.
String: -landon
String Instruments, How do they work? Well string instruments make sound by vibrating strings, You can change pitch by changing thickness,tension, or length of the strings.So i changed the tension and length of the strings. I changed the length of the strings to make half of the wavelength of a note to produce that note, for example if a C4 was 50cm. the string length would be 25cm. The tension makes the pitch higher or lower. These changes alter the vibrations in the string resulting in different wave frequencies. String instruments vary from a simple lyre to the modern guitar then to the classic piano or violin.
Our group chose to make somewhat of a banjo using an octagonal base that is 14in x 14.5in x 3.5in, the base has a hole in the middle as well to increase its amplitude and the neck of the guitar that is 58.5in x 3.5in.
Note
wavelength
Frequency
String Length
A3
156.82
220
78
B3
139.71
246.94
70
C4
131.87
261.63
66
D4
117.48
293.66
59
E4
104.66
329.63
52
F4
98.79
349.23
49
G4
88.01
392
44