Make It
How are musical instruments made?
Introduction
Music and other sounds accompany us throughout our daily lives, sometimes by choice and sometimes in the background. But unless we are practicing musicians, how often do we stop to think about how this music was made, or, moreover, how the instruments producing the music were made? We can easily list the names of famous musicians and our favorite artists, but what about the artists who made the musical instruments?
Making musical instruments involves using materials that produce desired sounds. The materials and methods used to make instruments vary regionally and are influenced by distinct musical tastes, traditions, and practices. The makers of the instruments you see here were highly skilled in their craft. They carefully considered their materials, construction methods, and decorative techniques in order to make their instruments both sonically and visually pleasing.
Genres of Musical Instruments
Most importantly, each of the instruments you see here was designed in a particular way in order to produce desired sounds. Percussion instruments—like bells and drums—make sound when they are hit. Drums have hollow bodies that amplify the noise of the impact on a stretched membrane (or “head”); drums can be tuned by loosening or tightening the head. The size of the drum affects the pitch. Instruments such as chimes and bells are designed with complex profiles, bumps, and grooves to optimize the sound of each strike. The maker engineers the optimal physical structure of the instrument in terms of material, size, density, and thickness in order to create sounds that are most pleasing to the ear and so that the sound vibrations are appropriately tuned.
Stringed instruments make sound when their strings are vibrated; the pitch is modified by the thickness, tension, and length of the string. Stringed instruments can be plucked, bowed, or, in the case of the piano—which is known as both a string and percussion instrument—struck.
Wind instruments—like flutes—are hollow tubes that produce sounds when air is blown into one end. Most woodwind instruments have keys or finger holes that allow musicians to play different notes and vary the pitch of the sound.
The instruments featured in Mia’s collection reflect traditional or classical forms of music from their respective countries. These are but a few examples of the many different instruments from Asia. We encourage you to take some time to research and share more examples of different instruments from Asia that aren’t featured in our collection.
While Asian musicians continue to carry on traditional and folk musical styles, they have also long been influenced and inspired by Western and other non-Western musical traditions. With the invention of electronic and digital instruments, musicians have been able to create and experiment with a greatly expanded range of sounds. Some Asian musicians produce techno, experimental, and noise music that challenges traditional music practices.
Video: Make It activity: bell
Video: Make It activity: stringed instrument
Try It!
Gather a selection of found or common objects from the classroom, from nature, and/or from home and explore different ways to produce sounds.
Close your eyes. Listen closely. How do you describe the sounds you hear?
How do you interact with the object to make sounds? Do you use your hands and fingers, or do you use another object?
Compare the different sounds you hear, and eventually sort your objects by material and/or the sounds they make.
Create a composition or a soundscape either independently or as a class. Depending on your class’s composition skills, consider creating basic beats, patterns, and rhythmic structures and experimenting and improvising to organize the sounds into a soundscape.
Time: 30 min. or up to 2 class periods
Materials: Found objects
Guiding Questions:
What is sound? How do we make sounds and music?Found objects are an important part of the history of music: the earliest musicians in the world made music with the natural objects around them. What are some common natural objects and the “musical” sounds they might make?
Do It!
Make your own instruments.
Bell: Materials: A range of different size terra-cotta flowerpots, cord, scissors, beads (larger than the drain openings on the pots), liquid glue, paint, paint brushes, and an object to strike the bell such as a pencil, stick, or dowel. Start by painting the terra-cotta pots in any color and with any decorations that each student prefers. Cut a length of cord, twine, or string and insert one end through the hole in the flowerpot. Tie a knot to make a large loop at the end of the cord outside the flowerpot so the bell can be hung or suspended. Then slide a bead onto the other end of the cord, inside the flowerpot—the bead should be large enough that it won’t slip through the hole. Leaving about 6 inches of cord free between the large loop and the bead, glue the bead to the opening of the flowerpot to keep it secure and tie a knot just below the bead to keep it snugly in place. Continue the same process with flowerpots of different sizes and strike the pots using pencils or dowels as mallets to explore the range of sounds they make.
Stringed instrument: Materials: Box, duct tape, pencils, rubber bands, and scissors. For a clear tutorial on how to design and build your own stringed instrument, check out this resource from Design Squad Global by PBS Kids.
Flute: Materials: Inexpensive plumber’s pipe (PVC), a drill and drill bits, sandpaper (and dust masks if not wet sanding), ruler, a pencil for marking, a vise or clamp to hold the pipe for drilling, and an online tuner of your choice or free tuning app such as Pano Tuner or Pitchlab. Here is a simple how-to for flute building.
Drum: Materials: Packing tape; plastic paint pail; scissors or knife; 5-gallon bucket, or even wide-diameter PVC drainpipe in 12- to 18-inch sections. If you use a pail you will need to cut a hole in the side or bottom of your drum for air to move in and out. Cut the air hole for (or with) students before stretching the tape over the top. Stretch several strips of tape over the opening of the pail (or one end of the pipe) from one side to the other, leaving about 3 inches of tape overhanging the sides. Repeat, rotating the bucket to make sure there are no gaps. Smooth down the overhanging strips, then turn the drum on its side to wrap the tape around the top edge at least twice to secure all the overlapping tape. Once finished you can use dowels or pencils as drumsticks. Here is a video showing the process.
Time: 1 to 3 class periods
Materials: Dependent on each individual activity and listed within each example.
Guiding Questions:
What different kinds of musical instruments can we design and make?What materials can we use to make our instruments?
Make It Yours!
Design Challenge
Each of these instruments suggests two interesting modes of exploring—the instrument making and the instrument playing. Your design challenge is to make your own instruments and create an original composition. Follow the design-thinking process below as outlined in this lesson, “What is the connection between design-thinking and art?”
Time: 3 or more class periods
Design-Thinking Process
- 1
Empathize: Do some research using the information and links in this lesson to learn more about Mia’s Asian instruments, as well as other instruments that interest you. In particular, look for different video or audio recordings to find out what these instruments sound like. How do their sounds make you feel? Listen to as many different instruments and music from as many different parts of the world as possible for research and inspiration.
- 2
Connect: Do you know how to play an instrument? Who else do you know that makes music? What kind of music do you make or want to make? What emotions do you want to illicit in your listeners?
- 3
Ideate: Each student will create an instrument. Do you want to design your instrument to follow traditional forms or make it from found objects? If you have access to electronic instruments, equipment, or music software at your school, you can also incorporate these tools to make your music. Brainstorm various possibilities based on different materials, sizes, and designs before you build your final product.
- 4
Prototype: Start building! Choose a musical instrument to build and play. Musical instruments offer students a way to develop proficiency in sound making. Building and playing instruments are also excellent group activities that foster collaboration. As you develop your instrument, listen to the sounds it makes and reflect on what’s working and what’s not working with your design. What do you need to change in order to improve the sound? Consider the impact that the sounds from your instrument will have on your listeners.
- 5
Test: Share your creation with your peers by performing your original compositions and describing how you designed and built your instrument, and why. If you were to do this again, what would you do differently, and why? Solicit constructive feedback from peers; from their perspectives, what worked well, what made this idea compelling, and what could have been improved?