Description of Musical Instruments

By: Lara Fleischhauer, Eva Brandis, Casey Elmhirst, Jessica Stewart, and Emma Reid
Chimes: Rain Sticks
Adding more nails to our mailing tubes causes a lower pitch. For our chime
instrument, we created six different rain sticks. We made three 24in rainsticks and three
36in rainsticks. We filled three with 360ml of garbanzo beans and the other three with
360ml of pinto beans. We made one small and one large 30 nail rainstick, one small
and one large 53 nail rain stick, and one small and one large 70 nail rainstick. We found
that the size of the tube plays no impact on the note or sound it produces, this is
because the cardboard is so soft it doesnt vibrate. We also found that pinto beans
create a lower pitch than garbanzo beans, because they are bigger and heavier and
therefore vibrate slower. Also, the amount of nails creates different sounds. For
example, the 70 nail rainsticks created much lower notes than the 30 nail rainsticks. We
know that this is true because the nails are vibrating slower. The nails are vibrating
slower because the beans are going much slower because of all the obstacles (nails)
and this causes the nails to not be hit with a big force so the nails vibrate slower
creating a deep note. However were not sure why. Ideally after this project we would
test this by putting a slow motion camera in the bottom. In the end, we figured out that
adding more nails creates a lower pitch, the tube size doesnt affect the sound, and the
pinto beans create lower notes than the garbanzo beans.

ADD PICTURE
Depth of Note

Material Inside

Number of Nails

Length (does not

change deepness
of note)

Deepest

Pinto Beans

70

Long or Short

Deep

Pinto Beans

53

Long or Short

Medium

Pinto Beans

30

Long or Short

Medium High

Garbanzo Beans

70

Long or Short

High

Garbanzo Beans

53

Long or Short

Highest

Garbanzo Beans

30

Long or Short

Wind: Flute
The notes created by a wind instrument depend on the placement from the
embouchure hole. When blowing into a flute, the sound is created by a splitting of the
air. This movement of air creates high pressure at the embouchure, while the end of the
flute is at atmospheric. To complete one wave, the pressure, lowers, returns to neutral,
and rises to above atmospheric once again (see diagram below). Because only of
the wave occurs inside the tube, the holes should be of the wavelength of the desired
note. I started by using the ideal measurements, found on this website, for a G A Bb C
D Eb F G scale. These measurements did not play out in practice, however, due to the
many variables posed in the real world. The scale of flute number one is F# Eb Db B
Bb Ab F#. One of the main causes was unpredictable movement of air. I did an
experiment to see whether embouchure hole placement influenced the note. I made
two small flutes, each 32.3 cm long out of inch schedule 40 pipe. The one with the
embouchure 4 cm from the end produced an F on the low octave and A on the high
octave. The other, with an embouchure 7 cm from the end, played Db on the low
octave and G on the high octave. This shows that the hole placement causes an
inconsistent shift in the wavelength that makes the math imprecise. The note can also
be changed by rolling the embouchure in or out. A small flute with a hole 19 cm from
the end can play an F by rolling forward and an E rolling inwards. Lastly, I made
another flute by shifting the holes slightly. It was moved towards the embouchure for a
lower or flatter note and out towards the open end for a higher or sharper note. This
worked beautifully, and the new scale was G A Bb C D E(slightly sharp) F G. The holes
further out have deeper notes, because the wavelength is widened, causing a lower
frequency and pitch. This can be explained by the equation f(frequency)=v(wave
speed)/wavelength. When the wavelength is widened, the frequency must lower to
balance the equation.
ADD PICTURE

High

neutral

low

neutral

high

Flute #1
note

(cm)
(cm)

Distance from
Embouchure (cm)

Distance from
Stopper (cm)

air flow

fingering

176

44

37.2

40.2

low

1-6

G
166.1
/ Ab 3

41.5

28.7

31.7

more

1-5

A
148
/ Bb 3

78.5

26.5

29.5

more

1-4

G3

B3

139.7

34.9

23.8

26.8

more

1-3

C
124.5
/ Db 4

31.1

19.5

22.5

more

1-2

D
110.9
/ Eb 4

27.7

16.8

19.8

more

F
93.2
/Gb 4

23.3

15.5

18.5

more

G4

22

37.2

40.2

medium

1-6

Distance from
Embouchure (cm)

Distance from
Stopper (cm)

air flow

fingering

88

Flute #2
Note

(cm)
(cm)

F
186.5
/Gb 3

46.6

38

41

low

1-6

G
166.1
/ Ab 3

41.5

30.3

33.3

more

1-5

A
148
/ Bb 3

78.5

26.3

29.3

more

1-4

B3

139.7

34.9

24.5

27.5

more

1-3

C
124.5
/ Db 4

31.1

20.6

23.6

more

1-2

D
110.9
/ Eb 4

27.7

17.6

20.6

more

F4

98.8

24.7

15.1

18.1

more

F
93.2
/Gb 4

23.3

38

41

medium

1-6

Flute #3
Note

(cm)

(cm)

Distance from
Embouchure (cm)

Distance from
Stopper (cm)

air flow

fingering

G3

176

44

37.4

40.4

low

1-6

A3

156.8 39.2

28.8

31.8

more

1-5

Bb /C
3

148

26.8

29.8

more

1-4

C4

131.9 33.0

23.4

26.4

more

1-3

D4

117.4

29.4

19.5

22.5

more

1-2

Eb/ F 110.9
4

27.7

17.3

20.3

more

F4

98.8

24.7

15.2

18.2

more

G4

88

22

37.4

40.4

medium

1-6

37

Strings: Ukulele
The types of materials used to build a ukulele/guitar affect the sound it produces.
We began by designing a guitar based on the wavelength of the notes. The length of
the string should be over of the wavelength of the desired note, then tightened as
needed. On our first try, we didnt pay much attention to the quality of wood. We had a
minimal amount of wood that was close to the right size, so we chose a in thick piece
and started building. We had the body and neck built and were testing out the strings
when we realized something was wrong. Because the wood was soft and thick, it
muted the sound. Since we were using fishing line and thicker wood, the high
frequency of the fishing line wasnt enough to make the wood vibrate. Since the wood
didnt vibrate, only the small portion of air around the strings was disturbed, causing a
weak plucking sound. We noticed our mistake and started on a new, smaller ukulele
using inch finished plywood. We also got thicker strings that would create a better
vibration. Both of these changes made a huge difference, and the ukulele played with
much more volume and resonance. The second ukulele body was successful in
creating the right notes at a better volume. We used half of the wavelength of our
desired note because the wave goes up and down spanning twice the distance(see
picture below). Because the thin, hard wood vibrates with the thick strings, the
surrounding air is disturbed to make louder notes. We found that thicker strings vibrate
slower and therefore have lower pitch.
String tension, thickness, and length all affect the note produced. Each of the
strings are 45 cm with varying thicknesses. A and G have the same diameter, E is
thicker, and C is the thickest. The A and G strings play different notes despite their size,
because they are pulled to different tensions with the tuning knobs. The A string has a
higher pitch, because the high tension reduces the length of the back and forth
movement. When there is less tension, the string has more slack and spans a greater

distance with each vibration. The C string plays a lower note than the E string without a
major difference in tension due to the thickness. This may be because thick strings are
heavier, causing them to vibrate more slowly. The last pitch variable is length. On this
ukulele, each of the strings will play an octave higher on the 12th fret. The frets are
based on the equation y=scale length(0.5^((1/12)x)), with 45 as the scale length (see
diagram below). The frets closer to the bridge produce higher notes due to the
shortened string length, which alters the wavelength.

DESCRIBE length of string vs note, thickness of string vs note, Tension vs. note