Name____________

S8P4. Students will explore the wave nature of sound and electromagnetic radiation.
d. Describe how the behavior of waves is affected by medium (such as air, water, solids).
e. Relate the properties of sound to everyday experiences.
f. Diagram the parts of the wave and explain how the parts are affected by changes in amplitude and pitch.

Create Your Own Musical Instrument Project

Humans have been making and playing musical instruments for thousands of years. New
instruments are invented, and existing instruments are modified to produce different sounds.
Probably many cultures have used a hollow log as a simple drum. Many instruments are based
on vibrating strings. One category of instrument, horns, depends on the vibrating lips of the
player to create sound. Other instruments use vibrating reeds. The many flutelike instruments
create a sound by causing a column of air to vibrate. In this project, you will design, build, and
test your own musical instrument. At the end of the project, you will demonstrate your project in
a class demonstration.

Requirements
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

You are in charge of designing and constructing your own musical instrument.
The instrument must be a string, percussion or wind instrument.
You may not use electricity in your instrument in any way. The instrument cannot use
parts from other musical instruments.
You must play a scale of eight notes in increasing pitch with your instrument:
C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C on pitch. You can use apps such as Cadenza: Chromatic Tuner and
Metronome.
You must demonstrate and play a simple tune (or rhythm) on your instrument in the
video presentation.
You must include the process involved in the construction of your instrument by taking
pictures or video.
Prepare a short video presentation to the class, explaining how you built your instrument,
how your instrument works to change loudness and pitch, and the problems you
encountered while building and tuning the musical instrument.
You must also tell the class where you found the idea for your instrument.
Vocabulary that MUST be used in your presentation:

Sound, wave, energy, vibration, amplitude, volume, frequency, pitch, medium

Suggested Materials
You may use almost anything to build your musical instrument, such as different sizes of rubber
bands, cardboard boxes, different lengths of cardboard tubes or plastic pipes, string, wooden
craft stick or tongue depressors, drinking straws, and bottles. Practically anything can be
incorporated into a musical instrument.

Project Hints

Think about whether you will want to play your instrument by blowing into it, strumming it,
striking it, or by some other method.
Be creative!

Dont limit yourself to the materials suggested by your teacher. Dont just copy an
existing instrument. Part of your teachers assessment of your project will be based on
originality.
As you decide on your design of your instrument, remember that you will need to play
something on it. Your instrument must not only make sounds, but it must make different
sounds.

Planning Your Musical Instrument

DAY 1

Brainstorm all the ways you can think of that musical instruments make and modify
sound.
Draw a diagram of your proposed instrument either on paper or on your ipad using
Notability. (If you choose paper, make sure you take pictures to include in your
presentation). Be sure to label its parts, and the materials you will use.
Take photos or video for your presentation.
Think about the following:
o How will you play the instrument?
o Exactly how will your instrument make sound?
o What will vibrate to create sound waves?
o How will your instrument make sounds of different pitch and volume?
Discuss materials and collect them for building the instrument. Talk to your teacher
about how she can help you.

Day 2 and 3

Build your instrument.

Tune it using Cadenza or any other digital instrument.
Take photos for video presentation.

Day 4 and 5

Record your video.

Edit your video.
Turn in your video.

RUBRIC

Design
Materials
Ability

The instrument plays 8

keys demonstrated by a
simple tune (or rhythm)
on your instrument in
the presentation.
The instrument shows
an extraordinary
amount of all of the
following:

Thought

Care

Creativity
Video describes all the
important details of the
building process,
including problems
faced, using many
different tools.

Pitch
Sound Explanation Description of
Explanation
the process

All materials used are

household materials
that were reused and
no parts from other
instruments were used.

Quality

Exceeding
5
The instrument design
has great detail and
matches the actual
instrument perfectly.

Quality and
Clarity

Presentation

Instrument

Category

The video explains

clearly and accurately
ALL of the following:

Where vibration
starts

Where vibration
traveled

How vibration is
heard
The video explains
clearly and accurately
ALL of the following:

How materials
changed

How the change

affected frequency
The video can be clearly
heard and words are
distinguishable the
transitions are great.

Proficient
4

Approaching
3

Getting Started
2

InsufficientEvidenc
1

The
instrument
design has great
detail and mostly
matches the actual
instrument.

The
instrument
design has some
detail
and
somewhat matches
the
actual
instrument.

The
instrument
design has some
detail,
but
the
actual
instrument
doesnt
match
completely.

The
instrument
design
is
not
present
or
little
detail evident. The
instrument doesnt
match the detail.

Most materials
used are household
materials that were
reused and few
parts from other
instruments were
used.
The instrument
plays 6-7 keys
demonstrated by a
simple tune (or
rhythm) on your
instrument in the
presentation.
The instrument
shows an
extraordinary
amount of two of
the following:

Thought

Care
Video describes all
the important
details of the
building process in
using different
tools.

Some materials
used are all
household
materials that were
reused and some
parts from other
instruments were
The instrument
plays 4-5 keys
demonstrated by a
simple tune (or
rhythm) on your
instrument in the
presentation.
The instrument
shows an good
amount of two of
the following:

Thought

Care

Creativity
Video describes the
many important
details of the
building process in
using different
tools.

Few materials used

are household
materials that were
reused and some
parts from other
instruments were
used.
The instrument
plays 2-3 keys
demonstrated by a
simple tune (or
rhythm) on your
instrument in the
presentation.
The instrument
shows a good
amount of one of
the following:

Thought

Care

The materials were

all
store
bought
and none were reused.

Video describes
some important
details of the
building process in
using a few tools.

Video describes few

important details of
the building
process in using a
no tools.

The video
accurately explains
ALL of the
following:

Where
vibration starts

Where
vibration
traveled
The video
How vibration
accurately explains
ALL of the
following:

How materials
changed

How the
The video can be
mostly clearly
heard and words
are distinguishable
the transitions are
good.

The video
accurately explains
2 of the following:

Where
vibration starts

Where
vibration
traveled

How vibration
is heard
The video
accurately explains
2 of the following:

How materials
changed

How the
change
The video is
difficult to hear at
some points and
some transitions
are distracting.

The video
accurately explains
1 of the following:

Where
vibration starts

Where
vibration
traveled

How vibration
is heard
The video
accurately explains
1 of the following:

How materials
changed

How the
change
The video can be
difficult to hear at
many points and
some transitions
are distracting.

The video
accurately explains
none of the
following:

Where
vibration starts

Where
vibration
traveled
The video
How vibration
accurately explains
none of the
following:

How materials
changed

How the
The video is difficult
to hear and the
transitions are
distracting.

The instrument
plays 1 key
demonstrated by a
simple tune (or
rhythm) on your
instrument in the
presentation.
The instrument
shows an little
amount of three of
the following:

Thought

Care