In this project we created three musical instruments: winds, chimes, and strings. Our goal was to create these instruments and have them play a full octave which consists of seven notes.
String:
The guitar creates sound by the disturbance of the string and the tension of it. Our guitar has one string, and a scale of 7 notes. The dimensions of the body of the guitar are 12 in. x 10 in. x 3 in. The length of the neck is roughly 22.5 inches, and the total length is 29.5 inches. The length of the string is about 55 centimeters, which puts the first note at a E4 flat. We used a nail on a 1 in. by 3 in. block of wood to provide a clearer sound for the string. String instruments make sound with vibrating strings, and the pitch is modified by the thickness, tension, and length of the string. String instruments range from the simple lyre, to the modern guitar, violin, and piano. The simplicity of our instrument is very different from that of a six string guitar, which only changes pitch by holding down on different parts of its only string and can not make chords. a guitar chord is a set of notes played on a guitar.
Notes and Lengths of strings:
C4- 65.935 cm
D4- 58.74 cm
E4- 52.33 cm
F4- 49.395 cm
G4- 44.005 cm
A4- 39.205 cm
B4- 34.925 cm
Notes and Lengths of strings:
C4- 65.935 cm
D4- 58.74 cm
E4- 52.33 cm
F4- 49.395 cm
G4- 44.005 cm
A4- 39.205 cm
B4- 34.925 cm
Chimes:
Our chimes function based off natural frequency and the focus of the air pressure throughout the tubes. Our chime instrument consists of 8 chimes. They each play a different note due to their length, size, diameter, and the natural frequency of their material. The chimes each play an individual note: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. We included a copper chime to create a different and more brassy sound. At first, we had our chimes side by side horizontally, which didn’t work because the chimes were touching and wouldn’t stay apart. We then changed it so the chimes were hanging and after this we were able to play a full scale clearly without any dulling of the notes. Longer pipes create more time for the air pressure to move out, resulting in a lower pitch. With a shorter pipe, the pressure has less room and time to flow through, which results in higher pitch.
Wind:
The pipe’s sound comes from the natural frequency and the circulation of the air. Our pipe instrument is 5.5 inches long with a width of 3 inches at its widest point. The mouth of the instrument is narrow and widens throughout the length to differentiate the sound. Sound waves travel through the space and reflect off the end of the pipe before coming back. The longer the tube that the air has to travel, the longer it takes to reach the end of the pipe and come back which results in a lower frequency. The pitch is changed by covering and uncovering the holes. When all the holes are covered, it results in a lower pitch. The more open holes, the higher the note. A shorter wavelength equals a higher pitch, which is caused by having less holes covered and the air being able to escape wherever it can. The 7 notes of our instrument are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The mouthpiece creates sound because of the vibration caused by the split of the stream of air. Half of the air is pushed out of the top, and the rest is filtered through the open holes of the instrument.
Content:
Waves: Transfer energy
Wave Length: Distance from one crest to another in a wave
Wave Speed: Rate at which a wave travels
Frequency: number of waves or vibrations in a unit of time
Crest: The highest point in a wave
Amplitude: The distance from equilibrium to the crest or trough
Trough: The lowest point the medium sinks to in a wave
Transverse Wave: Perpendicular to direction of travel, can travel through vacuum; light and electromagnetic spectrum
Longitudinal Wave: parallel to medium or direction of travel, cannot travel through vacuum; Sound.
Wave Length: Distance from one crest to another in a wave
Wave Speed: Rate at which a wave travels
Frequency: number of waves or vibrations in a unit of time
Crest: The highest point in a wave
Amplitude: The distance from equilibrium to the crest or trough
Trough: The lowest point the medium sinks to in a wave
Transverse Wave: Perpendicular to direction of travel, can travel through vacuum; light and electromagnetic spectrum
Longitudinal Wave: parallel to medium or direction of travel, cannot travel through vacuum; Sound.
Reflection:
This project has been very insightful and has taught me a lot about sound and how certain materials can resonate sound better than others. One pit of our project was we did not set the chimes far enough apart so they often hit each other and we used tape to hold them in place which also dulled the sound. We then had to take this apart and created a better version of this chime set. We also had issues with our strings for our guitar; They were not strong enough and kept breaking. To solve this issue we got thicker string. Some peaks of our project were once we had our new design of our chimes it worked wonderfully and sounded great! Another peak was that our guitar frame assembly went very smoothly. I discovered that my group and I worked very well together when we set our minds to it and I was good at playing an assertive role in the group. I also learned that I need to improve on my productivity levels and find ways to improve my blueprints and designs of the instruments. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and learned a lot of important life lessons.
Photo used under Creative Commons from richard_north