Musical Instrument Description

Mikayla DeBarros, Natalie Mansergh, Emilie Claire Schneider

1). String Instruments
(Cardboard Ukulele)
- To create sound, the ukulele strings can either be plucked or strummed to produce
vibrations. The tightness and length of the strings determine the frequency (pitch)
so the thinner or shorter the string, the higher the sound it makes. To tighten the
strings, you turn the tuning picks so they pull in the excess string to make it
sturdier.
- The sharp bends in the string, after its plucked, rapidly die out, which is the
reason for the note becoming more mellow a moment after the vibration occurs.
You hear the vibration because the sound waves travel to the base and echo from
the hole placed in the center.
- For our ukulele, we made it out of cardboard and foam because it was easy to cut
and shape while still being stable enough to play. We also chose to construct the
neck out of wood so the strings would have sturdy surface to be played on. The
separation of frets determines where to place your fingers to produce different
notes. We used popsicle sticks to be used as frets and placed them according to the
length of our instrument.
-The first harmonic of a stringed instrument is also called the fundamental
frequency. In the first harmonic, the wavelength is double the size of the length of
the string. For the second harmonic, the wavelength and the string's length are
equal. Other harmonics and their wavelengths are seen below.


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2). Wind Instruments
(PVC Pipe Flute)
-The flute uses wind to create noise. The mouthpiece hole varies in size depending
on the type of wind instrument

-There are many different kinds of wind instruments. There are brass instruments,
reed instruments and flutes.
-Brass instruments: brass instruments are played by a metal mouthpiece.
Depending on the size of the mouthpiece, the lower instruments have larger
mouthpieces, and they produce a lower sound. You make different notes by
pressing down on valves. Brass instruments have bells at the end to increase sound.
Some of the brass instruments include trombones, trumpets,and french horns,

-Reed instruments: Reed instruments are also called woodwind instruments.
Woodwind instruments have a reed, a small piece of wood, that vibrates quickly
over the mouthpiece creating sound. Some instruments have two reeds that work
together, making the instrument make sound. This reed makes the instrument
create noise. There are holes placed in the instrument, usually toward the lower
part. Covering the holes, in different patterns make different notes. Some of these
instruments include, clarinets, alto saxophones, oboes, and bassoons
.
-Flutes: Flutes are played by blowing air across the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece
has a hole in the center to blow air across. The holes in the flute are different sizes
and different lengths apart from each other. Our pvc pipe flute plays the notes in
the chart below.

Note Frequency
(Hz)
Wavelength Wavelength
C 16.35 2109.89 1054.945
D 18.35 1879.69 939.845
E 20.60 1674.62 837.31
F 21.83 1580.63 790.315
G 24.50 1408.18 704.09
A 27.50 1254.55 627.275
B 30.87 1117.67 558.835


3). Chime instruments
(copper pipe hanging chimes)

- Our chimes were created by cutting copper pipe into varying lengths. The lengths
of the pipes depended on the note we wanted to reach. Below is the chart of our
pipe lengths. We found these lengths online but had to modify theme by ear.

- The pipe has a natural frequency that is different from other mediums. The
numbers we originally had numbers for a different, thicker pipe. Our pipe has a
diameter of 1 cm and a thickness of 2 mm.

-When the pipes are hit with the wooden hammer, the pipes resonate. This causes
waves to travel inside the pipe, all the way through it, and out. When the waves
vibrate out of the pipe, a note is created that we can then hear.




Note: Pipe Length:
C 10 1/4"
D 9 7/8"
E 8 7/8"
F# 8 1/2
G 8 1/4
A 7 1/2
B 7 1/4
C 6 3/4"