Making Music

thingiverse

This lesson challenges the students to design and build a musical instrument that will make at least three different pitches and to create a song to play on it. How I Designed This Two of the instruments shown are just examples of ones found on Thingiverse (Ocarina and panpipes. I designed the flute thing just to make sure the design would not be too difficult. I printed them to show the students what can be done, but their instrument should be much simpler than the examples. I was able to play the Ocarina, but the panpipes I do not have the hang of just yet. Overview and Background Sound is formed by vibrations that travel through the air or another medium. Objectives Design and build a musical instrument that will make at least three different pitches, and use it to create a short song. Skills Learned (Standards) Student will investigate and understand how sound is transmitted. Key concepts: frequency, waves, wavelength, vibration; the ability of different media to transmit sound; Students will develop an understanding of engineering design Students will choose an appropriate measuring device and unit of measure to solve problems involving measurement. Students will develop on understanding of the role of troubleshooting, research and development, invention and innovation and experimentation in problem solving. Lesson Plan and Activity Day 1: Students are introduced to the science of sound and how musical instruments create different pitches. Day 2: Students are placed in groups and asked to design their own instrument that can be printed. It must play three different pitches of sound, and they should be able to create a tune with it. Students will then use design software (like Tinkercad) to design their instrument. Day3: Finish creating the design of the instrument and submit for printing. After the instruments have been printed, students would be given one more class period to develop a song from their instrument. Duration of Lesson Depending on the skill level of the students, this lesson should take one class period to discuss the science behind sound, then the students should be given two class periods to design their instruments. Printing time would depend on the number of instruments, size of the instruments, speed and capacity of the printer used. Preparation Student groups need access to a computer with design software. 3D Printer with filament Rubric and Assessment Rubric is attached References http://childrensengineering.org/technology/Music_Makers.pdf