Building own music instruments

Building own music intstruments

Mrs. Kaisa Loponen

Music teacher grades 2-6

The areas of music teaching are among other musical innovation and playing the instrument. 5^th graders focused in these themes during the spring by building their own instruments. The 21^st Century Skills aimed to were problem solving co-operatively, creativity in constructing and playing and keeping a blog of the project. It also needed sustainability when making the instrument playable and practice with it.

They expanded their understanding about traditional instruments like piano, guitar and flute to new dimensions finding out that you can make sound and play with almost anything. If you can have an impact to volume and tune it makes the playing more diverse.

Every student made a kazoo and a drinking straw oboe. They also selected a third instrument which could be a can bass, cow whistle or an ocarina made of floorball. All the instruments were manufactured of material found from the school and Pringles tubes brought from home.

They learned to play with them and composed funny sounds like laughing fly, a ghost or balloon going empty. The work included also making a story in groups and composing a world of sound behind it.

The kazoos were made of garden pipe. There is a hole in the middle covered with plastic and when you sing in it makes a buzzing sound.

Can bass was made of Pringles tube by adding a wooden bar inside. After that they made a hole in the bottom and some thin rope. The other side of the rope was attached to the wooden bar tightly. If you push the rope with fingers you can change the tune like in real bass.

The most excited students in the project were those who are not so active in musical expression. The construction inspired also the active ones giving a challenge like playing a familiar children song with the floorball ocarina.

The students thought that this was fun and maybe we continue this with new ideas next year!