Blog #2 Musical Intrument

xylophone/wood blocks
Sound is produced by using a mallet style stick of either metal, rubber, or wood. It is hit against the metal or wood surface. When this happens, the energy from the mallet transfers into the energy of sound waves which are then created. The shape can have two closed ends or one loose end depending on the design. This creates different types of resonance. The vibrations are continued through the shape of the instrument (tubes or blocks). The length of these tubes or blocks is what changes the pitch. When building these wooden blocks or tubes, keeping the width constant is going to be very important. The only varying factor should be the length. This gives less variables to think about. As the length of the tubes or blocks increase, the pitch will decrease.

As far as the actual construction of the instrument goes, I am not entirely sure whether I am going to be making wooden blocks put together in a xylophone style or an actual metal xylophone. I think this will all depend on the actual plausibility of building the wooden blocks which were my original idea. I need assistance from Echols on this one. Building either will be a lot of work but I can use my engineering class periods to work on it. I will be playing this instrument using mallets. The only outstanding question I have is whether wooden blocks seem possible to Echols or if I should do a xylophone instead.