Musical Instrument Blog #1

Uku-Who?
ukulele
The Ukulele is played similar to how a guitar is played. It can be strummed or picked. There are 4 notes on a Ukulele.
In order to play the C chord, you take you ring finger, place it on the bottom string and strum.
Screen shot 2011-05-31 at 2.54.58 AM
To play A minor, you take your middle finger and place it on the top chord, and remove your ring finger, then strum.
Screen shot 2011-05-31 at 2.54.44 AM

To play F, you take your first finger and play it on the second string, the one right above C.Screen shot 2011-05-31 at 2.54.21 AM

To play G7, you bring the middle finger down, place it on the string right below the top one, then place you ring finger back on C.
Screen shot 2011-05-31 at 2.54.05 AM

All the notes are being played within the first three frats. It is shaped just like a guitar but incredibly smaller. This makes me think that your hands are very powerful tools and even moving it the slightest can change the way an instrument will sound.
If I have a hollow enough base, I'll be able to produce enough waves to make a louder sound.

Ian McClendon Music Blog #2

The shape of a guitar it is mainly constructed for a comfortable fit in the arms of whom is playing the instrument. Certain sized guitars can be represented for specific sizes by the length of your chest to the bottom of your palm should be the length of the guitar neck.  

-The shape of an instrument is a vital key for producing that certain sound. In the case of a acoustic guitar the structure of it should be hollow and a minimal amount of holes to reverb the vibrations of the string. Each string has a different tension and a different thickness to it which gives it the variation of sound. By strumming/ plucking a string it vibrates. Those vibrations represent the wave lengths depending on the string. Then the vibrations can be amplified by an amp for a electrice guitar or with an acoustic the hollow compression of the base allows the sound to enter the base and amplify while exiting. An example could be blowing into a empty bottle and generating that hum. 
-To change the pitch or tone of the instrument tightening the string changes that. On the top of the neck are knobs connected to each individual string. To make the tone of a string sharper it is rotated to the left. To make the tone flatter it is turned to the right. The most important part to amplify the sound is to have the string highly tensioned and a hollow base for the wave to enter and be amplified.
-I plan to use either a heavy duty card board box as my hollow base or I could construct a base with rounder edges to the waves of the sound to reverb better. As far as materials go; wood, strings, string mounts, saw, screws, drivers, other handy man necessities. I'm planning to make the guitar more of a ukulele. Higher tensioned strings with fewer frets on the neck but still retains the pitch needed for the song.  




guitar_necks
guitar_necks
Acoustic-Guitar-Shape-Chart
Acoustic-Guitar-Shape-Chart
wd-fender-strat-guitar-neck-rosewood-med
wd-fender-strat-guitar-neck-rosewood-med

Biello - Blog #2

Sound is produced by the xylophone when each of the "tabs" are struck. After thus, they vibrate, producing sound. The energy is transferred from the mallet to the "tab" creating sound. The pitch is changed within the "tabs". The pitch pertains to the size of the "tab". The smaller tabs produce sounds higher in pitch in contrast to the larger tabs which produce sounds lower in pitch. I will be using several materials. I will use a wooden mallet, possibly a pen, and I will use copper pipes to make the "tabs". The whole xylophone will be housed on a wooden frame. I will construct the instrument without direction based solely on how it looks via pictures. A question I have is, "Does it matter how I create the wooden frame?"

One Summer Night

I woke up at 2 in the morning as I had been doing every summer. At 13 years old, it was surprisingly easy to get up without an alarm at these times now. It had become my routine. My baby brother was crying. It was time for his bottle. I waited a minute to listen for shuffling feet. Maybe She was upstairs and would give it to him this time (for once). Silence. Without a reaction I swung my feet out of the bed and went into my parent's bedroom. I walked through the darkness to his crib, lifted him up, and carried him with me down the steps. 

Bottle. Mix. Water. Microwave. Test. Feed. Burp. Sleep (for the both of us).   

TJ Nicolella- Musical Instrument Blog #1

​          I was thinking about making some type of acoustic guitar for this project because a guitar is the only instrument that I have at least a little bit of experience with. I do know that guitars have been around since the 1500’s and can vastly differ from one another. However, most acoustic guitars have six strings varying in width and mass that are laid over a hollow body to emanate a louder sound to be heard at a further distance. On a regular acoustic guitar, strings become thicker from bottom to top of the bridge of the guitar, so the higher the string on the bridge, the thicker the string. When the strings are plucked they actually make little noise but this disturbance makes a disturbance in the air around it that also vibrates the bridge of the guitar. The strings can also make different noises based on how you work them whether it be plucking or tapping them, etc.

The body of a guitar is usually made of spruce or other “springy” woods that can vibrate up and down relatively easily. In the case of an acoustic guitar, most of the sound is produced by the vibrations of the strings when they are touched or plucked, the body of the guitar only makes the conversion of energy from the strings to the body more efficient, creating more sound when the strings are plucked. Meanwhile, an electric guitar does not have the same effect because it does not have a hollowed out body and many vibrations do not convert to sound (unless connected to an electric amp.)


Resources:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/guitar/guitarintro.html
Allen Collins

Roger Waters Liveg JamesHetfieldallen2

Musical Instrument Blog #2

I am making a thumb piano. The sound coming from a "thumb piano" is the rate of vibration of the key/pins over the hollow in the base. The body of the instrument, the base, is responsible for providing a stable platform to hold the keys very tight. It also acts as a resonating chamber to amplify the vibratory sound of the keys. The principal is the same as it is for a guitar. The main difference being each key on a thumb piano is only connected at one end. I will be changing the pitch with the length of the keys. Which are physical and important to the thumb piano besides from the base of it. I will be making the base out of a block a wood made hollow and bobby pins with pop sickles stick holding it in place tightly. Miner thing I might need help with is how the make the sound as loud as possible.  


Thumb-Piano
Thumb-Piano

Musical Instrument Blog #1

I am making a thumb piano. It is a rectangular shaped block, which belongs in the string family. It is played while in your hands or on a flat surface by flicking the pins, which act as the keys on this piano. The keys/ pins are different lengths so when you flick it, it produces different sounds. I plan to make it a 3 by 5 rectangle with bobby pins as keys, with different lengths to make different notes. A connection from this to waves are the vibration of the strings and the keys on my piano.


​Links:

http://www.activitytv.com/779-make-thumb-piano


thumfin
thumfin

Shoppin

Went to H&M today and got 9 things for 70 bucks. That's a good deal. I got some shorts and tee shirts. I don't like shopping that much anymore. After 30 minutes I get tired of it and stop. I used to love shopping and went all the time. I would spend the entire day at the mall and never get bored. Now, I can't bare being in  mall for more than an hour.

Bistec!

Hola mi nombre es Sterling, (Letter)

Tiene: Bistec

Viene Con: Arroz, tequenos y jugo

Es bueno para protenias

Prediccion: Muy bien y sabroso

Video 

Reflection

 

My first impression of Sazon and it’s staff was “WOW” I felt like I was really in Venezuela for a minute. The food was excellent too. It was exciting to try new types of food that weren’t from the US. The first food I tried was the Bistec. My first impression was that it was very tasty, kind of sweet and I wanted more.

images
images

Favorite Stats Benchmark

During Stats I had a hard time really understand what was going on, it took a long time for me to really understand the subject that was being taught. During the 3rd Quarter we had a benchmark on probability. At first I thought it would be hard and I didn't want to do it but after reading over the project description again I knew I could do it. After doing the project my understanding of how probability and statistics go hand and hand grew. 

Inquiry: What is the probability that a person can win three games of  “Skip-Bo” row.

Collaboration: This was a solo project, I needed three or four players, that actually know how to play the game well.

Presentation: I  presented this project on a iweb that will teach people how to play the game. 

Reflection: After doing the project I understood that it is hard to really tell the chances of a person winning three times in a row. 

Capstones have just begun

I got the website looking cool
the boxes are all in order
Every student has a page
And their information is surrounded by a border
But unfortunately for me
I am never truly done
I am sorry to say
But all my work has just begun
I could do more to make it better
I could add more colors and shades
A nice design changing page would be nice
All of this can be done at my pace
So while everyone else is finished
Everyone is cheering horray
I will have to continue to work
Until my site becomes completely perfect
So of course that's not today :(