Instrument Creation - Ian McClendon

​I want to create a Harp that can have a different change of pitch with slight modifications. It could slightly resemble a guitar/ harp. The string instruments always produce of vibrant sound mixed with other instruments creates a nice melody. To play the instrument you pluck the strings that are tensioned but can also be tuned. The shape might not be like the picture but more of a box shape. I might add a symbol attached to it for more effects.   
harp-1
harp-1

Musical Instrument Blog #1

How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?

Metal
reeds are good for Jazz and hard rubber is good for classical sounds.
positioning the mouth:  The reed should be even with the top of the
mouth piece the reed should be down toward the lower lip and you teeth
should be on top roll your lip over you bottom teeth then you want make
a smirk so it will pull the muscles surrounding your teeth up. this is
vital for the tones that you wanna get. You get sound by blowing air
into the reed at the top of the saxaphone and depending on how much
air pressure you breath into the saxaphone that is that specific tone
that you will get make sure that the air is steady do not move the
mouth along with a process called tounging which is used to seperate
notes.  

How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this)
With
the saxaphone they use a process called tounging to seperate notes.
also when playing th saxaphone it is very important to keep all
fingers down, and you do not have to lift all the fingers every time you
play a different note this will make your hands tired.

How is it shaped?
The saxaphone is shaped like a check mark but a curve on the top or like a Nike symbol and has buttons on the front of it.

What does this make you think about how you can create and change sound?
This
makes me think that I can create sounds by making minimal changes to
the instruments. and you can create mostly anything an instrument.
 
What connections (if any) do you think you can draw between what you are observing and you might already know about waves?
The
connection that I have made with the saxaphone and what I already know
about sound waves are that pressure and force are always involved in
how the tone or sound of and object will come out.


Physics instrument

Making instruments

         ​Personally I feel making a guitar would be the best way to bring physics into this project. With this we can measure the wave lengths of different tone and notes. 
A guitar is played by tugging on the strings to make sound, you can manipulate the sound by placing your fingers at the top of the guitar and changing the notes. Im thinking of making an average guitar and this is how its shaped.


jazzcity

I was initially hoping to make a drum type of instrument because I really enjoy the drums however since we can not I decided to go with the guitar, with this instrument you can hit the wood area and different other places on the guitar to make different beats and I really like that about it. 

I chose this instrument because it is fun to play and something I enjoy. 

Music Instrument: Guitars


--How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?
Guitars  are played buy plucking the string on the instrument with finger or a pick.
The sound of an Acoustic guitar is from the vibrations of the strings and the hollow body of it.

--How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this)

depending on what guitar you are playing you have to use the pick (or your fingers).
Each string on the guitar has a different note. You adjust the notes to what song your are playing.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6192856_change-notes-bass-guitar.html

--How is it shaped?

The body of the instrument plays a major part in the sound that comes out of it. The  body of the guitar is hollow so when you pick a string, its reaction to the hollow part of the instrument gives you a sound.

--What does this make you think about how you can create and change sound?

This makes me think about what type of string I would used to create the vibration and how hollow does the body of the guitar have to be.

--What connections (if any) do you think you can draw between what you are observing and you might already know about waves?



http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Sound/vibration.htm
Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 9.05.52 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 9.05.52 AM

S.Kabangai- Fourth Quarter

Artist Statement

Hi my name is Samuel Kabangai, i attend school at Science Leadership Academy, i am the artist that created this design. For our fourth quarter project, we the students had to make some are pieces that were give to us by the teacher.

I liked the projects that we got and i was really excited to do these art pieces. One of my favorite pieces that i had to  make was the bike project. In this project we had to draw a bike that was in the classroom. Every project was exciting and i was always pleased with the final product that i produced at the end. I like when the projects seemed like a challenge because it made me work harder and do something that i did not think i could produce. 

The tools that I used to make these are pieces were, charcoal, pencil, paint, computer etc. Every project needed to do something new and it made me use something new and every project was a new learning experience.

Screen shot 2011-05-11 at 9.13.26 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-11 at 9.13.26 AM
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Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 8.56.18 AM
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Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 9.00.46 AM
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self portrait
self portrait

E1 U9 Clase 20/05/11

http://www.quia.com/quiz/101307.html?AP_rand=171632236

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Cam1Uni8/Cam1Uni8New/12.htm

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Cam1Uni8/Cam1Uni8New/6.htm

Musical Instrument: Trevor Hinton

​I am really interested in making a guitar for this musical project because I feel I'd be able to put something good together. A guitar is played by strumming strings that are attached to tuners at the top of the guitar or neck as it is called; the player strums the strings in different variations and cords to create a tune and the shape of the guitar is oblong and fat at the base or hollowed piece and very narrow and skinny as it reaches the top with this being said this makes me think that when creating my guitar that I can create and change sound by changing the length of the tuning as well as changing the shape at the base. Some connections that can be made about waves and what I know about guitars is that the waves bounce out as it hits and meets the hollow center of the guitar where sound seems to stay and reverberate. The waves that are made from strumming on the strings on a guitar can be related to when you shake a slinky back and forth and it takes a while to slow down in the sense that when you strum the string it continues to carry out the sound for awhile.

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Guitar
guitar-classical
guitar-classical

Prooommmm

Today is prom.
It's raining.
I don't feel good.
I have way too much to do.
I'm sleep deprived.
I had a great breakfast.
Roberto is orange.
I can't wait for tonight.
I hope everything goes well.
I need batteries for my camera.
I gotta get a pedicure.
getting on it.

Oh dear....

The world's going to end tomorrow, we're reading an article about Z-Day, 2012...

I can't deal with it. Why is everyone so hell bent on the world ending? Can't we just live? I mean damn, if your so worried about dying you won't be able to do anything else with your life. And that is boring and it friggin sucks!

E1 U9 Tarea 20/05/11

Screenshots:

http://www.ctspanish.com/tyl/house/progress/progress.htm

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Cam1Uni8/Cam1Uni8New/7.htm

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Cam1Uni8/Cam1Uni8New/5.htm

Coldstone

My mom, like every other women in the U.S, worries about her weight. However, this is a pointless thing for her to worry about because the woman is in ridiculous shape. I mean she has a six pack. Anyways, this one day she said she was going to go on a diet (she says that a lot). Later that day her and I go out to do chores like dry cleaning, buying new batteries, getting face wash, etc. During our drive around we pass a Coldstone. Immediatly, my mom says
"Do you want Coldstone!?"
I tell her no, not really. She then gets upset and says,
"We'll i'm going to get Coldstone, but I'm only going to get a small!"
As soon as we get to Coldstone my mom has the biggest trouble selecting a flavor. Once she finally settled on a flavor, she then has the problem of picking the size of her cup.
"I don't want a small. It's to small. Maybe I'll get a medium. If I get a medium will you split it with me?"
I tell her no. I'm not hungry at moment.
She makes a sad face and then says,
"Whatever i'm getting a large. Fuck my diet!"
I'm really glad she got a large coldstone ice cream. She deserved it.

Musical Instrument Blog 1

imgres
imgres
The instrument that I am very interested in is flute, but I am not sure that it will be my piece for the benchmark. 
Flute it basically a pipe, that has one closed end, one opened end, and multiple other air holes on the pipe, between the ends. Flute makes sound base on the pattern in which air is exiting, through the air holes. That is why, when playing flute, people always put their fingers on the air holes, as a way to control the sound. By this way, player can create variety in frequency that would result in different pitches.
The oldest flute was founded in Slovenia and traced back as far as 43,000 years ago. It was originally made out of Mammoth's tusk, and used to communicating when hunting. Over time, it had developed to become an authentic piece of cultural practice, especially during gathering and musical performances. 
Playing and watching people play flute generate the fundamental point of sound. That is sound is created as a vibration of air, in this case it is that of air through the air hole of flute. Sound waves' properties focus on a few essential parts: frequency, magnitude, wavelength, air pressure...To change the sound means to change on of these thing. Higher frequency create higher pitch sound. Changing amplitude would change the loudness of that sound. 

Listen to flute playing here




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imgres-1
flutes
flutes

may 19. birthday

Today, is my birthday

Everyone celebrates except for me

Days pass, and go away

Am I the only one to see

 

I’m getting older by the day

Before I know it, my hair will go grey

But one thing will always be the same

Other then me being really lame

 

Age can’t stop who we are

or all the miles, we came so far

Age, is just a number in a book

A book, that someone already took

 

And all the pages, taken away

The only ones left say

We met, we loved, we live on

Past the front lawn

Past these simple lives

 

Today is my birthday

Everyone celebrates except for me

Days pass, and go away

But I’ll remember what you say

Past these simple lives

My birthdays today

Musical Instrument Blog #1

elvis_ukulele
elvis_ukulele
Just to clarify for those who are confused the ukulele is not the guy, that is Elvis, it is the magical instrument he is holding.

For this benchmark I got pretty excited since I play guitar and we would be working with instruments so it was something I could defiantly relate to and have fun with, if  I do it correctly, but I should have fun with it. But even though I play guitar I wanted to do something slightly different so I could learn something new about a different instrument. But I did want to keep it in the string family since I know best how to play those more then any other instrument. So I finally thought of an instrument that was close to the guitar but a bit different and sounded like something interesting and fun to make and play. And the ukulele journey had began.

 The ukulele is played a lot like the guitar. Where you have to strum it to make any sort of sound. The only differences is the ukulele is much smaller, has only four strings and also creates a sort of different sound, like different pitch almost. A ukulele's neck is slim and straight but the body of it is almost hour glassed shaped. Because they use different strings for a ukulele then they do guitars.The way you change a note is by taking your fingers that are on the neck of the ukulele, the long part, and moving them to different positions and different frets, holding down your fingers on the different strings as you do so. The way this gets me thinking about how I can change and create sound is strumming something or plucking something, like s string, creates a sound. And holding down things certain ways and positions, like when you hold down the string on the different frets. They create a different pitch.


Here is a link of some cool guy playing the ukulele:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFdrLu7o9w&feature=related

Eye of the Storm (5/19)

​Well me and 3 other friends drove down in 2 cars to leave one of the cars over at the house we will be staying at after prom down at Wild Wood. It was a nice little trip that we got to take, and had a bunch of fun. We get there and everything seems just fine, we decide that were going to have a great time after prom, conditions permitting. Now were on our way back, and it starts to get really dark on the road ahead of us. We see lightning strikes come from the sky in a matter of milliseconds. It was very majestic at the time being but as soon as we drove a bit closer, things started to get extremely foggy, the rain was pouring down tremendously and soon hail the size of paint balls was falling down. We of course had to pull over as we could literally not see any other car that was more then 20m ahead of us. The hail sounded like being on a battlefield of WW2, machine guns blazing all over the place. It was a pretty solemn and frightening few minutes. We could feel the whole car vibrate from the tremendous force of the hail projected by the winds. After maybe 10 minutes which was probably the longest, strongest storm I have EVER been in, the sky began to clear up and sunshine burst through the clouds, while it was still raining fairly hard. We proceeded on our way back. 

Musical Instrument Blog #1- S.Kabanga



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MphdRo5_7Us
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Violinconsruction3.JPG

I am interested in playing the violent, to me its a very interesting instrument and its beautiful to me.  I am interested in learning the physics behind the instrument and i want to make my own violin after i research about the instrument.

The video is above is a video that shows people playing the violin. The use little guitar shaped instruments and use a stick with a soft edge that the rub against the strings of the instruments to produce the sound. They notes are changed by using your hands to make different keys like a guitar and also where and how the “stick” is moved. The violin is shaped like a mini guitar with more curves and cuts. The instrument looks beautiful and sounds beautiful.
When i look at the instrument i think if the curves and the way its shaped have anything to do with the sound, and i also think about why it has to be healed a certain way between the neck, why couldn't it be held like a guitar, and also does the length of the stick matter?

BLOG #2
Instrument- Trumpet

1. How is sound produced by this instrument (now that you know more about sound, please try to refer specifically to the energy transfer and vibrations)?
-
The player makes a buzzing sound with his lips into the mouth piece, this sound travels through the horn.


2. Based on your understanding, how are you changing the pitch? What physical characteristics are important in this instrument?
-The pitch can be changed by pressing different combinations of valves.


3. What materials will you actually be using for your instrument and why? How will you play your instrument? What is your plan for constructing the instrument?
-  pipe, because when you blow air in it it creates a sound that can be changed and controlled.

4. What outstanding questions do you still have?
What can i use to control the different pitch that a trumpet make on a pipe??

Musical Instrument Blog #1

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I'd like to make a trumpet.




Before getting too much into it, here is a picture to help with the terms (if the image is too small, click on the link to see it bigger):

Trumpet-Anatomy1

A trumpet is horn-like, in which a person has to blow, but not air, into the mouthpiece. In the not air part, I mean that it's more a buzzing through lips than just blowing air. It is one big horn, with many different tubes connecting three valves and eventually the mouthpiece.

In changing a note, two things have to be done: the three valves on the trumpet can do many different combinations to form notes. In making a note higher or lower, a person must change the shape of their lips. A high note would be most easily produced with more closed lips and a little higher on the mouthpiece. A lower note would better be produced with more open lips on the middle of the mouthpiece.

I think maybe trumpets use hollowness to produce sounds. Maybe I could use this to my advantage in thinking of ways to make one.

All I can really say about waves is that they are formed from blowing into the trumpet. Maybe the way they change is by changing the loudness and the high/low notes.


Day 14: Black out!

I walked out of Storytelling, and everything went dark. *end of story*
No seriously this black out was like the best thing every, especially since it was the day before prom! I got so much done, and most importantly I got to sleep! While we were waiting to hear our fate, something else amazing happened... I finished my Pre-Calc Benchmark (kind of)! Today was just too great even if me and Alexis got in hail like rain on South St.

Sigh

this is a poem i wrote in freshman year....yeahh
Now jimmy’s only 20 years of age.
He has a dead end job with minimum wage.
He has a girlfriend that has to lay,
15 guys for 60 dollars a day.
He dropped out of school to be with his honey
Now they got a child and they're running out of money
Life is so very dangerous and so it seems
The only place he’s safe is in his dreams
So jimmy nods his head, brushes his teeth, turns out the lights and goes to sleep
Praying one day he'll find a place with no worry or any type of haste.
Next thing he knows, he’s riding on a tiger
His girls on his left, their daughter right beside her
They're riding through the jungle, strong and fast
They ride off a cliff but the fall don’t last.
Now they're riding in a jet, sitting first class
With hearts full of hope, and pockets full of cash.
Now hey land inside a active volcano
He asks her hand in marriage, she really cant say no
Next it’s the wedding small and bliss
Its finally time, he goes for the kiss
emotions run deep. the good guy finally wins
Its his first and last chance to repent for his sins
He holds her tight. their souls begin to blend
But nothing after that. the dream just ends....

R.I.P Brian Jr