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Sorry i was not able to use logger pro :)

Sound is produced by my instrument by the wave traveling though the bottle and dispersing before finally interacting with the water. You would change the pitch either by changing the shape of the bottle or the distance between the water and the point it is being stricken from. I will be using water bottles filled with precise amounts of water set to 5 musical keys. It will be played by striking the top of the bottle and making the sound reverberate though out the bottle. My plans for construction it are simply acquire water bottles and fill them with set amount of water. This instrument is rather simple and I have no outstanding questions about it.

​Similar to my instrument: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvquq1kg-lQ

The water bottle xylophone is played by a person striking bottles filled with different amounts of water there. The bottles are filled to specific amounts so that the waves change distance they have to travel to crash in the water. You change the notes by striking a different bottle. The note is formed when the striking of the object against the bottle shoots into the container and takes a set amount of time to disrupt the water in the bottle producing a different note. This makes me think that sound is changed and produce by sound waves interacting with a medium of different distances and tensions in order to create the unique sound. I think you can conclude that with a longer distance for the wave to travel the deeper the sound will be because the more spread out the wave will be at the point of impact.

​My original idea, standup bass, was changed to a washtub bass. Which is a bucket with a hole in the middle and a knotted string, tied to a broom handle that is to be rested on the edge of the bucket and used as a fulcrum (I think thats what it is?). The sound is produced by plucking the string, which is tight, then the vibration from the string produce waves which are transferred into the bucket. You can change the pitch by moving the broom handle, the closer to the hole the more bass and the farther from the hole the higher pitch. I am already done building, I used a bucket, string, and a broom handle. How can we determine which angles play certain notes?

To produce sound on a xylophone, you need to hit the bars on the xylophone with mallets. That sound is produced by vibration. When the bars are hit with the mallets, they vibrate and produce sound waves that are recognized and heard. However, bars with different properties produce different sound. Shorter, thinner bars create higher pitch while longer, thicker bars create lower pitch. To raise the pitch, I can start out with one long bar, and keep shortening bars and placing the after the next. It would go from low pitch to high pitch. I will be using rosewood or the metal bars as the material for the bars because they are the easiest to access and can produce the best sound. Another way to approach it is by getting a set of wine glasses and adding water gradually from the one glass to the next. The more water, the lower the pitch; the less water the higher the pitch.

    I can play the instrument by striking the wood or glass with mallets or something along those lines.

I don't have questions really, just feedback would be great from Ms. Echols.

To see a xylophone being played, click on the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHP5xjBP-9I

     The instrument that I plan on playing for the benchmark is the Xylophone. The xylophone originated in Asia and Africa. It consists of bars of different lengths that can be struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber to produce sound. Bars of different lengths produce different sound. The xylophone is played by striking the bars with mallets. The bars vibrate producing sound.

      The general form/shape that a xylophone is in is a rectangle or sometimes a square. To change the notes that are played on a xylophone, all you have to do is strike a different bar on the xylophone. You can change the sound by altering the density of the specific notes. This makes me think about the density of the notes and if the type of mallet matters. Also it makes me think whether hitting the bars with more force will make the sound louder. I wonder if the material of the xylophone (what its going to made of) will make a difference on the sound. The vibration of the bars when hitting them makes me think about the connection between that and the sound, and how the length matters as well.

​The xylophone makes sound, as similar to other percussion family instrument, by vibrating. To be more specific, when the mallet hits the bars, it makes the bars vibrate. From that vibration, it creates waves in the surrounding air, and finally, these waves are recognized as sound by humans' brain! It is so interesting to discover how these bars' properties are accountable for the pitch that they make. First, shorter, denser, and thinner bar makes higher pitch(I used to understand this as the other way around). In order to adjust the pitch, the bars need to be adjusted, according to its properties. To higher the pitch, I can make the ends thinner, or carve out a semi oval [or rectangle] section in the middle of the bars between the nodes, or shorter the bars. However, the density of the bars cannot be changed, since that's a permanent property of the material. I only have properties for pitches of rosewood, so I'll be using rosewood as the material for my xylophone. I will be constructing my xylophone by using wooden bars (lengths are according to the property table that I downloaded :D), and hammer them into a triangle wooden box. 

Questions: How does the box underneath the bars amplified its volume? And why does longer bar has lower pitch? Please answer this (or show me how to find out the answer) asap, Ms. Écholsawnsome:)

1.  When I tap the glass, it vibrates.  The vibrations create sound waves that travel outwards and reach the ears of people nearby.  When the glass moves, it causes the air molecules around it to bump into each other and get compressed.  This results in a chain reaction in which air molecules travel away from the glass, becoming compressed.  Since the glass is circular and there is nothing to block the movement of the sound waves, the sound can reach anyone within a certain radius.

2.  I will change the pitch by changing the amount of water inside the glass.  The more water there is in the glass, the lower the pitch will be.  This is because when there is water inside the glass, some of the energy that would be pushing air molecules is moving water molecules instead.  The more water there is in the glass, the more energy is diverted to moving the water instead of the air.  This creates a lower pitch.

3.  I will be using a set of cheap wine glasses glued to a simple surface like a piece of wood, to keep all the glasses together and safe.  I will pour different amounts of water into each glass to achieve different notes.  I will play the instrument by tapping different glasses to produce different sounds.

4.  How can I precisely measure the amount of water to put in each glass so that I can achieve specific notes?  Should I be careful to tap each glass in the same specific place?

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)?

I was thinking about doing piano at first. Pretty sure I'm going to make either a xylophone or a twanger to make matters easier. Sound is produced with the xylophone by hitting on the keyboard of different sounds and pitches. The longer the rod the more mass it has where as to a shorter rod it'll have a more pitch sound.

2. Based on your understanding, how are you changing the pitch? What physical characteristics are important in this instrument?

 It depends on the length and width of the rod to create the sound.  

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?

I planned on using metal plates to use as the keyboard and a box to have a base for the plates. From my understandings, the length and width of the rod will have more of an effect in constructing the instrument I would like to play. 

4. What outstanding questions do you still have?

Am I on the right path Ms. Awesome?