Thanks to all my friends on the list who sent me many
wonderful ideas on
how to make musical instruments. Thought I would share them with
everyone! Have fun! ********************************* YIS
Kathy Dykstra (J ARTSKYD@AOL.COM) Castanadas (spelling .. those
things the flamingo dancers use).
Take four buttons .. the kind with holes all
the way thru. Take some string elastic, and string it thru each button
so that it
can go over a finger/thumb. Put one on each pointy finger and one on each
thumb and click away. Take a #10 tin can (coffee can) and punch a hole
in
the bottom in the center. Knot some string so it doesn't come thru the
hole
and put a pencil on the other end. Put your foot on the can, using the
pencil
pull the string tight and strum away. The girls had a great time seeing
how
many different sounds their instrument can make by keeping the can on the
ground or having one side up a little. The other instruments they made
were
a kazoo with the toilet paper tube and a shaker with two paper bowls.
********** sent by Theresa Heple
You could make maracas. You need
one light bulb per maraca. Apply 4-5 layers of paper mache to each light
bulb. Let dry. Hit on a hard surface to break the light bulb inside of
the
paper mache. Paint or decorate as desired. **********sent by Pat Troutt
Here is one idea I found. Parts List for a Great Guitar shoe box four
large
rubber bands paper-towel tube tape scissors construction paper glue
markers and crayons What to Do Ask your child if he or she knows what a
guitar is. Then discuss the parts of a guitar and how it's used. Put out
the
shoe box, rubber bands, and paper-towel tube and let your child experiment
with them. Together, talk about how you might make a guitar using these
materials. Help your child tape the cover onto the shoe box. Then cut a
five-inch hole in the center of the top and a two-inch hole on one end
of the
box. Ask your child to push the tube through the two-inch hole to make
the
guitar neck (to use as a handle). Then help her to carefully stretch the
rubber
bands around the box, from one end to the other (two on each side of the
tube). Make sure they are stretched directly over the hole in the top.
Put out
construction paper, glue, markers, and crayons, and invite your child to
decorate her guitar. Now she's ready to strum away! More Ways to Make
Music Together Strike up the band. Help your child make other instruments
that she can play along with her guitar. Use household items such as cans,
small screws, and juice cartons to make a shaker and a drum. Or use your
imaginations to make up your own instruments! Your child can decorate
them to create a colorful band. **********Sent by Jeanette West
BOTTLED MUSIC Who hasn't blown across the lip of a half-empty pop
bottle and marveled at the richness of the tone? As for what tone it was,
however, that was anybody's guess. Well, no longer. We've calculated just
how much water you need in eight 20-ounce pop bottles to create a major
scale. Affix numbers to each bottle, 1 through 8 (or use different-colored
stickers for younger kids), and jam away. Your first song? How about
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"? TIP: You can sharpen your chops by
employing a piece of flexible plastic tubing. Rather than try to move your
mouth from bottle to bottle, hold one end of the tube in your mouth and
move the other end from bottle to bottle. **********Sent by Jeanette
West Flute...
take a hollow reed, cut or drill holes in it, sounds nice and
mellow Drums.... take a hollow log, cut slots in side around bottom half,
use
sticks as drum sticks on top half, Stretch thin leather or rubberized material
over a coffee can, use pencils (eraser ends) as drum sticks. bass fiddle.......
take a metal pail, add a mop handle and string a cord from the top of handle
to the opposite edge of bottom. (You've seen this kind on TV like the
Beverly Hillbillies) To prevent the "neck" from sliding around on the pail
you
might want to drill a small hole where the handle is supposed to be and
put a
screw into the bottom of the mop handle. NOTE, you pluck the string and
change notes by tightening the cord by moving the mop handle (neck) to
tighten or loosen the cord..... I hope this makes sense, not as hard as
it
seems. Don't forget Kazoos and "comb horns" ! cigar-guitar.... Glue a
"neck" on a cigar box, cut a hole in it and string with monofilament fish
line..... Strum away..... Pipe-a-phone...... (like a xylophone) made with
different lengths of steel pipe resting on boards covered with felt....
use
dowels with wooden balls glued on to hit. (Large wooden beads work well)
That's all I can think of off the top of my head........... [:-} **********Mike
Baird, SwampFoX, Leader of Junior 21 and Brownie 941
I love making instruments with girls. I usually just get a whole
bunch of things together and
let them go wild in making stuff. A few ideas are: different sizes of tin
cans
paper bags margarine tubs (drums, shakers, or guitars) shoe boxes egg
cartons film containers straws paper towel tubes wax paper elastics balloons
tape beads/seeds string sticks (for mallets, or for percussion instruments)
etc. A good little high pitched hand drum is the inside of packing or duct
tape roll. You know, the cardboard circle. Stretch a balloon over one side,
secure with an elastic and strike away. With some big straws (McDonalds
here in Canada have a great size) you can cut one end into a V shape, put
between your two lips and buzz. You can put small holds along one side
and
make different pitches. Or you can put a slightly smaller straw inside
to
lengthen the tube. A comb with wax paper wrapped around makes a cool
buzzing harmonica. Any sort of box, or open container can have various
sizes of elastics wrapped around for a guitar. A rain stick can be made
with
a long tube (paper towel tube works good, or a poster tube is usually a
little
stronger). Stick short straight pins, or even hammer in some small nails.
Cover one end. Pour in some hard beads or seeds, different sizes and
weights are good for variety, not too big though, has to fit through all
the pins
sticking through. Cover up the other end and slowly turn your stick over.
Hope these can help you. I have many more ideas at home if you need some
more or any clarification please let me know. Enjoy your music making.
Amanda :) 2nd Kingston Sparks 1st Fort Henry Pathfinders Kingston,
Ontario, Canada mailto:4ae1@qsilver.queensu.ca **********
Hmm, why not bring the reference books to the girls and have
them do the research and
choose the songs they wish to learn? I think the experience would be more
meaningful if they did the choosing. As to instruments: one idea, a steel
drum.
Use a 3# size coffee can turned upside down, have them using wood blocks
hit with hard rubber mallets, make several "dents" into the can's bottom.
And
after they have put several in, "listen" to the musical notes the drum
makes
when hit (with the rubber mallet) . A mini version of the steel drums used
in
Caribbean. Different spots of the can create different vibrations which
changes the note sounds. Rubber mallets can be borrowed from an auto
body repairer, or look at your local hardware store also. Best wishes,
Lela
C. Arnes San Jacinto Council, Houston, Texas -- Master Trainer, past
Board Member, Thanks Badge recipient mailto:earnes@idt.net
**********
1. plastic Easter eggs filled (ok a TBSP, not filled) with any
variety of things. try diff stuff ! have everyone bring a sandwich bag
filled
with something different, like potluck! 2. paper towel tubes...stick with
straight pins all over (hundreds of them) and fill with a little uncooked
rice....close both ends...a rain stick ! you will need to cover the tube
later to
keep the pins in ! 3. punch holes with a hammer and big nail into metal
bottle
tops and string on a wire coat hanger...loop it into a circle and shake.
4. try
figuring out how to play a saw, or something with a violin bow 5. sand
paper
on blocks...do diff grits make a diff sound? that's all I can think of...but
6.
gather lots of leftover stuff and see what the girls come up with ! or
do the
potluck thing...and let them share... **********sent by Cathy Purdy
Take a Y-shaped stick and string a wire (a tight string might
work too) between
the 2 ends of the fork. Have a bunch of metal washers on the wire, this
makes a neat shaker with a different sound. Use clay pots of different
sizes -
you can paint them to look prettier first, if you'd like. String them upside
down on a cord going through the hole in the center of each pot, using
a
knot or a bead to hold each pot in place on the cord. Have the smallest
pot
at the bottom, then the next biggest, and so on (use 3 or 4 nesting sizes)
and
make a loop of cord at the top to serve as a holder. When you hold the
top
loop, the pots should hang down below each other like a tier of bells,
so
they can each be struck by your striker. To make the striker, push a wooden
bead onto a dowel or pencil (use a small rubber band on the pencil inside
the bead to help hold it in place). Hold the pots by the loop of cord and
play
by striking different pots with the striker. If you have made this with
the
smallest pot at the bottom it nests up nicely for storage. Brownie books
show how to make a kazoo from a short cardboard tube (all those leftover
wrapping paper rolls can be cut into short lengths for this) a rubber band
or
tape, and a piece of waxed paper) It's described and illustrated under
one of
the music Try-its (Sounds of Music?), but basically all you do is punch
a
hole in the tube near one end (use a paper punch if you have one). Cover
the
other end with a square of smooth (it's important that it's unwrinkled)
waxed
paper and secure with the rubber band or tape. Play the kazoo by singing
"dah dah dah" into it - it's very cool the way you can feel the vibration
of the
paper as you play. A set of glasses filled with different heights of water
and
"tuned" to a scale makes a neat instrument. Play by tapping each glass
with a
spoon. Of course there's also just blowing across the top of a bottle -
gets
that jug band sound. My sister says that years ago at camp they used to
make neat drums from coffee cans and pieces of inner tube. Remove the
ends from the can and stretch a rubber inner tube piece over each end.
Lace
back & forth between the end covers all around to hold the covers in
place.
She didn't recall what they used for lacing, but I imagine that plastic
lace
would be great). Make a beater similar to the one for the clay pot chimes.
A
while back somebody posted how to make pan pipes using McDonalds
straws. I haven't tried that one yet, but it sounded very intriguing, so
I saved
it somewhere. I can dig up the instructions if you're interested. Now for
the
folk songs from 5 countries, 3 continents; here are some ideas I pulled
from
some GS songbooks I have: Kookaburra or Waltzing Matilda (Australia), A
Ram Sam Sam (Morocco), Zum Gali Gali (Israel), Ash Grove (Wales),
Suitors (Brazil), Kum Ba Ya (Africa - I don't know what country though),
Song Without Words (Germany), and Allouette (Canada) GS always tried
to have songs from around the world in its songbooks. I have the music
for
them if you need it. (and I have a scanner that we just got for Christmas!)
Good luck with the badge! **********Sent by Sallie Zeil from VA Beach,
VA
You can make really cheap inexpensive tambourines with tin pie plates,
paper clips, some ribbon scraps, and just a few jingle bells for each girl.
Punch Holes around the rim, wiggle in the paper clips, at a bell or two
and
Viola! We also took felt and sewed a few bells on a strip big enough to
fit
around the girls ankles, sewed on 2 strips of scrap ribbon and made ankle
bells, as the girls danced the bells kept tune. Take an old tissue box
and put
a few rubber bands around it and you have a simple guitar to play, the
wider
or narrower the band, you get different sounds when plucked. We had a
family come in that plays the dulcimer, banjo, and old time instrument
and
they let the girls play and sing along with them at one of our meetings,
after
the girls had constructed their instruments of course, we had a blast
**********sent by Alex from Midland Michigan
Our troop taught music at
Twilight Camp this summer. We had the Jrs make a pan pipe made out of
PVC piping, wood slats, twine, and modeling clay. The PVC is cut in
varying lengths. You don't have to worry about accuracy at this stage
because you tune them later. We used 4 lengths per pipe, but you can make
them larger. Sand the rough edges of at least one end of each pipe. Line
the
pipes, small to large, between two slats, approx dimensions, 1/4"x1"xlength
need to hold pipes. Lash tightly in place. The smooth ends should be even
at
the top. Put a lump of modeling clay in the bottom of each pipe. (Bottom
should be completely closed.) The pipe is played by blowing across the
top,
like a flute. Each length in the pipe is tuned by pushing the clay up (raises
tone) or pulling it out (lowers tone). **********sent by Jamie Barnaby
*