Black Line Masters for the

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

The In Harmony With Education Program

®

In this packet, you will find five masters, labeled with letters a-e, to be duplicated for use
®
as you teach the lessons outlined in the In Harmony With Education program Teacher’s
Guide.

The remaining, numbered masters can be duplicated by you or your students as a source
of ideas for the task of building musical instruments. These masters are not, however, the only
possibilities that you or your students should explore. They are included here because they are
instruments that are:
• relatively inexpensive (most of the parts can be purchased at either a hardware store or,
in the case of strings for some instruments, at a neighborhood music store).
• likely to work well together.
• well-suited to teaching important aspects of the production of musical sound.

Your students may elect to make instruments that are much simpler than those described
here. If limited by time or resources, for example, students may produce:
• an Indian jaltarang, a percussion instrument consisting of a series of bowls tuned by the
level of water in each bowl.
• a zither consisting of a series of rubber bands stretched over a resonant cavity (large
Styrofoam cups work well).
• percussion instruments such as spoons (clappers) or shakers—or even an “instrument of
defined body-percussion methods.

Whenever students produce instruments with definite pitch, you will want to make cer-
tain that the pitches used will work in the context of the In Harmony With Education pro-
gram. This means that the instruments should produce pitches from the pentatonic scale, G,
A, B, D, E. (Note that some of the instruments defined in the Black Line Masters produce a
plagal version of this scale, D, E, G, A, B). Whatever the students’ approach, you should
encourage them to think through the cultural background of their instruments, the best musi-
cal uses of their instruments, and the scientific implications of the ways that they can use
their instruments to control sound. The printed black line masters have notes on these
aspects; the blank master gives students a place to spell out this information, as well.

You should ask that all students submit plans for their instruments before making them.
This will give you the chance to make certain that the students are thinking logically about
the dimensions of sound to be controlled and the musical effects to be gained. It will also help
parents who are involved enough to accompany the students on trips to buy (inexpensive)
supplies—because the Black Line Masters used in planning contain parts lists.

Finally, you should demand that students follow all appropriate safety procedures when
making their instruments. Insist that students adhere strictly to all manufacturers’ instructions
regarding ventilation for adhesives and safety glasses or other items for tools—and insist that
they use common sense in their work.
 MASTER #1

Making a Nail Violin/Nail Piano

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

1
On the plywood, mark out
an arc by using a compass set
to 5" (or do it freehand).

Starting 1" from the edge

of the wood, pound in
nails every 1-1/2" along
the arc–putting the
largest nails at the top
and the smallest at the
Tune the instrument: bottom. Don’t hammer
raise the pitch of any them too deep.
nail by hammering it in;
lower the pitch by care-
fully pulling out a little
with the hammer's claws.
12d 12d
Tune to: D, E, G, A, B 12d

10d

3
8d
Materials
❑ piece of 1/2" plywood, 12" x 6" or
larger
❑ 5 nails: 3 12d, 1 10d, 1 8d
❑ violin or cello bow, or general
instrument bow (see Master #2)
Playing the Nail Violin
Hold it in your left hand, with the arc of
nails facing in front of you and the bottom
resting on your left knee. Then, either:
• bow the nails near the nail heads, or
• strike the nails with a stick near the
board
The Nail Violin in
Science and Culture
The first nail violin that
we know of was invented in
1740 by a German violinist,
Johann Wilde. The nails
vibrate in much the same
way as the bars on the xylo-
phone and, like the xylo-
phone bars, will give a pitch
that gets progressively lower
as the nails get longer and
heavier. That is why the nail
violin can be tuned by
pounding the nails more to
make them higher in pitch.
[Note that, just as you can
strike the nails on a nail vio-
lin, you can bow the bars of a
xylophone or metallophone.]
 MASTER #2

Making a Multi-Purpose Bow

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Notch each end

1 so that the notches
go about 1/8" into
the wood. 24"
2
Run a loop of dental floss to a chair
5 about 30" away from you, back to
your hand, and back to the chair—
Run the strings until you have a pretty good size
over the rosin bundle.
until they are well
coated.

4
Tie the other end
around the stick about
1/2" short of the lower
notches. Then, slide
the knot down (bend-
ing the stick as you do
so) and pull tight.
Tie one end of
3 the bundle off
to the upper
notches and
pull tight.
Materials
❑ 1 flexible wood lath, about 1/4" x
1/2", or 1/4" diameter dowel, about
24" long (in a pinch, a relatively
straight stick from a tree will do)
❑ 1 roll unwaxed dental floss
❑ 1 cake violin, cello, or bass rosin
Tools
❑ knife
Playing with the Bow
Grab the stick at the lower end (tradition-
ally, with the right hand), and insert the
ring and middle fingers between the stick
and the fibers. Using those fingers, hold the
fibers away from the stick and run them
over the string to make it vibrate.
The Bow in Science and
Culture
Bows for stringed instru-
ments are used by cultures
throughout the world—the
European viol and violin fami-
lies, the Arabic rebab, the
Chinese er hu, to name a few.
In playing with any bow, a
musician needs to be able to
control the tightness of the
bow fibers. On modern violin
bows, this is done with a screw
mechanism; on many other
bows, this tightness is regulated
with the thumb.
On many bows, the fiber
that is rubbed across the strings
of an instrument are made
from animal hairs—the best
known being the long hairs
from the tails of horses. When
the bow is rubbed across the
string, friction helps it pull the
string to one side. When the
elastic force of the string (the
way the string “wants” to go
back to being straight) gets
strong enough, it springs back.
If the bow is still moving, it
pulls it to the side again; it
springs back again; and so on,
over and over—many times a
second.
Rosin (made from the sap of
certain trees) is rubbed on the
bow hairs to add to the friction
that makes the bow work.
 MASTER #3

Making a Slide Clarinet

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

1
Make an acute diagonal Holding the sand-
1 cut in one end of the
2 paper flat on the

;;;;;
1/2" diameter pipe with table, round off the
the hacksaw.
2 diagonal cut so that

;;;;;
it is convex.

6
;;;;;
Insert into the
13/16" pipe.

3
On the other end of the
pipe, wrap two bands of
electrician’s tape about five
or six layers deep, leaving
about 1/4" free space
between them.
11"

5 4 4 O-

Tape the reed in place Roll the O-rings

so that its tip is just into place
even with the top of between the
the pipe; the flat side bands of tape,
should be against the and coat with
pipe. Vaseline.
Materials
❑ 1 piece 1/2" inside diameter PVC pipe,
13" long
❑ 1 piece 13/16" inside diameter PVC
pipe, 11" long
❑ 1 roll electrician’s (black) tape
❑ 2 rubber O-rings ( 3/4 x 9/16 x
3/32); you can get them in the
plumbing section of a hardware
store
❑ Vaseline
❑ 1 clarinet reed (#2)
Tools
❑ hacksaw
❑ 100 grit sandpaper
Playing the Slide Clarinet
• Dampen the reed with saliva. Place it
against your lower lip and blow hard.
• Holding the top of the 1/2" pipe with your
left hand, slide the 3/4" pipe in and out
with your right hand. You should be able
to get a range of about a Major 3rd, G
to B.
The Clarinet in Science
and Culture
The clarinet is technically a
blown instrument with a cylin-
drical (straight) tube and a sin-
gle reed. The reed is held in the
player’s mouth in such a way
that it “flaps” against the end of
the clarinet, opening and closing
many times a second and setting
up a vibration in the air inside
the instrument. The closed
cylindrical shape of the air col-
umn gives it a distinctive sound
(with only every other over-
tone); by opening holes in the
side of the instrument, the play-
er can effectively shorten the
clarinet and produce higher
pitches.
There are early clarinets—
that is, single-reed instru-
ments—in many cultures. One
type was called the chalumeau—
and the lower, fuller part of the
modern clarinet’s range is still
called the “chalumeau register.”
The modern European clarinet
was developed by Johann
Christoph Denner in about
1710. The fingering system was
greatly improved in about 1840
by H. Klose and L. Buffet (who
followed the principals intro-
duced on flutes by T. Boehm).
Clarinets exist in many sizes,
which allow players of the whole
family of instruments to play
very low and very high notes
and to play conveniently in
many keys.
 MASTER #4

Making a Dan Bau

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Drill a 1/4" hole in the

1 center of the plywood, 2 About 5" from the
about 2" from one end. other end, drill two
1/8" holes.
1. 2.

Run the guitar string

through the small
hole in the can and
loop it several times 3
so that it doesn’t Taking the empty
slip—through the can with one end
two small holes in removed, use a can open-
the other end of the er to make openings
board. across from one another
in the base near the
6 intact end.

5 4.

3.
Insert the dowel through the trian-
gular openings in the can and then
through the 1/4" hole in the board.
About 2" from the lower end of the 4
dowel, wrap tape around the dowel
beneath the board to keep it from Drill a 1/8" hole
slipping back through the hole. in the center of
the intact end of
the can.
Materials
❑ sheet of 1/8" plywood, about 6" x 30"
❑ dowel 1/4" diameter or larger, about 8"
long
❑ tin can (such as a soup can)
❑ steel guitar string, about .014 gauge
❑ tape (such as electrician's or masking tape)
Tools
❑ saw, to cut wood parts to size
❑ 1/4" drill
❑ 1/8" drill
❑ can opener
Playing the Dan Bau
• Squatting on the floor, hold the dowel
in the right hand with the other end of
the board to your left. Hold down the far
left end of the board with one foot.
• Raise the can off the board by about 3"
and pull the string tight.
• Pluck the string with the left hand while
pulling on the dowel to adjust tension
with the right.
• To get the real dan bau sound, you must
play harmonics. Experiment with pluck-
ing the string with the index finger of
the left hand while hitting the string at
one point with the thumb—which you
have to locate at a point 1/4, 2/3, or
another simple ratio along the length of
the string. It takes practice to find the
exact point for a “harmonic node,” but
the sound is worth it.
The Dan Bau in Science
and Culture
Playing the dan bau shows
the interaction between
string tension and pitch—the
tighter the string, the faster it
vibrates, and the higher the
pitch. It also shows the inter-
esting sound quality that can
come with harmonics. When
the string is touched at a
“node,” located at a point
that cuts the string into
lengths that form a simple
ratio, only the “harmonic”
that is still at that point can
vibrate.
Normally, strings vibrate
simultaneously with many
harmonics. The result is a
high-pitched, pure sound.
The dan bau is native to
Vietnam. In that country, it
is usually more elaborate—
and the technique for pro-
ducing harmonics is more
elaborate than that given
here. It is often used to
accompany the reciting of
epics, but is also played by
itself.
 MASTER #5

Make a Tunable Drum

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Place the cloth tightly over

the inner circle of the
1 embroidery hoop. Place the
outer hoop around it and
tighten.

2
Run a thin line of glue
around the place
where the cloth disap-
pears into the space
between the hoops
and let it dry. Make a
thin “varnish” of
watered-down glue
3 and coat the entire
cloth surface.
Cut the bottom 2" or 3"
out of the soda bottle.
Fold about 1" of the
remaining bottle material
inside.
Materials
❑ 1 embroidery hoop (6")
❑ 1 square of linen or other cloth, about
8" x 8"
❑ white glue
❑ 2-liter plastic soda bottle
❑ pencil or mallet
Tools
❑ knife
❑ scissors
Playing the Tunable Drum
Hold the soda bottle neck down, grab the
bottle between your legs. Place the hoop-
and-cloth “drum head” over the wide open-
ing. Holding the edges of the hoop down
with the left hand, use a pencil end or
other small stick to strike the head.
Pressing down on the hoop will raise the
pitch—and you can experiment with damp-
ening the cloth of the head to tighten it
and get a better sound.
The Drum in Science
and Culture
Drums—membranes
stretched over a resonant
cavity—appear in almost all
cultures. In any drum,
tightening the head gives a
higher pitch (though the
pitch may be too complex
to be heard as a single
pitch). This effect is used by
players of the dunsdun of
the Yoruba people, who
press on the strings that
hold the heads of their
hourglass-shaped instru-
ments to vary the head ten-
sion while they play.
Modern orchestral kettle-
drums, or timpani, have a
mechanism to accomplish
this same effect. The mech-
anism on these instruments
is worked with a foot pedal
or a hand crank.
The difficulty in identify-
ing exact pitches of many
drums comes from the fact
that the drum head can
vibrate in many, extremely
complex, ways—and not all
of these ways of vibration
give frequencies that line up
according to the orderly over-
tone series produced by
instruments of exact pitch.
 MASTER #6

Making a Hoseaphone
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Insert the mouthpiece into one

1 end of the tubing. Blow into it,
using the same embouchure as on
any brass instrument, and deter-
mine the note (which should be
a little flat from G).

Using the knife, cut off a lit-

tle of the free end of the
hose and test again. Repeat
as necessary until the funda-
mental note sounds as G.

3
Insert the funnel into the free
4 end. Test the tuning again; it
may be necessary to trim the
Coil the tube and tape tube a little more.
the coils together.
Materials
❑ 1 brass instrument mouthpiece
❑ 3/8" inside diameter plastic tubing
(about 5' 4")
❑ kitchen funnel
❑ electrician’s tape
Tools
❑ knife
Playing the Hoseaphone
You can hold the coiled tube in any way
you want—keeping the funnel to the front
will project more sound to your audience.
Keeping your lips loosely compressed, put
the mouthpiece to the center of your
mouth and blow, allowing the lips to
“buzz.” By increasing the pressure of your
blowing and the tension of your lips, you
will be able to play some of the overtones
available on your instrument (you should
be able to get at least G, D, and G an
octave higher).
The Hoseaphone in
Science and Culture
The hoseaphone is a fanciful
instrument played by some musi-
cians as a joke—but, in princi-
ple, it is equivalent to any one of
a number of “lip-vibrated aero-
phones” (instruments into which
the player blows, creating vibra-
tions with his or her lips). In
Oceania, shells have holes cut
into them that act as mouth-
pieces; in Tibet, large animal
bones are hollowed out and
blown in this way; in the north-
western corner of South
America, some cultures made
“trumpets” out of pottery; and
the use of metal to make these
“brass” instruments dates back at
least to the first millennium
B.C.E. in uses by Assyrian,
Egyptian, and Hebrew cultures.
One of the most interesting
aspects of the science of trum-
pet-making is the effect of the
shape of the tube on the sound.
First, the tube can be curled
around without any appreciable
effect on the pitch or tone
color—but the shape of the tube
has a great effect. For example,
modern orchestral trumpets are
basically cylindrical (straight)
tubes. Cornets, on the other
hand, have a more conical tube,
giving them a “softer” tone color
with weaker upper overtones.
 MASTER #7

Making Panpipes
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Cut the PVC into

the following
1 lengths (in inches):
9 1/2", 8 1/2",7 1/2",
7" and 6". Sand the
ends smooth.

Align the top

ends of the tubes
and tape them
together.

Insert a “cork” of rolled up plastic

wrap into the lower ends, a little
at a time, and tune the tubes to
G, A, B, D, and E. Pushing the
corks in will make the pitch
higher—pushing out with a
dowel or other stick will make
3
the pitch lower.
Materials Panpipes in Science and
Culture
❑ 1/2" diameter PVC tubing Also called raft pipes
(about 37" total) (because they look somewhat
like a raft of logs), they are
❑ duct tape used by many cultures includ-
ing the Aymara of the South
American Andes and the
❑ plastic kitchen wrap
Basque of Spain and France.
They were even specified as
Tools the instrument for the char-
acter Papageno in Mozart’s
❑ hacksaw opera, The Magic Flute.
The sikuri (singular siku),
❑ 100 grit sandpaper the pipes of the Aymara, are
distinctive in that they are
made in pairs. The notes of
any given melody are divided
Playing the Panpipes between the players of each
panpipe in the pair—and
Hold the pipes with the longest tube on only by alternating, or inter-
your left. Blow strongly across the top, say- locking, the notes of their
ing something like “doo” to get a definite two paired instruments can
beginning to the sound. Practice doing this musicians play their relative-
with each tube in scale order and jumping ly complex and very exciting
pieces.
from note to note.
When panpipes are
played, blowing over the tops
of the tubes causes turbu-
lence in the air stream. The
air tends to alternate passing
over the top and into the
tube, setting up a vibration
inside the tube. The speed of
the vibration is set by the
length of the tube—the
longer the tube, the slower
the vibration, and the lower
the pitch.
 MASTER #8

Making an Erhu
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

1 Open one end of

2
Widen each hole with
metal shears to 1"
can. Make two
holes with the nail diameter.
or awl on opposite
sides near closed Tape around jagged
end of can. edges of holes.

5
Run the guitar string through
the 1/8" hole in the big
dowel, over the small piece of On the 1" dowel, drill
wood (the bridge) placed a 3/8" hole 2" from
against the can, and through one end, and an 1/8"
the 1/8" hole in the little hole at other end.
dowel.
On the 3/8" dowel,
Twist the little dowel to tune. drill an 1/8" hole near
one end.
3

4
Stick the 1"
dowel through
the tube; stick
the 3/8" dowel
through the 1"
dowel.
Materials
❑ can (large, such as 28 oz. tomato sauce)
❑ 1" wooden dowel, about 20" long
❑ 3/8" wooden dowel, about 4" long
❑ piece of wood, about 3" x 1/2" x 1/4"
❑ metal guitar string (about .010 gauge)
❑ electrician’s or duct tape
Tools
❑ 1" drill
❑ 3/8" drill
❑ 1/8" drill
❑ metal shears (tin snips)
❑ nail or awl
Playing the Erhu
Hold the upright spike of the instrument
between the thumb and palm of the left
hand. Place the lower spike against the
right thigh, and hold a bow in the right
hand. While drawing the bow across the
strings, you can lightly touch the strings
with the fingers of the left hand to get new
pitches. Don’t try to push the strings all the
way down to the spike.
The Erhu in Science and
Culture
The name “erhu” means
two-stringed barbarian [fid-
dle]—it was introduced into
China in a period of expand-
ing foreign influence. The
real erhu has two strings,
with the bow passed between
them. The erhu fits into the
general classification of
“spike fiddle” or string instru-
ment in which a single spike,
which holds the string or
strings, is driven through a
resonator.
Instruments of this type
show up in many cultures
and are possibly at the basis
of modern Western bowed
string instruments.
 MASTER #9

Making a Maraca
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Put the rattling medium

1 in the box or can. 2 Tape or seal it shut.
Materials
❑ Anything that can hold things, like an
old coffee can, juice can, cardboard box
(such as a one-serving cereal box)
❑ Anything that rattles, like rice, beans,
popcorn, small stones
Playing the Maraca
Rattle, swirl, or strike it. Try to hold it so
that it does not inhibit the vibration of the
box.
Maracas in Science &
Culture
Maracas are best known to
most residents of the United
States in the context of
music from South America,
but in the generic form of
shakers, they are used in
many musics, notably those
of Native Americans. Folk
instruments are often gourds
(large seed-pods of various
plants) filled with beads,
seeds, or stones.
 MASTER #10

Making a Güiro
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

1 Take a cardboard paper towel

tube. Coat it with a few layers 2 Cut a series of slits on one
side of the tube.
of white glue. Alternatively, use
a plastic tube or thick wooden
dowel.
Materials
❑ 1 cardboard, wood, or plastic tube
❑ 1 thin stick as scraper
Playing the Güiro
• Hold the instrument cupped in the left
hand, leaving as much of the tube free to
vibrate as possible.
• Holding the stick in the right hand,
scrape it along the serrations. Experiment
with moving the stick more or less
rapidly.
• For a louder sound, hold one end of the
güiro against a desk, box, or other
resonator.
The Güiro in Science and
Culture
An instrument most often
found in the music of Central
America and the Caribbean,
it goes by many other names:
rascador in Cuba, guachara
in Panama and Colombia. It
is usually a piece of wood or a
gourd (plant) with serrations
(rough spots) in one side.
The player slides a scraper
over the serrations. As a per-
cussion instrument, it has the
advantage of allowing very
short, accented effects, or (by
scraping more slowly) longer
held “notes.”
The güiro is called for in
some very large orchestral
scores, like Stravinsky’s Rite
of Spring. In Ravel’s opera,
The Child and the Sorcerers,
the güiro is specified as a
possible substitution for
another instrument—the
cheese grater.
 MASTER #11

Making a Prepared Piano

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Using great care not to drop or mar anything, screw

1 a wood screw between one of the pairs of strings in
the tenor register of the piano.

Try moving it for different sounds.

Try placing a rubber

eraser between string
pairs.

Again, try moving it

for different sounds.

Try weaving a piece of paper over and under the strings

3 about 5" in front of the hammers. Note: you can also try
preparing an autoharp.
Materials
❑ 1 piano (preferably a grand rather than
an upright)
❑ several wood screws, erasers, paper
Playing the Prepared Piano
Play just as you would any piano—but you
will find that the pitches aren’t necessarily
in order any more. So in writing for pre-
pared piano, you should think of each key
as actuating a separate percussion instru-
ment rather than a note on one instru-
ment.
The Prepared Piano in
Science and Culture
American composer John
Cage developed the prepared
piano as a way to get the
variety of sounds offered by a
large group of percussion
instruments—without having
to cart around a large group
of percussion instruments. In
his 1940 composition,
Bacchanale, he directed the
performer to “prepare” a
piano by placing screws,
bolts, and bits of rubber in
the strings.
The exact placement of
the items is essential—if a
preparation is put at a “node”
of one of the string’s over-
tones, it will tend to rein-
force that overtone. If it is
placed at a point that is not a
node, it will tend to deaden
the string and make the pitch
less definite (harder to iden-
tify as a single note).
The material is also
important; if it is softer, it
tends to deaden the string’s
vibration.
 MASTER #12

Making a Tube Vina

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

3
Drill a 1/4" hole about Thread a nut and wash-
1 1" from one end of the 2 2 er up to the top of the
tube; use the nail or eye bolt; insert in the
awl to poke a small 1/4" hole.
hole in the other end.
Put the other washer
3 and nut inside and
tighten finger tight.
7

Loosen
the 1
string
and cut
notches at the marked 4
positions. The notches 5
should be deep enough that Saw a shallow
a Pospsicle stick placed in notch per-
each one just clears the top pindicular to 6
of the tube the axis of the
tube about 1/2"
Re-tighten the string. from the small
hole. Place a
Popsicle stick
in it.

4
6 5
Press the string against the tube to find the Working from inside out, poke guitar string
notes E, G, A, B, and D. Mark the positions of through the small hole, run it over the
each note. They will be about 2 1/2", 5 3/4", Popsicle stick bridge, thread it through and
7 1/4", 8 3/4", 10 3/4" from the screw. around the eye bolt, twisting to bring it up
to a “d”.
Materials
The Vina in Science
and Culture
❑ 1 cardboard mailing tube (about 3"
diameter, about 24" long)—must be The earliest references to
thick cardboard the vina are about 3,000
years old—and various relat-
ed instruments are still
❑ 1 eye bolt (1/4" x 2", with 2 nuts and
played today in India and in
washers) Southeast Asia. The bin and
the sitar are perhaps the best
❑ 6 Popsicle sticks known such instruments. In
addition, the basic idea of a
❑ 1 guitar string (D or 4th for nylon-string stretched string running over
guitar) frets appears in many cul-
tures—closest to home in the
United States, in the guitar.
Tools Plucking the string gives
energy for vibration, and the
❑ saw (preferably a keyhole saw) speed of vibration is directly
proportional to the length of
❑ 1/4" drill the string. That is why the
fret for the octave D in this
instrument ends up exactly
❑ nail or awl half way between the bridge
and the tuning bolt.

Playing the Vina

• Hold the instrument upright, resting on
your left knee.

• With the left hand, place a finger just

behind one of the Popsicle stick frets.

• With the right hand, pluck the string

close to the bridge.
 MASTER #13

Making a Mbira
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

2 About 1/2" back

1 Glue down one
Popsicle stick
2 from the stick,
make holes for 6
near one edge of
screws. Separate
the block of 1 each hole by
wood.
1/2".

4
Tighten the screws a little—
still allowing some move-
ment of the sticks. Pull in
and push out to tune to G,
A, B, D, E.

Put a screw in each hole

and insert a Popsicle
stick between each pair
of screws. The sticks
should project over the
glued-down stick.
Materials
❑ 6 Popsicle sticks (better to have more, as
they can vary considerably in thickness
and flexibility)
❑ 1 block of 3/4" wood, about 5" x 3"
❑ 6 screws (flathead #6 sheet metal screws)
Tools
❑ glue
❑ screwdriver
Playing the Mbira
• Place on a resonant surface (such as a
desk or table) and hold in place with the
left hand; flick down on the Popsicle
sticks with the right hand.
• To make the mbira self-contained, mount
it on a permanent resonator such as a
box, a discarded one-gallon milk
container, or other hollow body.
• You can also make a bass mbira by using
larger screws and wooden (not plastic)
rulers in the place of Popsicle sticks.
The Mbira in Science
and Culture
Mbira is only one word for
a “lamellaphone”: an instru-
ment that makes sound with
lamella (thin plates of wood,
metal, or another material).
If the material is uniform, a
longer lamella will produce a
lower note. If it is not uni-
form, factors such as weight
and flexibility come into play
to complicate matters.
In several parts of Africa,
lamellaphones are used as
important instruments to
accompany song. Other
names for it are malimba,
kalimba, likembe, agidigbo,
and sansa. In some cases, as
among the Nsenga people,
the music is purely instru-
mental. The resonator cavity
for the instrument is some-
times a wooden box (often
with soundholes that can be
covered or uncovered by the
player to alter the tone), and
sometimes a gourd.
 MASTER #14

Making a Metallophone
MENC: The National Association for Music Education 4"

3"
Cut the cardboard as 3"
1 shown and tape
together to form a box.

11 3/4"
12"

4 Place the bars in

order along the res-
onator cavity. For the
best sound, they should be
2
supported by the cardboard at
points 1/4 of the way in from 3" Cut the conduit to the
each end. When you find the following lengths: 13
best (most resonant) point for 8" 5/8", 12 3/4", 11 5/8",
each bar, mark the spot and 11", 10 5/8", 9 5/8"
cut shallow notches in the [Hint: cut the longest
cardboard to keep the bars in length first and use the
place. Note: you can use file to tune (as you file
wooden dowels (at least 3/4" a little off, the pitch
diameter) in place of the con- rises). This way, if you
duit to make a marimba—but file off too much, you
you will have to experiment can still use that
with the proper length to length for a higher
produce the pitches you want pitch.]
because lengths will vary
depending on the type of 3
wood and thickness. You can
also experiment with other
Hold up each length of
materials—even
tubing by a string tied
paper towel rolls
around its center point
will give a soft
and strike to tune by fil-
note (of less defi-
ing a little off either
nite pitch) when
end. You should be able
struck in this
to get the notes D, E, G,
way.
A, B, and D. Color the
“G” red—it is the
“home” note of the
scale.
Materials
The Metallophone in
Science and Culture
❑ corrugated cardboard (from an old
packing box) Metallophones first show
up in Chinese tombs from
❑ packing tape around 700 C.E. Today, they
are prominent in the music
of Indonesia and, in the form
❑ 3/4" electrical conduit (about 70" total) of the Glockenspiel and
Vibraphone, in Western
music. The shape and size of
Tools the resonant cavity in a met-
allophone is critical: that is
❑ hacksaw why the vibraphone can get a
pulsating effect by using a
❑ metal file motor to close off and open
up the resonating tubes that
❑ knife hang below each key.
The marimba (the same
instrument, with wooden
keys) shows up around the
Playing the Metallophone world—notably in Africa and
as an African import into
• Strike the bars near the center. South America.

• Experiment with different beaters—

metal, wood, pencil eraser ends, and
so on.
 MASTER #15

Making a Koto
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Drill a series of five 1/8"

1 Mark out on the plywood two lines running
up from the two lower corners (at about a
2 holes about every 2" along
45 degree angle). the lines.

7 Insert the blocks

under the strings, Fasten the two 3
about halfway between the wooden slats
holes and the screw eyes. below the long sides of the
plywood, using glue and
nails.

With the angle 4

formed by the
lines on the plywood fac-
ing away from you, insert
the screw eyes in the holes
to the right.

6 Sand the
small wood
blocks to make
a peak on the top of
each one. Fold the
sandpaper and
sand a notch
across each Run nylon twine 5
peak. through the holes
on the left, tie it to the screw eyes on
the right, and twist the screw eyes to
tighten.
Materials
❑ 1 sheet 1/8" plywood, about 9" x 30"
❑ 2 1/2" wooden slats, about 1" x 30"
❑ 5 screw eyes, about 3/4"
❑ 5 wooden blocks, about 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/8"
❑ thin nylon twine
❑ 6 small nails (brads)
Tools
❑ glue (white glue or carpenter’s glue)
❑ 1/8" drill
❑ hammer
❑ coarse sandpaper
Playing the Koto
Tune the instrument to D, E, G, A, and B
by turning the eyes and moving the wood-
block “bridges” to the left or right. Pluck
the segment of string to the right. When
playing, you can get notes in between the
tuned pitches by pressing down with the
fingers of your left hand on the segment of
each string to the left. This technique is
called, on the Japanese koto, “ko.”
The Koto in Science and
Culture
The koto is basically a
zither with moveable bridges.
As such, it is a member of a
large family of instruments
across eastern Asia such as
the zheng of China or the
kayagum of Korea. Zithers
are also important to many
other musical traditions. For
example, the Latvians play a
kokle; and in Burundi, musi-
cians play an inanga.
Tuning and playing the
koto demonstrates the inter-
dependence between length
and tension in setting the
pitch of a stringed instru-
ment. Tuning the strings
tighter (raising the tension)
raises the pitch—but so does
moving the bridge (adjusting
the length). And the ko
technique of increasing string
tension while playing also
changes the pitch.
 MASTER #16

Making a ______________
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

(Create your own musical instrument)

Materials
❑

Tools
❑

Playing a ______________
 Draw a continuous line for each of the four dimensions of musical sound. The first section of “dynamics” has been completed for you.

loud 0:00 0:27 1:03 1:38 2:12

Dynamics

soft

high

Pitch

low
Brahms Hungarian Dance #5

rich

Tone Color

less rich

long

Duration

short
Master a

Melody A Melody B Melody C Melodies A & B

 MASTER b

Rondo Planning Sheet

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

A Section:
Identify the instrument type for each instrumental part. Then decide if specific pitches are to
be used, and write them in the space provided. Finally, add a melody (if desired).

Melody

Part 1
type_________
Pitches? – –– –– –– – – – – – ––
Part 2
type_________
Pitches? – – – – –
Part 3
type_________
Pitches? – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Part 4
type_________
Pitches? – – – – – – –

B Section:
Identify the specific instruments to be used, describe the character of the music to be played, and spec-
ify and rythmic or melodic ideas.

Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Rhythm or melody
 MASTER #1

C Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Rhythm or melody

D Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Rhythm or melody

E Section:
Instruments________________________
Description___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Rhythm or melody
 MASTER c

Sound, Overtones, and Instruments

MENC: The National Association for Music Education

violin clarinet piano trumpet

1 2 3 4 56 7 12345 67 1 2 3 4 56 7 1 2 34 5

flute sin wave sawtooth wave

1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 56 7

Part 2
Listen, and identify the sound used on CD Track 11. (It is the same sound as that used on CD
track 12, with one difference.)

• Musical Sounds - their “envelopes”

CD Track 1 CD Track 2
(loudness)
intensity

time
 MASTER #1
Part 3
Listen to the “envelopes” for a series of sounds on the same instrument.
• CD track 13

a b c d e

Identify the characteristics of your instrument

Instrument name:__________________________________

Method of playing:_________________________________

Instrument richness (place a mark along the scale):

ve
wa
ve et t th
wa in pe no lin too
te r m
in flu cla tru pia vio saw
•s • • • • • •

➜ less rich richer ➜

Instrument “envelope”
(loudness)
intensity

time
 MASTER d

Careers That Combine

Music, Science, and Math
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

If you are considering a career in music, you may not be aware of the variety of music professions available to you and the opportu-
nities they hold. In particular, there are several careers that can call on an individual’s talents and knowledge in the areas intro-
duced in the Bose® In Harmony With Education® program.

Studio Arranger
Arrangers can be freelance or affiliated with a particular studio. They score songs for the group and the instruments used in the
recording session. The arranger may be a songwriter scoring his or her own works, be a member of a performing group, or work full-
time at arranging. Arrangers’ fees are set by union contracts based on number of score pages: the more scores an arranger prepares,
the higher the fee. Many arrangers work nights; daytime hours are spent answering inquiries and sometimes conducting.

If you want to become an arranger, it is important to read music quickly and write neatly. While you do not have to play any instru-
ments well, it is very important that you have a working knowledge of each instrument for which you might be scoring, including
their timbres, temperaments, and ranges. You will also need a strong sense of what is currently popular and an instinct for future
trends. Income as an arranger is usually based on commissions when music is sold for publication, recording, or broadcast.

Electronic Design Engineer

The market for audio electronics—both for consumer and for professional applications—is very large. The engineers who design the
equipment that supplies this market are, consequently, likely to be in demand.

If you want to be an electronic design engineer you will need a high level of math proficiency and knowledge of the sciences (par-
ticularly the physical sciences and, perhaps, the life science of psychoacoustics). This means, in practice, taking as much math and
science as you can in high school. With some vocational education, this would allow you to work as a technician, or it could allow
you to get into engineering school. Once in college, you will need a four-year Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering to start
design work. Further study (useful in moving forward in the profession) generally includes specialization in fields such as program-
ming, circuit design, power engineering, or manufacturing/process engineering.

You have the necessary personal attributes if you are good at working as part of a team toward a well-defined, technical goal. And,
of course, a love of music can help as a motivator. Salary range in this field for a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree is in the
$40,000 range to start.

Instrument Production Worker

Different skills are required for the manufacture of different instruments. There is a need in all phases, however, for tool and die
makers, assemblers, screw machine operators, buffers, sanders, and tuners. Manufacturers of brass and some woodwind instruments
have positions for die casters, solderers, engravers, lacquerers, platers, valve makers, and others skilled in assembling various ele-
ments as the instruments near completion.

The newer instruments, such as synthesizers, require the talents of engineers who understand microcircuitry and computer technol-
ogy. Since electronic instruments contain chips to handle a variety of functions, engineers must understand not only the functions
of the components but their musical potential as well. (See the section on Design Engineers.)
 MASTER #1

Pianos, despite changes in style and appearance, are basically the same instruments they have always been. Modern production
methods may be used to manufacture metal interior pieces and for primary woodworking, veneering, and mill operations, but the
final product is the result of handcrafting and skilled artisanship.

Likewise, there are few shortcuts in the manufacture of quality guitars, violins, and other stringed instruments. Highly refined wood-
working skills are necessary for the production of a good stringed instrument and its decorative carving or inlay.

Among traditional musical instruments, drums have perhaps benefited most from the development of new materials. Plastics have
replaced animal skins as drumheads and are widely used for the bodies. The finished drum, however, still requires handwork. Skilled
craftsmanship is necessary for gluing joints, centering the head, trimming, sanding, and tuning. The final assembly of any instru-
ment, in fact, is reserved for the best trained and most highly skilled members of the production staff.

After completion, each instrument is evaluated by a tester before it leaves the plant. Testers must be musicians as well as craftsmen,
familiar with the instrument and its musical capabilities and able to make minor adjustments or pinpoint problems for adjustment
by others on the production line.

While some production functions can be handled by a person without musical training, knowing how to play the instrument is an
important asset. According to one manufacturer, knowing how to play an instrument might be compared to having a college degree
in another field. In many instances it will be helpful in progressing to a more skilled, better paying job.

If you are interested in a career in musical instrument manufacturing, you can find job opportunities around the United States. The
supply industries, those making cast-iron plates, actions, keyboards, hardware, tuning pins, strings, and mouthpieces are generally
located near the manufacturing site.

For a career in instrument manufacturing, you must meet age requirements of various states as well as labor and insurance laws. You
do not need any basic skills for a beginning job other than the ability to learn, since most manufacturers have on-the-job training
programs. Some firms also have apprenticeship programs for the more skilled craft jobs. Salaries vary widely according to the wage
and salary scale of each industry.

Inventor
Another possibility for a career in instrument manufacturing lies in design and development. Often, specialists in other fields, such
as electronics and engineering, computer software, or music performance, have created new instruments that have led to the devel-
opment of new industries.

Influential musical instrument inventors have included John Philip Sousa, sousaphone; Laurens Hammond, electric organ; Harold
Rhodes, electric piano; Robert Moog and RCA engineers Harry Olson and Herbert Belar, synthesizer; and John Chowning of
Stanford University, digital synthesizer. Hundreds of others have made refinements in basic instruments or created accessory items,
amplification equipment, and adapters that have broadened the capabilities of instruments or have made them easier to play.

Recording Engineer or Mixer

The engineer sets up microphones and operates equipment necessary to record the session. The producer may give presession
instructions to the engineer, including a studio floor plan showing instrumental groupings, microphone placement, and the acousti-
cal baffles to be used. The engineer is concerned with five areas: musical range, rhythm, variety, dynamics, and spectral control.
The engineer must be able to compensate for studio limitations, the recording medium, and reproduction equipment.

Salaries in this field can vary widely, depending especially on the size and success of the studio. Since engineering is one of the most
popular career areas in recording, studios are extremely selective in hiring. To prepare yourself, enroll in a college that offers specific
courses in sound engineering, learn to operate all technical machines, read the trade magazines, and visit recording studios. Try to
get a studio job to learn more about the capabilities of the equipment.
 MASTER e

Glossary
MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Analog: In sound, the method of recording and transmitting sound that was used until a few years ago. It involves
transforming the changes in sound intensity directly into changes in another medium (and back again). For example,
a phonograph record contains grooves that vary in width and depth according to the sounds they represent, so a nee-
dle in a spinning record’s groove vibrates in a way that can, with amplification, give a recognizable musical sound. A
magnetic analog tape (like a cassette) contains particles of material that are magnetized more or less strongly—like
the record groove’s higher or lower depth—in a way that can be amplified, converted to vibrations in the air by a
transducer, and heard as a musical sound.

Cardioid: A type of microphone that exhibits a heart-shaped pattern of sensitivity. In a cardioid microphone, the
area behind the microphone (the “notch” at the top of a heart shape) picks up very little sound; the sides and front
are quite sensitive.

Chorusing: A type of sound effects processing that makes a single voice sound or instrument sound like a chorus. It
is done by making copies of the sound and combining them back with the original signal—but a little later.

Digital: Refers to the recording of sound not as an analog trace (such as the peaks and valleys of a phonograph
record) but as a series of binary digits (numbers in a counting system that use only 0 and 1). A digital recording of
the loudness of a sound that starts piano and increases to forte, for example, look like a smooth line going up but
would be recorded as a series of numbers, each larger than the one before.

Distortion: “Errors” introduced in the recording or transmission of sound. They are usually unwanted errors that lead
to a lack of clarity in the sound, and engineers have designed devices such as limiters to avoid distortion. Some styles
of rock, however, intentionally use more or less controlled distortion for musical and dramatic effect.

Equalizer: A device that can be used to alter the relative strength of various frequencies in a sound. In its simplest
form, an equalizer can be the device controlled by the “tone” knob on a radio. More sophisticated equalizers are gen-
erally “graphic equalizers,” which have one control for the relative strength every one of several fixed frequency
ranges, or “parametric equalizers,” in which both the strength of a range and the frequency of that range are subject
to control.

Headroom: The extent to which a recorder can accept strong signals. If the signal being recorded exceeds the head-
room, overload distortion results.

Layering: The process of combining several tracks to produce a complete recording. The musicians providing indi-
vidual tracks can, with this technique, work on a recording “together”—but on separate days. It is best done with a
recorder that offers many tracks (standard for professional studios is 24 tracks), but can be done with only two tracks
by recording track a, mixing the recording from a with a new signal on to track b, mixing that combined recording
with a new signal back onto track a, and so on.

Limiting: The setting of a limit on the intensity of a signal. It is usually done so that the signal does not exceed the
headroom of a recorder.

Mixing: The process of combining the signals from different sound sources to achieve a well-balanced final sound. It
can be done for a live performance that must be amplified or for a recording.
 MASTER #1

MIDI: An acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It was developed as a way to allow electronic instru-
ments to communicate with one another by means of a “code” of digital numbers representing aspects of a musical
performance. A signal in MIDI “code” might say, for example, that a middle C is turned on with an intensity of
100 (on a scale of 1 to 128), and then the pitch is “bent” up by 40 percent, and then turned off. MIDI has
become especially useful with computer programs that store these signals in much the same way that a word pro-
cessing program stores the letters typed on a computer keyboard.

Noise: This can simply mean unwanted sound—such as noise that someone makes in the next room when you
are trying to record a song. It has a technical meaning, too; sound that contains all frequencies (rather than the
few overtones found in pitched sounds).

Noise reduction: All transducers, recorders, or other devices used to store and reproduce sound introduce some
noise. This is particularly a problem with analog tape recorders, so a variety of noise reduction techniques have
been developed to minimize noise. A series of techniques labeled Dolby A, Dolby B, Dolby C, and Dolby S are
used on many recorders, as is a technique known as DBX.

Omnidirectional: A type of microphone that picks up sound equally from all directions.

Panning: The process of distributing a signal between two stereo tracks in the mixing process. A single piano
note, for example, could have 50 percent of its signal to the left and 50 percent to the right, making it sound as
though the piano player was sitting in the middle of the sound field. By changing the panning to 10 percent left
and 90 percent right, however, a studio engineer can make it sound like the piano player just picked up the piano
and moved it to the right.

Patch: An electrical circuit set up to route a signal, especially one set up by means of “patch cords.”

Reverberation: The quality of echoes in a room. All rooms (except for specially-built anechoic chambers) have
some reverberation; that of a small room with a lot of cloth furniture is relatively minimal; that of a large, stone
cathedral is almost enough to overwhelm sounds produced in the room. Because of its importance in coloring the
way we hear sounds, recording engineers will often add reverberation by means of electronic devices.

Sampling: The process of taking a digital sample—a sort of audio snapshot—of a sound. The sample can be stored
in a computer’s memory and played back (in its original form or altered) at will.

Track: One “line” of information that goes into a recording. Often, a track is the recording of one instrument
that will be combined with other instrument parts in layering the final mix.

Transducer: A device that changes sound to or from another medium—such as electricity. A microphone is a
transducer, for example, that changes sound waves to waves of variation in an electrical signal. A speaker does the
reverse, changing electrical variations into the mechanical vibration of air that is sound. A speaker can even
function as a microphone—and some microphones can function as speakers (but don’t try the experiment unless
you know what you’re doing or don’t mind destroying your microphone).

Transient: A part of a sound that changes quickly in loudness and often in frequency content—especially, the
first 1/2 of a second or so of a sound’s “envelope.”