Today, my 4th, 5th and 6th grade students finished their "Costa Rican Tree Frog" instruments. We were going to make rhythm sticks, and then decided the addition of a sounding body would bring greater sound. This is giving me ideas. Next could be primitive ukeleles or some other kind of stringed instrument, but my challenge will be tuning pegs. In any case, wood shop is fun. This class is now turning its attention to making more of these instruments to sell at the music festival the school is presenting on Sept. 24. Money raised will help cover class travel, and the making of the frogs is an exercise in the study of economics.
In my own wood shop, I've been making inlay and using a router table and template to rout the insides of small boxes as shown below.
Make, fix and create...
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Doug,
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed making tongue drums for years. The slits can be cut with a hand-held saber saw, or, with patience, a coping saw and coarse blade. The box/body can be as simple or fancy as one wishes. There is also lots of scientific exploration possible - how the length of the tongues affects sound, but also the thickness of the top, species of wood used, etc.
-Larry