What is my instrument? A banjo with 22 strings…

So in this experiment, using Tonescope to measure the frequency and pitch note is the most difficult part. I was having difficulties on correctly measuring the exact frequency and pitch plus there were too many interferences nearby. I even borrowed a microphone from the IT department in order to get the most accurate results! There’s nothing easy doing this experiment, but the most easiest part I could say is the graphing process. I just need to graph the results I recorded down! That’s how easy it went.

In this experiment, the primary Approach to Learning (ATL) is:

“Social skills–Practice giving feedback on the design of experimental methods.”

In order to fulfill this statement, we did a lab experiment, gathered up the data, and presented our instrument up stage. I also did a short song played on my instrument! After testing, I found out that my instrument failed 1 test. That was, not enough volume, even though class mates thought that my instrument is so cool. My instrument doesn’t have a sound hole on the body, so that isn’t an ukulele I planned to create. That is a banjo with 22 strings. (Usually, a banjo has 4~6 strings.) What I cam improve the volume of my instrument is that making the steel cylinder-like box sealed and drill a sound whole on the sealings. In that way, the vibration caused by plucking the string can be amplified at a louder volume. In addition, I found out that some strings produce merely the same pitch and note when played. That may caused by the same type and merely the same length of the string. Since it’s made on a recycled badminton racquet, the string length can’t be changed since the strings must be tight enough to make sound when it’s plucked.

The reason why I made a banjo is because that I am still learning how to play an ukulele. When our teacher, Mr. Meuret, described the entire summative, which requires us to make our own instrument (using recycled materials better), the idea of making a string instrument (like an ukulele)  came to my mind. I can play the piano, but making a replica of a piano out of recycled materials is very difficult. Making a string instrument is much easier. However, the entire building process had intrigued myself and my family members due to the hastiness of the entire project: the instrument was meant to be due last Friday! (We managed to complete the instrument before last Thursday, because Mr. Meuret told us that it’s better if we have our instrument done before Thursday.) During the presentation, I’ve seen many people creating a variety of instruments, like the easiest “Water-filled glass jar percussion set,” a “thumb-piano,” and a small but powerful pan flute made of straws are present! Now I found out that there are multiple ways to make our own instruments: easy to make, powerful sounds.