What We Did
We had to make an instrument that could play a scale of seven notes. In our group we had to make a wind, string, and chimes instrument to play together as a band. In our group we made a trumpet, chimes, flute, ukulele, and we have vocals.
Some of the challenges in making the ukulele was working with the bridge, the head, and the strings. The bridge was originally glued and screwed into to place. That eventually failed. Then we made a new bridge and screwed that into the body and into a piece of wood underneath which then held really nicely. When we did that all the tension that was on the bridge shifted to the scroll, which eventually started to bend. Since the scroll was no longer flat the strings came out of the groves, which did not affect the overall sound, but just made it harder to tune. If I were to do this again I would make the neck and possibly the body out off wood so it would last.
Some of the challenges in making the ukulele was working with the bridge, the head, and the strings. The bridge was originally glued and screwed into to place. That eventually failed. Then we made a new bridge and screwed that into the body and into a piece of wood underneath which then held really nicely. When we did that all the tension that was on the bridge shifted to the scroll, which eventually started to bend. Since the scroll was no longer flat the strings came out of the groves, which did not affect the overall sound, but just made it harder to tune. If I were to do this again I would make the neck and possibly the body out off wood so it would last.
About all of Our Instruments
Concepts
- Frequency- this is the number of times a crest or trough of a wave passes a given point. The higher the frequency the higher the pitch. The frequency on the ukulele is changed when you put downs fingers on the different frets or you can tune the strings to a different frequency. The unit of measure can be Hertz or meters per second.
- Wavelength- This is how long the wave is. It is measured in meters
- Amplitude- This is how loud the sound is. The higher the crest is the louder the sound. To make ukulele have a higher amplitude you would pluck or strum the strings harder.
- Wave speed- This is how fast the wave is moving it is also the velocity of the wave
- Period- This is the inverse of frequency. As the frequency increases the period decreases.
About Ukuleles
A ukulele is like most other string instruments. It had four different strings all tuned to a different pitch, so when strummed it has the iconic ukulele sound. Unlike a violin or cello there are no fine tuning pegs, but rather pegs like a guitar. Ukuleles come in four main sizes. Ours that we made is a concert size which is the most common ukulele.
Reflection
In this project I had a hard time distributing the work and including everyone because we were all working on our own instrument and were all fairly independent of each other. Next time I can be more inclusive and ask other people's opinions more even if it is a more individual project. I could have also thought through my material choices more since I realized that cardboard might not be the best choice because of all the tension of the strings.
In this project I was good at helping out some of my group members who did not know a lot about music and try to help them understand it. That was good for the overall group because we were able to be more productive and have more background knowledge on the musical aspect of the project. I overall had a lot of fun in this project since I love music. It was also fun to make an instrument that I don't play because it made me expand my musical background and its just fun to learn a new instrument. I also keep a positive out look on my project even when it wasn't working as well as I would have liked.
In this project I was good at helping out some of my group members who did not know a lot about music and try to help them understand it. That was good for the overall group because we were able to be more productive and have more background knowledge on the musical aspect of the project. I overall had a lot of fun in this project since I love music. It was also fun to make an instrument that I don't play because it made me expand my musical background and its just fun to learn a new instrument. I also keep a positive out look on my project even when it wasn't working as well as I would have liked.