Pin piano

Different lengths of metal or string vibrate at different speeds. One of the reasons a piano has high and low tones is because the strings are of different lengths. A long string vibrates slowly, producing a low note, while a short string moves quickly and produces a high pitched sound. You can demonstrate this by making a pin piano. Take a little block of wood, such as a scrap of pine, and get nine straight pins. With a hammer, carefully drive the first pin a short distance into one end of the block. Drive each of seven other pins a little farther into the black so that you have a slanting row of pins. It’s kind of like the bars on a cell phone. One is a little bit bigger than the other. Use the extra pin to pluck the piano. See if you can play different songs on it.

Soda straw clarinet

An ordinary soda straw can be used to make a musical note as well as the funny noises you here when you suck the last drop out of soda from a glass. Here, we will make a great musical clarinet! Flatten about half an inch of the end of a paper drinking straw. Then cut a point in the flattened end. Put the flattened end into your mouth, and be careful not to tough the points with your lips, and blow hard. The points will vibrate rapidly and you will produce a musical note. If you cut pieces of straws at various lengths, you can make many different notes, because the tone is changed by the amount of air vibrating inside the straw.

Ringing spoon

Sound travels through other things besides air. It travels through string, and if you tie a kitchen spoon to the middle of a five foot length of string you will find this out for your self. Place the one end of a string in each ear and let the spoon swing so that it hits a leg of the kitchen table. The sound will be large like a large bell, because the sound waves have traveled directly through the string to your ears instead of spreading out into the air.