Summary

Overall, our instrument turned out well. It was as close as possible to certain notes that we were aiming for, and played pretty well. Even though our instrument was not the most complex instrument in the world, it showed us how much work really goes into creating a working instrument. This was a very fun and informative project, and we all enjoyed the class greatly. Thank you.

Photos of the Build

Making of The Pan Flute

After calculating the lengths of the pvc needed to create a functional pan flute, it was time to build the prototype. It was a process that involved measuring atleast twice and cutting once, as length becomes important to get the pitch correct. Then closing off the bottom to make sure the instrument gets the correct amount of vibration. Pictures of the build will be posted in the following blog.

Our Instrument- The Pan Flute

The instrument we chose to create, is the pan flute. The pan flute is an aerophone that is also known by the name, pan pipe. It is popular among folk music and works like a mouth organ. You blow into the different tubes to create different pitches. These pitches are created by different tubes of a precise length to create musical notes. These specific frequencies are called fundamental frequencies. Also the diameter of the tube matters. A smaller diameter tube is said to sound reedy while a wider diameter tube sounds flutey. Overall, this should be a fun instrument to make and hopefully one we can all figure out how to play.

Individual Roles to Group Success

We tried to split our project up so people had different roles that would lead us to a successfully built instrument.

Ben, J.P., and Pablo, are our main build team. Although everyone helped with design and plans they are in charge of making sure its built correctly.

Brad is our instrument player and power point creator.

Lathom is our power point creator and revisionist.

I, Mark, am the blog writer and organizer.

We all lend a hand when needed but we thought by splitting it up into parts our project would run more smoothly and efficiently.

Definition of an Aerophone

According to Encyclopedia.com, an aerophone is classified as;

aerophone. Term for musical instruments which produce their sound by using air as principal vibrating factor. These instruments. are subdivided according to whether air is unconfined by the instrument (bullroarer, motor horn, etc.) or enclosed within a tube (wind instrs. proper). One of 4 classifications of instruments devised by C. Sachs and E. M. von Hornbostel and pubd. in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1914.

Basically it is a musical instrument where a vibrating mass of air produces the sound coming from the it.