Musical Inventions: DIY Instruments to Toot, Tap, Crank, Strum, Pluck, and Switch On (Make)

Musical Inventions: DIY Instruments to Toot, Tap, Crank, Strum, Pluck, and Switch On (Make)

People have been playing music on homemade instruments for thousands of years. But creating new instruments is much more than an art form. When you want to make a note sound higher or lower, you have to change the sound waves coming out of the instrument. That's science! When you explore the way different materials produce different sounds, that's engineering. When you speed up or slow down a song, you're counting beats -- using math. And technology makes electronic instruments and devices to record and play back music possible. We have ordered several copies of Make: Musical Inventions by Kathy Ceceri to sell in our museum store as these are a great fit for both our museum (focused on music) and this temporary exhibit (focused on design, engineering, and creative makerspaces). I think there are so many great projects in that book and we are excited to have the book for sale in our museum store. -- Rene Rodgers, Ph.D., Curator of Exhibits and Publications, Birthplace of Country Music Museum I teach a Music Appreciation Class, and I will be including many of the projects in Make: Musical Inventions . I firmly believe that getting students directly involved in learninghelps them understand concepts. Building musical instruments willexplain the science in a fun way. -- Rebecca Angel, GeekMom.com Although the projects are for beginners, there is some heavy teachinggoing on within these pages. I could definitely see a middle or highschool teacher using some of these projects to demonstrate physicalscience concepts. -- Liz Greaser, artisaneducation.com Kathy Ceceri is the author of activity books for beginners of all ages, including "Edible Inventions," "Paper Inventions," "Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future," and "Video Games: Design and Code Your Own Adventure." Her STEAM workshops for kids and educators are popular at schools, museums, libraries, and Maker Faires around the country. Kathy has written about the importance of hands-on learning as the Homeschooling Expert for About.com (now Thoughtco.com), for websites including Wired.com, and numerous magazines and newspapers. She lives with her family in Upstate New York.