Build a Band
PVC Saxophone
How does it work?
My instrument has a saxophone mouthpiece connected to a PVC pipe that has holes in the right places to make an octic of sounds. The mouthpiece consists of a neck, mouthpiece, reed, and a mouthpiece ring. When blown the reed vibrates, which in turn causes the column of air inside the instrument to vibrate.
How does it change notes?
The holes in the pipe make different notes when they are opened or closed. When closed it lets the air flow through the entire pipe. When open the air travels out through the holes to make notes.
Wavelength of notes
Note
Frequency (Hz)
Wavelength (cm)
A4
440.00
78.41
B4
493.88
69.85
C5
523.25
65.93
C5
523.25
65.93
D5
587.33
58.74
D#5/Eb5
622.25
55.44
E5
659.25
52.33
My instrument has a saxophone mouthpiece connected to a PVC pipe that has holes in the right places to make an octic of sounds. The mouthpiece consists of a neck, mouthpiece, reed, and a mouthpiece ring. When blown the reed vibrates, which in turn causes the column of air inside the instrument to vibrate.
How does it change notes?
The holes in the pipe make different notes when they are opened or closed. When closed it lets the air flow through the entire pipe. When open the air travels out through the holes to make notes.
Wavelength of notes
Note
Frequency (Hz)
Wavelength (cm)
A4
440.00
78.41
B4
493.88
69.85
C5
523.25
65.93
C5
523.25
65.93
D5
587.33
58.74
D#5/Eb5
622.25
55.44
E5
659.25
52.33
Banjo
The thin, drum-like head of the banjo creates the popping sound of a banjo. Given the tension in the string (provided by the tuning peg) and its mass (gauge) we know how an initial displacement (a pluck) travels and reflects off the ends. We call this a structural vibration, or a wave, and this wave will travel back and forth in the string reflecting alternately from one end and the other. This banjo has 4 strings so it plays four different octaves. With a place of a finger there can be many more notes when you slide your finger down the strings.
G4
392.00
88.01
E4
329.63
104.66
D4
293.66
117.48
C4
261.63
131.87
G4
392.00
88.01
E4
329.63
104.66
D4
293.66
117.48
C4
261.63
131.87
Xylophone
For my xylophone I had tried multiple designs before coming to a complete conclusion on the final design. The design may look weird, but it works and it prevents the pipes from rubbing into each other and disrupting. It is eight rubber bands holding up metal pipes. The pipes are going in between the rubber bands in different ways to prevent them from rubbing against each other. The mallet that you hit the pipes with is just a plastic pipe with duct tape on the top.There are eight pipes that have the eight notes; C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and High C. The way you play this instrument is you take your mallet and you hit the pipes. The smaller the pipe, the higher the note. The wavelengths and intervals for my notes are:
C=1.0000 and Unison
D=.9798 and Minor Second
E=.9428 and Major Second
F=.9129 and Minor Third
G=.8944 and Major Third
A=.8660 and Fourth
B=.8433 and Diminished Fifth
High C=.8165 and Fifth
Reflection
This project went very well. I feel like we were very productive and got a lot of work done. We focused a lot to get our work done. What didn't work well was tuning the instruments. Keeping the structural integrity of the banjo was hard, because the strings are so tight, it was bending the wood. I put my nose down and focused to get it done in the beginning. After I finished, I slacked off which I should have not done.