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Subject: Musical instruments : design and make a musical instrument
Learning Objective: To learn about the construction of a range of musical instruments, how different sounds can be created and altered to make different notes. Learn to use this knowledge and understanding to design and make a working musical instrument using a combination of materials.
Resources: Scrap materials for making instruments. Design sheet. Joining materials: glue, string, tape etc.
Introduction: Explain to the children that the task is to design and make a musical instrument for a particular purpose e.g. sound effects for a puppet play or musical accompaniment for narrative/poetry recital. Explain which aspects of the design are set (e.g. due to available resources) and which aspects they are free to choose.
Main Activity: Allow time for the children to consider their design ideas and to discuss their ideas in pairs or small groups.
What sound are we going to make? How loud? What could we use? Encourage them to put their ideas on paper in a way which others will understand, to list materials and other resources, and to set out a proposed sequence of work.
What materials work well? What could you use? How much will you need? How will you make this? Set out some activities which allow the children to experiment with making sounds. Use easily available waste resources to make e.g. shakers (margarine pots with buttons), scrapers (plastic bottles with ridges, glass, paper), drums (food containers, biscuit tins, material to stretch over the top of the containers), string instruments (food containers, elastic bands, string).
Investigate the strengths of different materials and how and where they could be strengthened. Glass/plastic bottles filled with water/other material to experiment with different sounds.
National Curriculum Links: Science QCA unit 5F 'Changing sounds'. Design and Technology Key Stage 1 and 2 Unit 5A Musical Instruments Music
Learning Outcome: Children will produce a practical musical instrument that can be used for a specific purpose.
