For this project we were tasked with building a musical band of sorts that could play all eight notes on the scale. Surprisingly, we couldn't just start on the instruments, in fact we would have, to PLAN WHAT WE DID. I know, it is scary.
The first step for our instrument project, was getting in groups. what our instructor did, was put us in groups based on our musical interest was. I was set in the techno/dubstep group. My group members were Tim Madison, Garret Hoefer, and Eryk Lewandowski.
As a group, we all knew each other and were good friends, so we had no problem getting along. At the beginning of this project, we all had very high hopes. we achieved some of those hopes, but others, well, NOPE.
Like many of the groups we discussed what our instruments should be. Since, at that point, we were the techno group, so our first instrument would be speakers, which would be played by my computer. The second instrument was simple to figure out. The flute was an easy to make instrument, that was also effortless to play. We made our flute, and while it didn't sound as good as professional flute but it let out a tolerable tone that we were happy with.
The real challenge was figuring out what our third instrument had to be. we knew it had to be a string instrument, but we didn't want to make a run-of-the-mill ukulele or a plain, old, Sega Saturn guitar, and no, I'm not bitter. We decided to go country, and make a-wait for it- a bucket bass! Its fitting for a group focusing mainly on techno. The bucket bass is pictured below.
The first step for our instrument project, was getting in groups. what our instructor did, was put us in groups based on our musical interest was. I was set in the techno/dubstep group. My group members were Tim Madison, Garret Hoefer, and Eryk Lewandowski.
As a group, we all knew each other and were good friends, so we had no problem getting along. At the beginning of this project, we all had very high hopes. we achieved some of those hopes, but others, well, NOPE.
Like many of the groups we discussed what our instruments should be. Since, at that point, we were the techno group, so our first instrument would be speakers, which would be played by my computer. The second instrument was simple to figure out. The flute was an easy to make instrument, that was also effortless to play. We made our flute, and while it didn't sound as good as professional flute but it let out a tolerable tone that we were happy with.
The real challenge was figuring out what our third instrument had to be. we knew it had to be a string instrument, but we didn't want to make a run-of-the-mill ukulele or a plain, old, Sega Saturn guitar, and no, I'm not bitter. We decided to go country, and make a-wait for it- a bucket bass! Its fitting for a group focusing mainly on techno. The bucket bass is pictured below.
Once we had built our instruments, we had to explain how they worked and give a presentation on them. The explanation is provided below.
After we had presented, we took a break from musical studies and began working on programming, building cardboard chairs, and performing electronics experiments(for more on that, go to the electric circuitry section of my website). After a few weeks of working with electronics, we got news of an upcoming STEM concert where we would showcase our instruments through song or through demonstration. Me and my group had to make the decision of whether we wanted to perform or not. I was hoping they would want to, but they didn't, so we ended up just showing off our bucket bass to the crowd.
The demo went without a hitch(yes i said demo, live with it). We had a great time showcasing our instrument and marveling at the other groups instruments and musical talent.
In this project many things went great, and A BUNCH of stuff also went awfully. For starters, me and my group had some trouble communicating, some of it ending in arguments and yelling. Another thing that could have gone better is our work ethic, which was pretty much nonexistent throughout most of this project.
One of the best things about my group, was ironically, at the same time, the work ethic. While it was pretty much dead, our whole group came through in the end, which where is get most of my work done. Another one of our good points was that we never lost hope. No matter how far along we were until the deadline, no matter how worried we always were, we never lost hope that this project with at least a C.
The demo went without a hitch(yes i said demo, live with it). We had a great time showcasing our instrument and marveling at the other groups instruments and musical talent.
In this project many things went great, and A BUNCH of stuff also went awfully. For starters, me and my group had some trouble communicating, some of it ending in arguments and yelling. Another thing that could have gone better is our work ethic, which was pretty much nonexistent throughout most of this project.
One of the best things about my group, was ironically, at the same time, the work ethic. While it was pretty much dead, our whole group came through in the end, which where is get most of my work done. Another one of our good points was that we never lost hope. No matter how far along we were until the deadline, no matter how worried we always were, we never lost hope that this project with at least a C.