Paper Reed Instrument

For our wind instrument, one of our group members, Izagani, created a paper
double reed instrument, similar to that of the Turkish Zurna. The body of the instrument
was made of a narrow tube of regular printer paper, held together with both school glue
and clear packaging tape.
On top of this, the reed of the instrument was constructed of a drinking straw,
flattened on the top ends and filed on the top as well. The end of the straw reed was
wrapped in a “cork” of duct tape so that the assembly would fit snugly in the bore of the
paper tube. Because the straw was filed and very thin, when a high speed burst of air
was blown into the reed, the air would split and vibrate through the tube, causing a
sound.
In addition to the reed sound, small holes were punched into the paper in specific
places on the the main body of the instrument. These holes are pressed down during
the playing of the instrument. Because the vibrating air going down the tube varies in
pitch due to the size of the tube, changing what holes are held down creates varying
sounds. For example, pressing down the sixth hole from the top of the instrument
creates a note at the pitch of D4.
When measuring notes, a frequency of C6 to C7 was measured. This was
because since a ratio of ¼ is used to find the correct wavelength for the notes, the
measures of C6 to C7 converted perfectly to the C4 to C5 range.
 As seen in the diagram above, pressing and releasing certain holes
changes the length on the tube at which the birating air exits. These lengths were found
by researching wavelengths and their frequencies, and at what length they are
produced. The lengths were purposefully kept small in order for the instrument to be
portable and easy to use.

Note Frequency (Hz) Wavelength (cm)

C4 261.63 32.97 cm

D4 293.66 29.7 cm

E4 329.63 26.17 cm

F4 349.23 24.7 cm

G4 392.00 22 cm

A4 440.00 19.6 cm

B4 493.88 17.46 cm

C5 523.25 16.4 cm
 Wind Instruments
Wind instruments fall into two main types: woodwind and brass. Woodwinds work by
blowing air past a mouthpiece or a blocked pipe, which then causes a vibration creating a wave
that makes a sound. Brass instruments work by sending air through a metal mouthpiece which
then flows through a series of tubes resulting in different sounds depending on which tubes are
blocked. Regardless of the type of wind instrument, all sound that the instrument outputs
depends on the air flow to the resonator. The pitch that comes out of the instrument is affected
by length of the pipe or amount and size of the holes. Many wind instruments are played very
differently in terms of how the user blows into them, some wind instruments like the trumpet
must be somewhat spit into to output the right sound ,whereas with a pan flute the user just has
to blow into it from the right angle. I created a pan flute consists of multiple pipes of varying
lengths closed at the bottom resulting in different sounds. The longest pipe being the deepest
sound and the shortest pipe being the highest sound. The notes I used were C​5 through​ C​6​.
Notes Frequency(in Hz) Wavelength(in cm)

C​5 523.25 65.93cm(¼)=16.48cm

D​5 587.33 58.74(¼)=14.68cm

E​5 659.25 52.33(¼)=13.08cm

F​5 698.46 49.39(¼)=12.34cm

G​5 783.99 44.01(¼)=11cm

A​5 880.00 39.20(¼)=9.8cm

B​5 987.77 34.93(¼)=8.73cm

C​6 1046.50 32.97(¼)=8.24cm

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 String Instruments

For our groups string instrument our group member Elliott created a 12 string harp.
String instruments dont have different categories like woodwinds and brass for wind instruments
but rather have three different aspects that determine if the string length will correspond with the
wavelength it's intended to play. The wavelength/pitch depends on the string length, string
tension, and thickness of each string. Often in string instruments there are frets to change the
string length so one string will be able to create many different notes. In a harp usually there are
40-47 strings. There are no frets to change the string length because each of the strings are
different lengths. As the string are plucked they vibrate similarly to vocal cord. The plucked
strings would make displacement of air compres and refract.The Harp that I made had 12
strings to complete one full octave. As we tightened the strings two of them snapped so we
were left with 10 untuned strings.

Lower Notes C1-C4 Higher Notes C5-C8

String Length Longer Shorter

String Tension Losser Tighter

String Thickness Thicker String Thinner

(½)*(Wave Length)=(String Length)

Notes all in 4th Wave Length Frequency String Length
octave

C 131.87 261.63 65.5cm/25.7 in

 C#/Db 124.47 277.18 62cm/24.4in

D 117.48 293.66 58.5/23in

D#/Eb 110.89 311.13 55cm/21.6in

E 104.66 329.63 52cm/20.4in

F 98.79 349.23 49cm/19.2in

F#/Gb 93.24 369.99 46.5cm/18in

G 88.01 392.00 44cm/17.3in

G#/Ab 83.07 415.30 41.5cm/16.3in

A 78.41 440.00 39cm/15.3in

A#/Bb 74.01 466.16 37cm/14.5in

B 69.85 493.88 34.5cm/13.5in

Chime Instrument
The xylaphone was origionally created in China. Traditionally they would have been

made of wood but I used metal pipes The xylaphone works by creating a vibration causing it to

make a noise. Also the pitch of the sound depends on the length of the tubes or pieces of wood
you are hitting. The longer the object you are striking the deeper the noise and the shorter the

higher pitch.