How to Make a Musical Instrument Using Water and One Container
- 1). Find a clean, clear, plastic bottle of a medium size. A 2-liter bottle is ideal. Measure its height and circumference using a flexible tape measure. A bottle measuring 10 inches in height and approximately 6 inches in circumference is suitable. Unscrew the cap with your hands and discard in the recycling bin. Clean the bottle in warm, soapy water, and rinse it with cool water from the tap. Dry it by hand on the outside using a dry cloth.
- 2). Measure 14 ounces of cold water using a household measuring jug. Fourteen ounces creates the "fa" note on the standard musical scale, according to the Family Fun website. Pour the water carefully into the bottle through the top without letting any spill out. Any spillage will cause the musical notes to distort. Leave the bottle open to create the mouthpiece of the instrument: the open neck, the part of the bottle you or your child will use to blow across to create an audible note. The pitch of the note is related to the amount of water in the bottle: the vibration created as you blow across the neck forms the sound. More water means a higher mass, giving more vibration and a lower pitch.
- 3). You can choose other notesfor the other bottles. Measure out seven ounces for "do," nine and a half ounces for "re," twelve and a half ounces for "mi," sixteen and a half ounces for "sol", seventeen and a half ounces for "la," eighteen and a half ounces for "ti" and nineteen ounces for "do." This is part of the "major" or "pentatonic" scale.
- 4). Use a small dropper to take a drop or two of colored food dye. A Food and Confectionary Red 3 creates a pink color, as explained by the International Food Corporation. Drop the food dye into the water in your open bottle and swirl it gently until the water turns the correct color.
- 5). One bottle provides an instrument with only one note; a collection of bottles containing different amounts of water creates a complete, richly toned musical instrument. Make a versatile instrument representing a full octave by using 12 bottles containing different amounts of water. Place them beside one another in order of least amount of water to most amount of water. Write each note ("do," "mi," "fa," etc/) on a small sticker and attach it to the front of the bottles.
- 6). Have children blow across the open necks of the different bottles to create notes of varied pitch. Alter the volume of note by blowing harder or softer across the bottle necks. Blowing directly into the bottle from above will not work.
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