Materials: 

- rubber bands, cardboard box, tacks

At first, I thought it would be impossible to try and create an object that could make music out of parts from home. I felt as if I didn't have any of the "right" resources I would need to accomplish this task. As I kept thinking about this, I start thinking about the material afterlife and decided I could make a guitar out of all of the used boxes my family had received. I then used rubber bans and tacks to create the strings for the guitar. This Project taught me more on the material afterlife and how I could re-purpose anything.

I cant believe its not a guitar!

Guitar body and pickups, guitar E string, pencil, jar, coins

While creating the I cant believe its not a guitar I came across a couple things. One, sound is hard to work with, and trying to work with it outside of a DAW proved challenging. At the same time, when putting it in a DAW, the sounds tended to cooperate, and I learned a decent amount about real life samples and how to create different sounds from relatively similar things. I also learned that a guitar bridge can come off, which is kinda cool.

Blues Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaC5ZKRjLUM

Duke Ellington Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

Didgeridoo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1hnDwjuLGM

List of Materials: 2 glass perrier bottles, teavana tea can + lid, can, egg carton, hanger, twine, hot glue, 2 spindrift cans, 2 wooden sticks, 2 wooden beads, packing peanuts, plastic beads

I discovered different ways that things can make sounds and how when you combine certain elements it changes the sound. I used some of the same materials in different parts of this instrument, such as the two glass bottles and the two spindrift cans, but by adding different things to them I was able to get them to each make a unique sound. 

- Two cardboard boxes 

- Eleven glass bottles 

- Water 

-Gorilla tape 

I discovered that it is easy to tune bottles to a certain note because they have a echo sounding projection rather than sharp and crisp. This gives lots of room for error even though the noise will sound in tune. This is because no matter what volume of liquid you put in the bottle the sound flattens as you lose breathe and sharpens as you push breathe so the tuning is somewhat up to the breather! 

Flower Pot Rings

Materials: 16 different flower pots and twp PVC pipes with a tee socket attached to one side

(The two vids attached were me exploring sounds in the barn)

I don't really pay that much attention to what random objects make, but this studio allowed me to be more mindful and aware of sounds all around me. It was fun to go around hitting, plucking, and banging things together.

In the end, I finished my project, playing an original. I banged PVC pipes against pots that I arranged from lowest to highest(well I tried my best to). 

Through making these drums and throughout this studio I have learned that I can make well-known items using unconventional objects. I used a disassembled tripod to make the drumsticks and dixie cups and keyboard keys to make the cymbals. I also learned that almost anything can be made into an instrument.