Pan-pipes are spiffy
Hmph. Stupid computer just deleted everything I typed. Bah.
I made pan-pipes tonight. It's part of my assignment for Musics of the World... I have to make an instrument from my group's country (Greece) and write a short paper on it. I thought pan-pipes would be fun, since they're kind of flute-y. I found some spiffy instructions here: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/Bose_Master_7.pdf. So, I wandered on over to the hardware store earlier and bought 4 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe. I sawed it into the required lengths (I very cleverly waited to do this till my dad was around, so he could help me out... left to my own devices, who knows what I would do....). Then I got out my tuner and stuffed the end of each pipe with crumpled-up plastic wrap until it played the right pitch. I made 5 pipes, tuned to G-A-B-C-D. So it plays a nice little five-note scale. Then I put masking tape over the ends to hold the plastic wrap in and taped the pipes together (with LOTS of tape... I'm taking no chances on this thing falling apart!). Aaaand.... yay! I have a set of pan-pipes, and I can actually play a tune on them! Provided it's a tune that only has 5 notes, mind you... but still, I'm excited that I can actually play my instrument! We're not required to be able to play our instruments--it's mostly just about the visual representation--but I don't mind being an over-achiever. Hee hee. So now I've done the fun part of the project, and I just have to settle down and right the paper about it. Bah. Oh well, I'm just complaining... it really should be fairly interesting.
I was remarkably good about getting stuff done tonight... I practiced my flute for an hour, I made my pan-pipes, and I worked on the quilt I'm making for a friend. Maybe I'm finally overcoming my laziness!
I'm listening to Danse Macabre right now... it's a pretty darn cool piece of music. I played it in high school orchestra, and I loved it then. Mind you, our orchestra kind of sucked (well, not the wind section), but the music was still really neat. Besides the fun flute solo (hee hee) I especially like the oboe bit at the end, that's supposed to represent the rooster's crowing. I love it when music really sounds like the story it's telling. You know, Danse Macabre is really a very appropriate piece for the month of October... creepy skeletons dancing around at midnight... yeah, definitely a Halloween theme!
I pretty much love music... making it, listening to it, studying it, teaching it.... it makes me smile just to think about it. And this is what I get to do for the rest of my life! Do you know how cool that is? I think it's pretty much amazing.
I made pan-pipes tonight. It's part of my assignment for Musics of the World... I have to make an instrument from my group's country (Greece) and write a short paper on it. I thought pan-pipes would be fun, since they're kind of flute-y. I found some spiffy instructions here: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/Bose_Master_7.pdf. So, I wandered on over to the hardware store earlier and bought 4 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe. I sawed it into the required lengths (I very cleverly waited to do this till my dad was around, so he could help me out... left to my own devices, who knows what I would do....). Then I got out my tuner and stuffed the end of each pipe with crumpled-up plastic wrap until it played the right pitch. I made 5 pipes, tuned to G-A-B-C-D. So it plays a nice little five-note scale. Then I put masking tape over the ends to hold the plastic wrap in and taped the pipes together (with LOTS of tape... I'm taking no chances on this thing falling apart!). Aaaand.... yay! I have a set of pan-pipes, and I can actually play a tune on them! Provided it's a tune that only has 5 notes, mind you... but still, I'm excited that I can actually play my instrument! We're not required to be able to play our instruments--it's mostly just about the visual representation--but I don't mind being an over-achiever. Hee hee. So now I've done the fun part of the project, and I just have to settle down and right the paper about it. Bah. Oh well, I'm just complaining... it really should be fairly interesting.
I was remarkably good about getting stuff done tonight... I practiced my flute for an hour, I made my pan-pipes, and I worked on the quilt I'm making for a friend. Maybe I'm finally overcoming my laziness!
I'm listening to Danse Macabre right now... it's a pretty darn cool piece of music. I played it in high school orchestra, and I loved it then. Mind you, our orchestra kind of sucked (well, not the wind section), but the music was still really neat. Besides the fun flute solo (hee hee) I especially like the oboe bit at the end, that's supposed to represent the rooster's crowing. I love it when music really sounds like the story it's telling. You know, Danse Macabre is really a very appropriate piece for the month of October... creepy skeletons dancing around at midnight... yeah, definitely a Halloween theme!
I pretty much love music... making it, listening to it, studying it, teaching it.... it makes me smile just to think about it. And this is what I get to do for the rest of my life! Do you know how cool that is? I think it's pretty much amazing.