When you sing, you're a musical instrument---and when you speak, you're not. Singing and speaking are different, even though you make the sounds in almost the same way. You sing and speak by making...
Make your own music
Tap, plink, tweet, and tootle. Here are four simple instruments you and your friends can make. Each instrument belongs to a big family---it has lots of \"relatives" that make music in the same way. ...
Electric music
Some new kinds of musical instruments have no strings, no tubes, and nothing to tap or hammer on. These instruments use an electric current to make special sounds. An electric current makes tiny...
Hammers and strings
> Tiny hammers inside the piano hit the strings when you play. The > vibrating strings make the sounds. Have you ever made music with hammers? If you play the piano, you have. Small hammers hitting...
Musical brass
Where does the loud, sharp sound of a trumpet come from? It all starts with a tiny \"buzz"---a vibration very much like the one you make when you hum. When you play a trumpet, your lips buzz against...
“Wind” songs
Whistling can be music---you can make a tune with ah\ you blow through your lips. Many musical instruments make sounds in the same way---with a stream of vibrating air. A flute is one of these...
Singing strings
> To play a violin, you rub the strings with a bow. The strings vibrate > and make the sounds. Can you make a string sing? You certainly can. When you play a stringed instrument, that's exactly...
Boom and bong
Tap a pencil against an empty box. It doesn't play a tune, but it does make a sound. One family of instruments makes sounds in the same way---you use something to hit, or strike, them. The...
Music to your ears
What is music? It's making sounds you like--- and putting the sounds together in different ways. You use the sounds to make a \"design" you can hear, the same way you use a pencil or crayons to make...
Making sound bounce
Sound waves bounce off hard surfaces such as walls and floors and ceilings. Here is a way you can prove this by making sound waves bounce around a corner. Materials - cardboard - cardboard tubes...