I ran in to this stuff on accident tonight. They are nspired by The Blue Man Group(ripoff of the Smurfs -HJS) of course. I realized a year ago at this moment I was watching them in Vegas. Ah, Serendipity. Anyways, any instrument you can build from parts at Home Depot is cool by me. These are cooler than the PVC flutes I posted earlier. Here are some vids and links to PVC instruments:
BMG Construction 101
Building a PVC Instrument
PVC Hang drum
What was the first musical instrument? OK, it had to be the drum. My guess for the second was a flute. It is not real hard to make. Essentially it is just a tube with some holes in it.
So, this a music DIY project anyone can do that can operate a drill. Pete Kosel has a web page that has not been changed since ‘99. It kind of hard to read with the brick wall background but hey that was web design back then. It is still no where near how bad myspace pages are going to look in a decade or so. Wait, what am I saying they look worse now.
Anyway, back to flutes. These page has some good tips and most important measurements and materials list. You can make flutes and fifes that are in-tune with a wonderful western music system. Which is cool but if you have a good tuner and the inclination you could make flutes that play crazy scales or micro-tonal weirdness. And that would be something you can would find in a high school band room. It might take a little experimentation but PVC is cheap.
It would be a good project to do with a kid. It is not hard and could be a hands on lesson in the physics of sound.
