The Homemade Instrument

"How To" Page

A Network-Mediated Instructional Project

EdPsy 490/Activity 1

I began by searching the Global School Network for a musical project that I could join. I found a great site by Elizabeth Rexford that required students who were studying sound production to create their own unique musical instruments. I liked the idea but since our instructor prefered that we develop and post our own project, I created a similar site that would also post step by step instructions for building the instruments. Being a band instructor, this was the only musical idea I could come up with that would be feasible to use with band students, since the building could be done at home, thereby leaving class time free for learning how to play musical instruments
I posted the project to the Global School Network and to OzProjects and hoped for participants.
I began recruiting "volunteers" to participate.
Built a web page where photos could eventually be displayed and posted intructions for participation and links to lessons on sound production.

I decided to change the instructions to include taking photos of the projects in progress. I decided the instructions page would look nicer and be more easily understood, if it included graphics. Other than that, I stuck with the original plan and it worked well.
I am considering adding the option of sending a 5 second iMovie of the instrument being played to add to the instruction page. This will add much to the site but will be optional for those that don't have iMovie capabilities.

The idea was to learn about sound production. Students should have learned about vibration, pitch, timbre, and volume. This can be incorporated into the science and/or music curriculum.
Students also got a chance to use their artistic design skills and in some cases, carpentry skills.
An added bonus was the math skills that were involved with some projects and the writing skills--especially putting thoughts into chronological order.