Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How to Make a Piano Sing
The renowned pianist Vladimir Horowitz once said, "The most important thing is to transform the piano from a percussive instrument into a singing instrument." In this lab, you will learn about sympathetic vibrations, a method used to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Energy Transfer in Musical Instruments
This lesson covers concepts of energy and energy transfer utilizing energy transfer in musical instruments as an example. More specifically, the lesson explains the two different ways in which energy can be transferred between a system...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: How to Make a Guitar Sing
This is a great project for musicians interested in the physics of stringed instruments. If you have ever played an acoustic guitar, you may have noticed that picking a single string can make one or more of the other (unpicked) strings...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Clifford the Big Red Dog: Let's Make Music!
Explore music at home and in class with homemade instruments. In "Top of the Charts," Emily Elizabeth gets inspired to create the happiest song in the world. Emily Elizabeth, Jack, Pablo, Samantha, and Clifford pool their talents and...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Physical Science: Musical Instruments
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] How musical instruments make sounds, music and change pitch.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Energetic Musical Instruments
Students will learn to apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. The students must choose from a variety of...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Beatboxing 101 Beat Nyc
There's no need for instruments to make music; you can use the greatest instrument of all, your own body. Members of BEAT NYC teach the basics of beatboxing (think trumpets, bass drums, and everything in between), all while driving...
Quia
Quia: World Music: Rags to Riches
Test your knowledge of music from around the world with this who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-style game. Click on the correct answer to each multiple-choice question, and move closer to "winning" a million dollars!
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Students will enjoy this interactive website. There are many musical topics to explore while having fun. Learning how to make your own instrument, playing games and listening to music are just a few of the things you can do here.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Students will enjoy this interactive website. There are many musical topics to explore while having fun. Learning how to make your own instrument, playing games and listening to music are just a few of the things you can do here.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science of Music: Accidental Scientist
Learning about the science of music is what this site is all about. With clever activities that lead to writing, mixing, and experimenting with music; with videos that explain tuning, stepping (or rhythmic movement), instrument building,...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: What Material Makes the Most Resonant Soundboard?
If you like music and musical instruments, this project might resonate with you. You will investigate materials that could be used to build acoustic musical instruments. You can then use a music box mechanism and a sound level meter to...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Music as a Language
Can learning to make music be as unstructured as learning to speak as a small child? Bassist Victor Wooton makes that argument in this TED Ed talk. Free registration is required to receive full access to the the complete lessons.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Making Rain
Your students will enjoy making their own rainstick while learning about poetry and expressing their feelings about rain. This three-part lesson gives step-by-step instructions, as well as an assessment rubric.
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Spark!lab: Invent a Musical Whirligig
Students can easily create a musical whirligig to study sound production. These instruments are constructed out of everyday materials and allows students to use their imagination to make music.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Instruments
In this activity, students work with partners to create four different instruments to investigate the frequency of the sounds they make. Students may chose to make a shoebox guitar, water glass xylophone, straw panpipe or a soda bottle...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Do Re Mi With Straws
Check out this fun science fair project about the physics of musical sound production. Here you will make musical instruments with drinking straws, one for each note on a one-octave major scale. You will figure out the right lengths for...
Other
The Mudcat Cafe: Make Your Own Drums
Hands-on-activity for making music. Find out how to make your own drums at this website. Explore and have fun with music.
Other
Homemade Instruments
Do you want to make an egg shaker? Come to this website and find out how. Homemade instruments can be made from different household items. Don't miss out on all of the music that can be made at home or school.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: Scoring Music: Write for Specific Instruments
If you are interested in arranging your own music, you should check out the tips offered at this website. Including a history of how music was arranged, this site also gives several good ideas of how to make your arrangements interesting.
Family Education
Family Education: Music Making Activities
Bring music-making activities home or to school. Check out how to guess instruments by their sounds and learn how to make a rain stick at this resource. It gives great directions on what you'll need and what to do.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strum Along
Music and sound are two different concepts that share much in common. Determining the difference between the two can sometimes be difficult due to the subjective nature of deciding what is or is not music. The goal of this activity is to...
Other
Yamaha Music Pal: Flute Factory Tour
Take an online tour through the process of designing and manufacturing a flute. Helpful drawings and animations demonstrate the precision engineering that goes into the making of these musical instruments. (To access the Japanese version...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Chinese Instruments
Help your young scholars identify and classify Western instruments and traditional Chinese instruments.