[NFB-Krafters-Korner] DIY musical instruments

Sun May 19 18:01:06 UTC 2024

Hi Jewel, if I made these finger Castanets, Terry would probably chop off my fingers.

-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-Krafters-Korner <nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jewel Gaspard via NFB-Krafters-Korner
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2024 1:14 PM
To: List for blind crafters and artists <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jewel Gaspard <nxg1719 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFB-Krafters-Korner] DIY musical instruments

Oh, would you be intersted in learning how to make a reed flute? It's a bit easier than wood or clay from what I've heard. YOu make the holes in the green reed and dry it after to finish. I've never had a chance to make one,b ut had someone explain how they made teirs and got to play one once. Panpipes are much the same but with bamboo mainly, I believe. ANother instrument I adore and is easily made with natural materials...large dried reeds wrapped with sinew or a fiberous rope (I've heard that ivy, kudzu, and weeping willow all make good binding for something like this, basically the same materials as for basket weaving, but you need to bind the instrument before they dry and then they dry and harden to hold the instrument firmly.
These are instruments I would really love to make for myself. A bit too compleex for most kids, but still very interesting and of great interest.
Did you know that the harmonica was inspired by a Chinese wind instrument much like a reed flute or panpipes? It was a reed with multiple holes to blow in and which hole you blew in made the different notes,much like a panpipe! It's so intersting to see the evolution of instruments I think. 
Another instrument 've always liked to try is a gourd banjo. But I don't have skill with string instruments, so I'd want to find someone who desired to play it. Very simply, it would be a  a gourd with  a large carved area much liked you see for a banjo or other guitar-like instrument. Then you drill pegs into the stem which becomes the neck of your banjo and you can wrap strings over these pegs to string over the gourd's hole and make a basic string instrument.

By the way, I made my button instruments last night. One is made with metal buttons and is like finger cymbals. It was easy, just threaded elastic cord through the shank and tied it off at the right size for my thumb and index finger. The other set is made with plastic buttons about two inches across and they sound more like the wooden castanets of Spain. Shall we do the fandango? :D Be good. IF you can’t be good, be good at it.

> On May 19, 2024, at 11:01 AM, Valerie Alcaraz via NFB-Krafters-Korner <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I haven’t been around for a good chunk of time, but this subject is interesting. I have been working at a job that takes a lot of my time so I haven’t had a chance to stop and say hello.
> Anyway, I did a workshop on making a drum about a year ago. It’s made of deer hide and it has a little Drum beater that goes along with it. I also have a rattle made with a stick and leather, and there are a few crystals inside and some sand. We used a sewing method called the blanket, stitch to fasten the rattle together, and it was really fun. Mine is in a heart shape.
> I don’t know if I would be at all skilled at this, but I would love to learn how to make my own flute either with wood or clay, though I think Clay is more up my alley at the moment.
> I know I have some American ancestry from generations back, but we don’t know  What tribes there from because it was during a time when it was safer for them to claim Mexican heritage than to say that they were Native American. I find that to be really unfortunate, but I’m trying to learn more about Native American history in general. I found a really cool online shop that sells Native American flutes and have five different ones from base flute to soprano notes, and one is a double flute, which means it can play two notes at the same time and I love it!
> Sorry for any dictation errors.
> All the best,
> Valerie.
> 
>> On May 19, 2024, at 10:21 AM, henry osborne jr via NFB-Krafters-Korner <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Good Morning Jewel, I remember taking just a piece of waxed paper and putting it over the teeth of a hair comb for a musical instrument.
>> Being that I am a Native American, I like your idea for the drum, or maybe some sort of a gourd type of a rattle like the Ceremonial rattles that Medicine Men used and still do use.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFB-Krafters-Korner <nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org> On 
>> Behalf Of Jewel Gaspard via NFB-Krafters-Korner
>> Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2024 11:28 PM
>> To: nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Jewel Gaspard <nxg1719 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [NFB-Krafters-Korner] DIY musical instruments
>> 
>> Hi all! I am having fun making some do-it-yourself musicl instruments. At the moment, I am working on a wire frame clacker like many of us remember having when we were kids (though I'm thinking most people had plastic ones...I don't think any of us remember the glass ball clackers that were briefly around before they realized if you hit two pieces of glass together repeatedly, they will eventually shatter into shards...). I've got a heavy gauge  wire for the spinnin supports, wooden toggle shank buttons for the bits that clank together at the end, fine gauge wire and ribbon to hold the two wire supports together and give it an ineresting look, and a wooden dowel as the handle, which I plan on wrapping in foam padding then with ribbon to give it a comfortable handle.
>> My next project will be a bit simpler. I have two sets of. metal shank buttons. One set of buttons are three inches across and one set are two inches across. I will be. feeding elastic cord through each shank button, one the thumb and one for the index finger and tying them off as rings. In this way, they clash together when I bring my fingers together like finger cymbals. I also have another set of two-inch buttons that are plastic and doing the same elastic rings, they sound much more like wooden castanets.
>> Another simple instrument I am doing is two large plastic EAster eggs. I have both filled with. quite a few beads and then I tape the seam shut. These can be used in a similar fashion to maracas without a handle.
>> One more that I wanted to try but won't have time for  tonight before I need to go to sleep is I have a cardboard oatmeal container. It is tall and round and has a plastic lid. I'm going to cut the lid until all that is left is the ring that seals it. Then I will stretch something over the top of the canister (I am not sure what...ideas would be great!) and put the ring seal back on. This makes a very simple child's drum.
>> Why am I doing this? Tomorrow I am going to a fun little activity group where we will be learning how to make little musical instruemnts for children. I'm hoping for lots of fun ideas! I recall once taking two shells with holes near the point as are want to form in the ocean and tying them together with a string, then clapping them together much like castanets to make a very cool clanking rhythm that wasn't the same as either finger cymbals or wooden castanets.
>> Oh, one more I'm working on. Tomorrow I am teaching how to make a teddy bear head and I wanted to have a bear head to work on also, but wasn't sure what to work on that wouldn't require extra concentration (such as the Pride bear project I mentioned). I decided to make a polar bear rattle. The ring for a toddler or baby's hand is made on 24 stitches for 15 rows before being brought by like a cuff and stuffed. Then you can add arms and even legs if you like. The top is open to be attached to the head. Once you make the animal head you want (or any topper you like...I jsut thought of making a rose for the top of the rattle. If you are doing an animal head, depending on the size you can use a miniaure EAster egg with a few jingle bells inside or a plastic container that people used to get out of the little quarter vending machienes all the time with the same jingle bells. Stuff that inside the head and place stuffing all around it and you now have a rattle head. To attach it, you sew the ends of the ring to the inside of the bottom of the head, then sew the two ends together and it closes the head. After all, a rattle is an instrument all its own! For the rose, one could add the jingle bells along the top frilly edge of the rose as it is being nknit flat, then it will have bells all along its petals when sewn in the spiral to make the rose 3D. Better to addd the bells as you knit, not sew them after, so as to avoid the possibilyt of a bell falling off and choking the baby or toddler!
>> What other DIY instruments or general noise makers can y'all think 
>> of? I'm having so much fun designing these clankers and finger button 
>> cymbals that I may start making a variety of musical instruments just 
>> to give them to random kids to enjoy, such as while sitting at the 
>> bus stop or waiting for their turn at the Social Security office. 
>> Sure, they'll drive their parents crazy with it, but...isn't that 
>> what kids are for? 🤭
>> I'd love to hear what y'all come up with! THis is so fun! What random crat supplies can you turn into an instrument?
>> ~Jewel
>> Be good. IF you can’t be good, be good at it.
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