MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS SOURCES |
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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS SOURCES Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Scroll down or click on your choice below • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info-Musical Instruments Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians |
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION - MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS SOURCES
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them for more information.
Story and song titles are in quotation marks.
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Storytell posts are added as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) If you want yet another site as good as Lark in the Morning, there's a Michigan company that is similar, plus they also sell some used instruments. Elderly Instruments has been around 30 years & it's highly
regarded.
http://www.elderly.com
2) Lark in the Morning
http://www.larkinam.com/
World Musical Instruments, Books, Recordings and Videos - Lark In The Morning is a musician's service founded in 1974 that specializes in hard to find musical instruments, music and instructional materials.
3) Children's Musician Johnette Downing has instructions for handmade instruments on her website
http://www.johnettedowning.com/kids.html
4) There is a man in WV who does a workshop called Eurhythmics. He demonstrates a wide variety of percussion instruments made from all kinds of stuff, from boxes to beat on with wooden spoons, bottle caps threaded on string or wire to make ankle jangles, pots and pans and plumbing pipe...It's fascinating and reaffirms my belief that anyone can make music anytime with anything.
5) One of my favorite and simplest instruments to make: put rice in one of those plastic Easter eggs, tape it shut and you've got a neat shaker.
6) Rain sticks are easy, but a friend showed me an easy way to get the rain sound--crumple aluminum foil and put into the paper towel tube, then sprinkle in some rice. It sounds very like the real thing.
7) We made jingle sticks before, too. We used pencils. we threaded little bells onto string, wrapped the string around the pencil and tied. We also strung some beads on the strings, and added feathers here and there for a really colorful music maker.
8) Bottle Maracas
Materials: Small plastic soda or water bottle, Noisemakers (sand, beans, plastic chips, toothpicks, metal nuts or washers), Glue, Decorations (Yarn, ribbon, colored tissue, colored paper, drawn paper, etc.)
1. Place a small handful of noisemakers in the bottle.
2. Apply glue to bottle top and screw on the cap.
3. Decorate to taste and shake.
9) Bottle Marimba
Materials: Large (two qt. or more) "star-bottomed" plastic juice bottle without a cap, Stick (pencil or wood dowel), Decorations
1. Decorate bottle and stick (Bottom of the bottle is the drum head)
2. Tap different areas of the star-bottom to get different tones
10) Bottle Bass Flute (Modern Country Jug)
Materials: Large (1-2liter) narrow mouth plastic bottle without cap,
Decorations
1. Decorate bottle to taste.
2. Blow into lip of the bottle. (Adding water will change the tone.)
11) Bottle Rasper
Materials: Small ribbed plastic bottle without a cap (e.g. Crystal Geyser),
Stick (pencil, plastic straw, wood dowel) Decorations
1. Decorate bottle and stick.
2. Rub bottle with stick.
12) Tub Drum
Materials: Oatmeal tub, large margarine tub or coffee cans, Decorations
1. Decorate can.
2. Tap on top or bottom for drum sound. (Can make a full drum set using different sizes.)
13) Cymbals
Tin lids in couples of the same size
Thick cord
A large nail
Hammer
Make a hole in the center of each lid. Tie a small loop from the cord and tuck it into the hole to form a handle. Make them in couples.
14) Variation: Cymbals belt
Gather as many lids as possible, make a hole in the center of each and string them on a short single cord. One end of the cord is attached to the lid and the other end is tied to a belt. Take care – the lids have to touch one each other. Now try belly dancing!
15) Stamping Drum
A wooden board
A box of any kind
Place the board over the box and stamp it. The box is there to provide greater sonority.
16) A Bamboo tandem Drum
A bamboo plank several meters long
Pairs of wooden sticks about 30cm long (broomsticks, dry branches, etc.)
Lay the plank about a meter above the ground (2 chairs?) and let a few kids beat it with the sticks. They can use different rhythms.
17) Beach slippers flickers
A pear of beach slippers (those made of rubber are the best)
Hold one slipper in each hand and beat the floor or any other smooth surface. Don’t try it on people – it hurts!
18) Trash Metallophones
Metal pipes of various diameters, wheel plates, industrial trash of any kind
Strong cord
Beaters
Hang your stuff on cords and attach them to a frame so they will be hanging.
You can use one of those bars they use for displaying clothes. Beat them with a beater. Try and create a scale of some sort.
19) Claves
Broom sticks of the finer kind
A saw
Saw the sticks to smaller ones about 20cm long. Use couples: Place one stick over your curled palm (over the opening) and hit it with the other stick.
20) Clay jar drum
Clay jars with a narrow opening.
Drum the jar’s belly with both hands like you drum congas. The sound will come out of the neck. This works very well with amplification. Really cool.
21) The plastic bags playground
A huge pile of used plastic bags, especially those that make that annoying
cellophane sound.
A large box (like those they pack washing machines or fridges in).
Place the bags in the box, jump in and move around.
22) Rain stick
A large cardboard tube (from aluminum foil)
A box of sawing pins
A thimble
Half a glass of lentils
2 rubber bands
A sheet of paper
Punch the pins into the tube the entire way in. Punch them all over and all around. Close one end of the tube with a piece of paper and a rubber band, pour in the lentils and cover the other end. Tilt the tube from side to side, slowly. Hypnotic.
23) The thunder maker
A large sheet of tin
A pair of gloves
Hold the sheet and shake it fast. Caution!
24) Bottle flutes
A bunch of bottles, preferably of the same kind
A jug of water
Place the bottles on the table in a row. Pour different amounts of water into the bottles and blow them like a flute (upper lip slightly over the lower lip). Try and create a scale, so you can play a tune.
25) Bow harp
A long, thin, flexible branch about 1.5 meters long
Fisherman’s string
Sharp knife
Mark little slits along the branch, the first ones about 2cm from both ends, others 5cm apart, working inwards from both ends. Bend the branch gently to form a bow. Tie pieces of string to fit the different distances and form a bow. Keep the strings in tension.
26) Shoebox Zither
A shoebox
Rubber bands
2 pencils or long sticks
Scissors
Cut a 2-inch diameter hole in the middle of the lid. Cover the box and stretch rubber bands over the box lengthwise. Use about 8 bands. Place one pencil along one edge of the box under the bands, and the other one on the other end, diagonally.
27) Paper buzzer
2 small stripes of paper 1.5 inch wide, 3 inch long each.
Place the stripes one on top of each other and between your second and third finger (like a cigarette), 1cm of the papers sticking out towards you. Separate the two edges, place your lips on them, spread your fingers slightly and blow between the papers with tight lips. Practice makes better.
28) Barrel drum
The best are the plastic ones.
29) “Kinder” egg rattle
Plastic eggs from “Kinder” chocolate eggs.
Rice
Fill each egg with a teaspoon of rice. Send me the chocolate.
“Kinder” eggs castanets
“Kinder” plastic eggs
Stripes of foam, 1inch by 4inch
Open an egg and click it closed again on one end of a foam stripe. Click another on the other end. Clap them against each other. The foam functions as a spring. Cute.
30) Basketry rattles
Palm leaves
Small pebbles
Weave small baskets from the palm leaves. Fill them with pebbles. You can tie the little baskets to your arm or leg.
31) Bamboo bells
Bamboo planks of various sizes
Thin rope
Hand drill
Drill two opposite holes into one end of each plank. Sting them and create a bunch.
32) Coconut body clappers
Half coconut shells
Elastic band
Hand drill
Close to the rim of each half shell drill two opposite holes. Thread the elastic band across the shell through the holes and fasten the band with knots. “Wear” a half on each knee, inside each elbow, under armpits, where ever. Wear a half on each palm. Now do the coconut dance – hit the shells on your body with the ones on your palms. Practice to master.
33) The ghost glass
A fine crystal wine glass filled to it’s third with some wine or water. Dip your finger into the liquid, shake it and gently rub the finger around the rim, over and over again. The sound will rise gradually. Good escape for boring dinners.
34) Selling world musical instruments such as duduk, bagpipes, harps, sitars, African djembe drums, Latin conga drums, Indian tabla drums, replacement parts and instructional materials.
http://www.worldmusicalinstruments.com/
35) I thought you might like the site on building musical instruments — especially this link --
http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/9_musical_instruments.shtml
Mary G. 11/15/06
36) Books about making simple musical instruments:
• Simple Flutes: A Guide to Flute Making and Playing, or How to Make and Play Great Homemade Musical Instruments for Children and All Ages from Bamboo, Wood, Clay, Metal, PVC Plastic, or Anything Else
WHAT'S THIS BOOK ABOUT?
Simple flutes of bamboo, wood, metal, plastic, or clay can be a joy to play and make. This book gives you the basics of simple flute playing, then offers guidelines for making flutes of your own from a variety of materials. It even includes a handy chart for "where to put the holes." Simple Flutes is a must for simple flute players and makers!
• Making Simple Musical Instruments: A Melodious Collection of Strings, Winds, Drums & More
Bart Hopkin's Making Simple Musical Instruments is one of a small but appreciable genre of "do-it-yourself" books for the technically curious who grew up during the alternative-happy 1960s and 1970s, and it is one of the best. Earlier books in this lineage span the gamut from tin-can rattles and bleach-bottle banjos (still one of my favorites) to regimental drums and classical guitars. Many were homegrown editions that saw one printing; others featured projects that were either too simple, too complex, or simply would not work based on the information provided.
• Making Simple Musical Instruments.: An article from: Notes
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on June 1, 1996. The length of the article is 768 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
• Making Gourd Musical Instruments: Over 60 String, Wind & Percussion Instruments & How to Play Them
Recommendations
“Actual instructions on gourd transformations into spike fiddles, water drums, and even xylophones are included.”—Booklist. “Highly recommended for general crafts as well as ethnomusicology collections.”—Library Journal. “Get this Book!”—Whole Earth.
Book Description
Pluck them, bang them, shake them, and blow into them! These instruments—from wood temple gongs to water drums and stamping tubes—produce every type of joyful noise. Make a fun “gourd orchestra” of rattles, like a Mesoamerican Indian rain stick and African shekere; a Caribbean guiro; a gorgeous mbira or thumb piano; and friction drums that wail or roar. There are instruments from near and far, from the unusual to the familiar banjo and guitar. Tips on choosing, cleaning, and sealing a gourd, and decorating and playing the finished instrument, help to create beautiful music.
• Bang! rattle!! shake!!!: A simple guide to making musical instruments from scrap materials
Look for this book in your library or check back with amazon.com from time to time for availability.
• Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making
Book Description
This is an encyclopedic, large-format book containing hundreds of illustrations. While not geared toward making conventional instruments, Musical Instrument Design provides all the information that anyone (amateur or professional) should ever need to construct an amazingly wide variety of percussion, string, and wind instruments. Includes many designs along with parts lists and detailed construction instructions.
• Shaking (Making Music)
Also by the same author:
• Plucking (Making Music)
• Blowing (Making Music)
• Banging (Making Music)
• Making Musical Instruments by Hand
A step-by-step guide to designing and making musical instruments with a showcase of instruments by artists from around the world. This unique guide provides details on every step of the project. Percussion, wind, and string instruments, all are here - each illustrated with clear, instructional photographs. Alternative techniques use simple tools to offer inexpensive ways to make instruments. Tips on choosing materials, tool selection, cutting and finishing techniques, measuring, joining, and more. Includes special hints for tuning and playing the instruments you have made.
• Making Musical Instruments
• Making and Playing Musical Instruments
• Music Makers and Toys
How do you make your own kazoo? Or a boat that really floats? With page after page of vibrant, eye-catching illustrations and easy-to-follow directions, Music Makers and Toys offers great music and instrument-making projects that are meant to be strummed, drummed, or tapped! Plus, making homemade toys combines the enjoyment of games and toys with the satisfaction of making something creative, colorful, and fun.
• Creative music for children,: A plan of training based on the natural evolution of music, including the making and playing of instruments, dancing--singing--poetry,
• Making Musical Instruments (An Early craft book)
Instructions for making percussion, wind, and stringed instruments from simple materials such as cartons, rubber bands, pop bottles, flower pots, and wood scraps.
• Making music in mommy's kitchen
Jackie B. 3/26/08
37) Didgeridoo Magic from Play Me A Story (The Barefoot Book of Musical Tales)
The Eagle's Gift
Tales Alive!: Ten Multicultural Folktales With Activities (Williamson Tales Alive Books)
"How Music Was Fetched Out of Heaven": Golden Book of Myths and Legends
"The Story of the Marimba": Indaba, My Children
"Osebo's Drum": Eleven Turtle Tales (American Storytelling)
Bimwili and the Zimwi (Picture Puffins)
The Cat's Purr
Jackie B. 2/17/07
Created 2002; last update 1/3/10
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