MUSIC MAKERS MUSIC

MUSIC MAKERS MUSIC MAKERS Music Maker Activity Card Cosmic and Gem are having breakfast with Uncle Astro. Cosmic lifts the fruit juice out of the fridge. Clunk goes the bottle as he puts it down. Gem has an idea. She begins to tap things gently with her spoon. Clink, clink, clink goes her mug. Plunk, plunk, plunk goes the teapot. Clung, clung, clung goes the fruit juice bottle. Tink, tink, tink goes Cosmic’s glass. “What a marvellous music maker you are this morning, young Gem,” says Uncle Astro, as he tips tea into the mugs. “Hey, that was a different tune! How did you do that?” asks Cosmic. MUSIC MAKERS “I don’t know,” says Gem. “I’m not sure either,” Uncle Astro adds. “Let’s find out and then we can play a tune. Cosmic fills his glass almost to the brim with orange juice. “Play it again, Gem,” he says. So Gem plays again. Chunk, chunk, chunk goes her mug. Plink, plink, plink goes the teapot. Cling, cling, cling goes the fruit juice bottle. Tunk, tunk, tunk goes Cosmic’s glass. Have you ever made music by tapping things? Gem thinks the note will be higher when the fruit juice bottle is nearly empty Cosmic thinks the note will be higher when the fruit juice bottle is nearly full Uncle Astro thinks the size of the bottle makes a difference Did you find ways to change the sound? Your challenge Find out why Gem’s tune changed and how to make music.

Discuss Talk about the best way to find out why the tune changed. What do you think? Getting started Collect glass bottles that are all the same size. Put different amounts of water in each. Tap on the bottles to see what sound they make. Can you put them in order from the lowest note to the highest? You will have made a musical instrument. MUSIC MAKERS Test your ideas Can you think of any other things that you could use to make music? What about different sized bottles? Share your ideas See if you can tap out a tune. If the sound is not quite right, try adding a little more water or taking some out to make the sound that you need. You could put your instruments on display. Try to make them look interesting by adding coloured water or by decorating them. Extra things to do Try blowing across the top of the bottles. Try tapping other things like mugs, jars, cups, glasses and flower pots. See what else you can do to make a musical sound. British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236