Sounds of Music C

[Jim_R]

Discussion for Sounds of Music C.

Sounds of Music Wiki
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Sounds of Music
Intensity Equations
PVC Pipe Instrument Video
Xylophone Bar Dimensions
Mounting Xylophone Bars
Choosing the Right Resonating Materials
Tuning

[quizbowl]

everyones really hyped up about this event. what instruments are you guys planning to build?

[zyzzyva980]

A xylophone and er... something else... I'm going on Wednesday so we can get started. I think this is going to be a rather popular event. I'm not sure about the judging, though, it seems rather objective.

[quizbowl]

one of my friends is an amazing tromboner. i just noticed how funny that word is but back on the subject, he is trying to make one out of PVC pipe. do you think the final product could come out fine and be both easily playable and in tune?

[zyzzyva980]

Perhaps you just say "trombone player" next time. It should be able to be playable. In tune depends if you make a tuning slide and how well it works. Or you could tune your other instrument to the trombone, I suppose. 'twill be interesting- I don't have much experience with building events.

[blue cobra]

Would violins be too difficult to build well for this event?

[AlphaTauri]

I'm not sure about the judging, though, it seems rather objective.

Don't you mean subjective?

Anyways, I think that most teams are going to go with a xylophone/marimba/chimes thing for percussion and a flute/pan pipes for woodwind. Although certainly possible, a trombone or any other brass instrument is going to require extra work (valves, slides, etc.).

cobra: Draft rules limit you to a woodwind and a percussion instrument, which is unfortunate because I also had some great ideas for strings.

[zyzzyva980]

I object to the subjective judging...

Being from a family with band players, I'm not disappointed with the fact you can't do strings, though I do think it would be slightly easier. I'll probably end up doing percussion because my sister (expected to be my partner) can do woodwinds and I can't.

[AlphaTauri]

Mostly, I object to the ban on strings because it forces us all to go in one direction. I think that a big part of all SO building events is coming up with your own designs instead of just building from a premade kit with an instruction manual (Wright Stuff excepted, and even then, most of the teams modify their kits). What would, say, Towers, be like if they (the people who make the rules) gave us a design and told us to build it for competition? Part of the fun of a competition is seeing all the different designs people come up with. Don't get me wrong, I like this event, I just think they should give us more freedom to choose what to build.

[blue cobra]

<SNIP>cobra: Draft rules limit you to a woodwind and a percussion instrument, which is unfortunate because I also had some great ideas for strings.

That's odd. Even if not violins, I know guitars have worked fine, as well as other types of instruments.