Temporary absence

I will be travelling through Europe for a while, back in around august.

original project sheet

Come to think of it, I probably should have uploaded this first. but unfortunately, I didn't. oh well... this is the first sheet I filled out for the Personal Project, and shows that from the start I was interested in building a marimba.

Complete phase 1-work in progress

The goal of my personal project is to tune and build a marimba. The area of interaction for this project is Human Ingenuity, because it takes ingenuity to build and tune a marimba, and partially because nothing else fits very well. The guiding question for this project is: How does building an instrument change the experience of playing it? In order to successfully complete this project , I will need to do as much of the work as possible during the summer. The basic steps that I will take to complete this project are:
1.Acquire supplies (eg. wood for keys, frame, resonators, nylon string, string supports)
2.Create Schematics
3.rough model
4.good model (in tune, final version)
5.writing (also remember process journal the whole way through)
The criteria for a successful project that I want to meet are that the final product looks good, is in tune, has been made as much as possible from recycled or pre-used materials, and is playable. I also want to have enjoyed the building process. In order to get the skills necessary to complete this project, I will meet with several people: my grandpa for the woodworking skills and experience, and one of my past music teachers, who has previously built several marimbas, and has a significant amount of experience in this area. The context that I will use in this project is to meet with others that have attempted similar projects, and attempt to learn from their work. I will use the Internet and library effectively to learn what I can that will help me build the marimba, especially in relation to finding the nodes of the wood and tuning the keys.

Day 2 - 03/06/2010 - bibliography sources

A couple of reference sources that I have used:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Marimba/?ALLSTEPS -this is what first inspired me to take on this project

http://www.lafavre.us/marimba.htm -this has some good information, especially in relation to finding the nodes of the wood

http://www.craftymusicteachers.com/bassmarimba/frame.html -basic, but still helpful rough guide to creating the various parts of a marimba. the wood suggestions for the keys are also helpful. this references a book that I will try to acquire.

Finally, a video showing how to wrap mallets:

Day 1- Phase 1

Today our class paired up with the gr. 10's (I was with Imran). We created a rough outline of phase 1, as follows:

Personal project phase 1

• goal:to create a marimba

• context:

• aoi-human ingenuity

• guiding question: how does building an instrument change the experience of playing it?

• Steps:

  • do as much as possible over the summer

  • obtain supplies (eg. Wood for keys, frame, pvc pipe, marimba(nylon) string, supports for the string)

  • schematics...

  • rough model

  • good model (tune, polish, final version)

  • writing (remember process journal!!)

• criteria:

• just for model

  • 1. just a pile of wood

  • 2. rough keys

  • 3. have frame and rough keys

  • 4. have frame and keys done well, but not assembled together

  • 5. everything assembled

  • 6. keys make sound, ok, but not perfect

  • 7. everything together, notes sound almost perfect, looks good

• other:

  • take pictures

  • use stuff already owned as much as possible

    
    

    This outline is still rough, but I like the way it is organised. the guiding question took a while to think of. I think it will be the one I will use. I still need to think of the context, though.