Can you play a tune on your balloon bagpipe?
Have your parents ever told you to stop playing the recorder because you’re being too noisy? Follow these instructions to turn that recorder into a bagpipe instead!
There are lots of musical instruments that you blow through. Recorders, clarinets, oboes and trumpets look and sound different, but they all have the same basic structure. First, there’s a mouthpiece, which makes a noise. And second, there’s a tube, which lets you change the note you’re playing.
To make your bagpipe, you remove the mouthpiece from the recorder. So there must be something else making the noise your instrument needs. That thing is the neck of the balloon itself! As air flows out of the balloon and into the recorder tube, it makes the neck of the balloon vibrate. Changing the amount of airflow and how stretched the balloon is will also change the vibrations, and if the vibrations are just right, they’ll make a loud sound!
Musicians call this a ‘single reed’ instrument because it has one piece that vibrates to make noise. Other single reed instruments include clarinets and saxophones.
Real bagpipes are a bit more complicated than our balloon instrument. Most have multiple pipes – one is called the chanter and it has holes like our bagpipe does. The other pipes are called drones, and they play the same note, all the time. Each pipe has its own reeds to make sound.
Some bagpipes have single reeds, while others include double reeds with 2 vibrating parts. Some use a combination of single and double reeds, including the famous Scottish Highland bagpipes.
In most bagpipes, there’s also a mouthpiece used to put more air into the bag. Some bagpipes use bellows instead – that way you can sing and play bagpipes at the same time!
If you’re after more science activities for kids, subscribe to Double Helix magazine!
Subscribe now!
0 comments