Some instruments are made out of wood. Some out of metal. Some synthetics. But what about water? Is it possible to make music with just a few glasses of water?
Absolutely. Tap a glass filled with water, and it will vibrate, making a sound. Add more water, and it will vibrate more slowly, lowering the pitch (i.e., the note sounds lower). Remove water, and it will vibrate faster, raising the pitch (i.e., the note sounds higher).
By varying the amount of water in glass bottles or cups, you can create a water xylophone! You can use it to play almost anything. Just watch this video of Fin Draper playing famous songs on glasses.
Here’s how you can create your own (borrowed from Iowa PBS):
Supplies
- Glass bottles or mason jars (make sure all jars are the same size and volume)
- Water
- Wooden spoon or stick (something to hit the bottles)
- Optional: Food coloring
Directions
- Fill six bottles with different levels of water. Start with ¼ cup of water and add ¼ cup more water as you scale up. The least-filled bottle should contain ¼ cup of water; the next, ½ cup; then ¾ cup, etc., until all the bottles have water. Optional: add food coloring to each bottle.
- Use the wooden spoon to tap the glass bottles to make noise.
- Experiment with how much water you use, how hard you tap the glasses, whether you tap the tops or bottoms, and even the type of liquid you use (you could try juice or milk instead).
Check out a book about musical instruments or the science of music to learn more, and enjoy making beautiful music.
Just don’t drink your instrument before you get a chance to play it.
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