pvc1

i was at Blue Man Group's website looking at all the neat percussive instruments they've come up with (they have sound clips too) and i found a discussion board on the subject. i had no idea so many people were interested in this stuff! So i read and read and looked and found as much info as i could on the subject, and decided to try making my own.

A quick summary: Blue Man Group puts on Music Shows in New York and Las Vegas. They have tons of percussion instruments; many are conventional but more are created by them just for the show. You really should go to their site to get a better idea of the whole thing. As provocative as my writing is, i really can't do them justice.

He also had exactly the tools i needed, so all i had left to do was to design the thing. i had an idea of what i wanted, but as things progressed and my stepdad helped me, the whole setup changed.

That's what i ended up with. i was originally going to just make two separate tubes for each note - one for each hand - but it's much more economical this way. Plus, the whole thing stands up on its own (more or less). I didnt use any glue - just measured and cut. The tubes labelled on the left are mirrored for the right, except for the top two, G and G#. Right now the instrument only has the range of a minor tenth (octave and a third) with that extra super low Bb i made out of the left overs. If i were to fill in the notes between the Bb1 and F1 (those are just my own labels, not standard or anything), that would take up tons of space, so as much as i like low notes, it makes more sense to add higher notes at this point. i almost want to leave it as is; adding anything else would complicate it quite a bit i think. Okay, i rambled enough.
Click here to see the rest of the pictures.