Light and sound: Video playlist

Sounds can be made by twanging a string, blowing down a pipe, banging something together, and scraping or shaking something. There are three families of musical instruments: string, wind and percussion.

When a string is plucked on an instrument, such as a guitar, the vibration is passed into the air and you hear a sound. Blowing into panpipes or a horn makes the air inside the pipes vibrate. Bongos and other percussion instruments produce vibrations when you bang them.

Students could explore how sound vibrations are made in each of the three musical instrument groups presented in this clip. Students could work in three groups and each be assigned one musical group to explore. The percussion team could tightly stretch plastic wrap over a bowl or pot, and cover with grains of rice. They can then bang the plastic wrap and note how the vibrations make the rice grains jump. The string team could stretch elastic bands between their fingers and then pluck these underwater. The vibrations should be ripples in the water. Finally the wind group could cover the end of a cardboard tube with a sheet of newspaper and secure with an elastic band. When they blow into the open end of the tube they should be able to feel the newspaper vibrating on their fingers. Students could rotate around the groups to explore all the different types of instrument and how they make sound through vibrations…