Would this not make the coolest math class project ever?

Posted by Grace Mrowicki on July 19, 2011 at 10:20am

Hey, Folks!
I teach math and ukulele (not necessarily in that order) in Western MA and am usually juggling several projects (in yarn, cloth, wood, food, etc.), often made cheap by repurposing materials. It's almost a wonder it's taken me this long to get going on a cigar box instrument.

That said, this is the first woodworking project I've taken on that I can't build out of 2x4s, strapping and plywood (this covers a surprising variety of items) and doesn't benefit from being kind of overbuilt, which undermines my usual approach. So, it'll be an adventure.

My musical background is pretty broad - I grew up in folk music, started playing guitar when I was 13, got distracted in indie pop and lush orchestrals, ended up DJing in college and developing a taste for left-wing electronic music and things that go boom in the night, and then started playing ukulele and listening to Tom Waits and other affectionately grumpy old man music in large quantities. I still keep pieces of all of this close to my heart.

I don't know if I can actually pull off an instrument-building unit in math class, but different sections will certainly make appearances, as pieces of my projects often do.

Glad to find support on the instrument-building adventure here and looking forward to seeing what all turns up!

Grace

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Replies

  • Eric Townsend July 23, 2011 at 2:23pm

    Hello from a Western MA Native! I've been in L.A. for 25 years but am soon moving back 'home' to Amherst while I figure out where I'll end up on the east coast.

     

    One String Willie's One-Stringer Diddley Bow idea might be a nice way to reduce the materials cost and make the lesson ad project a little easier. And if kid's decide to go with two or three stringers...that could be good too...just tuning the strings into a nice open chord is a math illustration in itself I suppose! The great thing to me is that you can guarantee that one or more of the students will be be playing guitar forever because of your lesson...

     

    best of luck with the project -- it's a perfect blend of art, engineering, music, math!   ET

     

  • One String Willie July 19, 2011 at 10:46am
    Grace, you might try a diddley bow to illustrate the relationships between math and music. Take a look at www.onestringwillie.com and also google "monochord." The monochord was an ancient instrument used to work out relationships between vibrating string length and pitch (assuming, I guess, that tension and string mass are held constant). The diddley bow is a member of the monochord family, and could be used to explore this. I learned a lot about music from the diddley bow.

    Best regards, Willie
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