Hi, I’m Katie Palmer, curator of education at the Musical Instrument Museum.
Today, we are going to make an instrument out of materials that you
probably have at home. We are going to make a drum and so, in order
to do that, you need a couple things. You need a Tupperware container.
This one I have repurposed from my Tupperware drawer.
A pair of scissors and some tape. This is packing tape. It is Uline.
I like it because we have got a clear tape and then also a colored tape.
You can use any variety. Duct tape would also work as well.
So, the first thing we are going to do is
we are going to take tape. I am going to take my clear tape and
I am going to go around the outside of my Tupperware container.
I am doing this because tape does a really nice job,
and many of you probably already know this, sticking to itself.
So by lining the outside we are going to make it a little bit
easier to get that tape on. Since it is clear tape and I am going to
cover it up, it doesn’t really matter what it looks like.
So once we have that, I am just going to
take it around the edges and secure it. The next step is to build my drumhead.
I am going to take my clear tape and I am going to go
all one direction, like this. We are going to do this, and you are
to say, “but Katie, this is a little loose,
and I know that in order to produce sound I need a tighter drumhead.”
You are absolutely right, but I don’t want you to worry about
the tension on this part of the drumhead because really what we are
doing is we are just putting a base layer down
and we are going to add tension by adding tape.
Easy-peasy. As you do this, you want to make sure that you have no holes
in the top of your drumhead. Depending how old
your children are, this is a really good exercise for fine motor development.
Tape is not easy to work with. Making sure you don’t lose the end is
not easy to work with. Great. So here is our first layer. We have got
it going all one direction as you can see.
The next thing we need to do in order to add that
tension is to go the opposite way. I am going to take my tape if it goes
this way and now I am going to go this way.
As we add it together, you will start to notice that your drumhead is going to get tighter.
So the tighter your drumhead, the higher the pitch.
And you can control, to some extent,
the pitch level that you get with these drums.
Meaning the looser the drumhead, the lower the pitch. The tighter the drumhead,
the higher the pitch. Great.
So, now I have a pretty tight drumhead.
Going all one way and then all the other way. Let’s hear how it sounds.
It’s not bad. I want to add one more layer of tape. This one I am going to do
a colored piece of tape, just to add some flair.
Why not? Live life on the wild side. This one I am going to take sort of across.
Since we are getting it across, here’s a question. Are we adding tension or taking it away?
We are adding tension because we are adding tape. I am creating
n the middle of my drumhead here a place with higher tension.
Perfect. Look at that beautiful drum.
So this is my drum. Let’s hear what it sounds like in the middle.
So, if you are listening you can hear it is just a little bit higher on this side
than it is on the outside. You have got a couple different playing techniques.
You could throw this right underneath your arm.
Or why not build two? And make a drum set and go to town with
some pencils or some wooden spoons. So, enjoy your drums. Thanks for joining us.