Jam Jar Xylophones

Year One have had great fun making their own instruments. They made a jam jar xylophone, this uses a set of jars with water in them instead of wooden blocks to make different notes.

How does it work? When you tap a jar with the spoon it vibrates, making that clinking sound. The faster something vibrates, the higher the pitch of the sound it makes. Adding water to the jar makes the jar vibrate more slowly, lowering the pitch of the sound.

For xylophones and glockenspiels, it’s the length of the bars that are hit that changes the pitch. The shorter bars vibrate faster, and make a higher pitched note. 

Year One then composed and made their own music. Maybe you could have a go too?