Battle of the Bands Evaluation Form #5

Band Name: Rubber Band

Band Member	Instrument	Blog URL	# of Blog Entries	# of Prototypes Made
Allacia Beatrice Cruz	Poptar	http://quarter2battleofthebandsproject.blogspot.com/	11	1 1/2
William Bond	Ghetto Drums	N/A	N/A	1
Seini Fisiiahi	Castanet Spoons	http://janey1024.blogspot.com/		1
April Abellar	Maracas	N/A	N/A	1

And the winners are...

1. Placements
1. Bands
1. First Place: MR. DJ
1. They sang the maximum three songs
1. Jingle Bells
2. Santa Baby
3. Happy Birthday
2. Second Place: Flaming Kitty Band
1. Obvious they practiced
2. All instruments were heard
3. Third Place: Rubber Band
1. Did two songs
2. Instruments
1. First Place: Michael-xylophone
1. Complicated instrument with a variety of notes
2. Second: Monica-mouth and gloves
1. Outside the box
3. Third: Robert-bottles
1. Was also able to control the variety of notes

How Did the Rubber Band Go ABOVE and BEYOND?

1. How did your group go ABOVE and BEYOND
1. The Banner
1. The banner was made from different letters made from junk objects found in the internet.
2. The Headbands
1. The headbands were the costumes used to create a bond between the group members.
3. Songs
1. Two songs were sung

April Abellar's Evaluation

1. April Abellar
1. Maracas
2. The instrument I made for Battle of the Bands are maracas. When I play the sound of the maracas are heard. By the sound waves it makes while it’s being shaked. An instrument like this can have different sounds. It depends on what you use to make the sound. You can make sounds with small beads, dried macaroni, small pebbles, sand, or even rice.
3. I chose to use small beads because I like the sound it makes because as I shake it softly the beads do not rattle a lot. But when I choose to shake it really loud, then that is when you hear all the rattling of the beads. On the day of the performance, we all made sure that all of our instruments were heard. It didn’t work that well because you couldn’t hear some of the instruments that didn’t make loud sounds. During this long term project, we as a group didn’t practice as much as we should have. We just thought that we didn’t need to have that many days to practice.
4. Mr. Tillay assigned us a long term project because he wanted us to understand all the things that we have to go through. He wanted us to have enough time to figure out what  we need to research  on and how we would be able to get it done. Also, he wanted to us to think outside the box and not just go for the basics of thinking.
5. The grade I would say I earned would be between a B- or C+ because I know I could have put more effort and time into this project.The grade that Allacia earned was an A because she worked hard during this project. The instrument she made was unique because no one else made an instrument like that. The instrument she made was a poptar and she explained how it worked well because she used physics terms. The grade that Will earned was a B- because he did work well but he could’ve thought more out of the box. He made drums and the sound that it made was well heard. The grade that Jane earned was a C because her instrument was unusual and it made good sound. But she also could’ve thought more out of the box. As a group I would say we earned a B+ because we all put effort into this project and we worked well with each other.

Allacia Beatrice Cruz's Evaluation

1. Allacia Beatrice Cruz
1. Poptar
2. Band Leader
3. The instrument that was made is called a poptar. It is made from a plastic 2-Liter bottle, a fishing line, and a pencil. It is played by plucking the string, similar to how a guitar or any instrument is played. The pitch of the instrument can be changed depending on the how tight the string is. The tighter the string is, the higher the pitch. Despite the fact that it was the quietest instrument out of the whole band, sounds were still able to be heard. The band rehearsed only a few times, with the maximum amount of three.
4. The poptar is a type of stringed instrument. It produces sound when the string is plucked, disturbing the air through its vibrations. The pitch can be changed by twisting the pencil. The tighter, the higher. Limitations were set when not a lot was known about playing a string instrument. Only one note was able to play the whole time. This could have been solved by more practices and further research.
5. Mr. T assigned this long term project (ten weeks time) to teach students not to procrastinate. For instance, the periodical checkpoints forced the students to have something weeks before the final deadline. That way, the only things the students would be doing are improvements on the project for better presentation for the competition. Letting them know ahead of time can also aid in planning when to get certain things done.
6. Grades
1. Group Grade
1. B+
2. Group was the second band to perform, all instruments were finished. However, not all instruments could be heard.
2. Allacia Beatrice Cruz
1. A-
2. Instrument was not typical. However, it was not able to be heard for long.
3. April Abellar
1. B
2. Instrument was able to produce sound needed and had effort put into it. However, instrument was typical.
4. William Bond
1. B
2. Instrument was typical, however the materials used to soften the sound was clever.
5. Seini Fisiiahi
1. C+
2. Instrument was not typical, however not a lot of effort nor moderation was put into it.

Poptar Instrument Report

Poptar Instrument Report

The poptar was an instrument made by Nick Penny. He took the names “soda pop” and “guitar” and combined them to make “poptar.” The instrument is composed of three simple objects. This includes an empty two-liter soda bottle with a small slit towards the end to let air in and to be able to pluck it, a fishing line to produce the sound, and a pencil to help control the frequencies of the instrument. In general, sounds are vibrations in the air. This particular instrument can create a variety of sounds despite the fact the instrument only has one string.

Every instrument or even object can vibrate at certain frequencies. This is called the natural frequency. The lowest being the fundamental frequency, while the higher multiples are called the harmonic frequencies. Most times, the natural frequencies depend on the shape of the instrument and the material it is made of. If not done correctly, the natural frequency of the instrument will cause heavy displacement on the shape of the instrument, causing the sound to be not pleasant. This phenomenon is called resonance. Frequencies are made through the waves of a string. Amplitude comes into the role as the severity of the disturbances of waves. It is the the highest it can go from equilibrium.  To make these waves happen, the string would require the ends to not be affected by any attempt of displacement after being plucked and can stopped by being damped. These string ends are called nodes. For every two nodes, there must be an antinode located in the middle to support the wave.

The string mass determines the type of sound the instrument would make. The thicker the string is, the slower it vibrates. The tone of the poptar may be changed by pulling on the pencil or spinning it around. The main objective is to tighten the strings. The tighter the string is, the higher the tone will be. On the poptar, pulling the string at the correct times could lead up to producing up to four total notes.

The poptar instrument is a simple sound producing object yet may be complicated. Errors occurred when an actual guitar string was used. It was very loose and there was no way to tighten it at all. A fishing line was replaced, wrapped around the bottle, causing the tightening process to become easier. The slit was also made bigger due to the constant bleeding of finger. In conclusion, the poptar was able to produce many frequencies despite the fact it only has one string.

Works Cited:

"Resonance." Resonance. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/U11l5a.cfm>.

"Standing Wave Patterns." Standing Wave Patterns. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l4c.cfm>.

"Natural Frequency." Natural Frequency. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. <http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l4a.cfm>.

"How Does a Guitar Work?" How a Guitar Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/guitar/guitarintro.html>.

"Musical Instruments from Junk: Make a Poptar with Nick Penny." Penny, Nick. YouTube, 30 July 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he215SLuOLI>.

How A Poptar Makes Sound

How A Poptar Makes Sound

The instrument is a single string type. The pitch of the noise can be changed by twisting the pencil on top either from left or right. Every time the instrument is played by plucking the string, vibration waves emit from the string and hit the walls of the bottle causing the wallowing noise of the instrument. By pulling on the string, the noise becomes higher.

The vibration of the string hitting the walls of the bottle can be changed in many ways to play a song. This includes the time intervals of the plucking of the string. If the string is plucked and not stopped, the string will continue to vibrate. The vibration however does not last very long, depending on how tight the string is. The tighter the string is, the shorter the vibration length will be. The vibration can be stopped by pulling the pencil straught up or by simply holding the string. However, by just holding the string, it would be more difficult to play the next note.

Poptar Improvements 11/20/2013

Improvements Made on Poptar

• The material used for the string was changed. It is now made from a fishing line. This is thinner material.
• The cap was removed.
• The fishing line was wrapped around the pencil.
• It can be tightened by twisting the pencil.
• Hole was cut wider to avoid the cutting of fingers

Improvements Needed

Improvements Needed to Make

• Instead of metal piece and manual pulling, a dowel should be used
• the string will be wrapped around a dowel so it will be able to be tighter
• easier to control pitch
• be able to reach a higher pitch

Poptar Stage 1

Poptar Stage 1

Basic Abilities

• Can play sound
• The pitch of the sound can be changed by pulling on the metal piece

Project Objective: Poptar

Materials Needed

• Small piece of wood, rounded
• Empty plastic bottle
• metal string