Trombone

Changing the length of the slide on the trombone changes the wavelength of a note.
When playing a trombone, your lips make a vibration and the wave travels through the pipes of
the trombone and come out at the bell. Trombone players change notes by moving the slide,
which changes the length of the piping changing the wavelength. Another way of changing the
note is by changing the way your lips vibrate. When you want to play a higher note, you tighten
your lips, which creates a faster vibration in your lips. We know the faster vibrations create a
higher frequency which increase the pitch of the note.
The slide changes the pitch because it will create a different wavelength. However, the
wavelength of a note is not directly correlated to a specific slide length because of the way you
can change your lips vibrating. The slide in the first position makes the entire length of piping
273 centimeters long. As you move it out, it increases the length of the piping. If the piping is
longer, it will create a note with a longer wavelength. The last position is about 120 centimeters
longer than the first position. Analyzing this data, we can see that we can use the different
lengths of slide and the different ways you can vibrate your lips to create a scale. On our
trombone, the first note of the scale is a Bb. To play Bb, you have the slide in first position and
buzz your lips with a relatively slow vibration. Then the scale continues as a Bb major scale
with: C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb. You have to change the slide length and make your lips vibrate faster
by tightening them to go up the scale. Loosening your lips will make your lips vibrate slower and
you will play a lower note. That is how you can play different notes with the slide in the same
place. In 1st position, you can easily play 4 different notes. So, once you can learn the slide
positions and how to vibrate your lips, you can play the trombone!
Here is the table that shows the notes we are
playing, what position they are in, and the slide length
and

wavelength.
Chime
The length of the chime does not always affect pitch. We based our chimes off of a
design similar to a xylophone. We would have thirteen notes, all notes from C to C including
sharps and flats. To do this, we would first get a metal pipe and then use a tuner app to find out
what note the pipe made. We then used a ratio chart to find out what length the pipes had to be
to make specific notes. We had to measure what the natural frequency was for the pipes we
had because every material has a different composition and thickness which changes the

frequency. The larger the chime, the longer the wavelength is, but only if all the metal pipes are
the same material. The longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency, the lower the pitch. The
lower the pitch, the lower the note is. We ran out of the EMT pipe though, so we had to use a
wider pipe. We found out that this pipe had a higher natural frequency and we couldnt use the
same ratios that we used for the EMT pipe.
The first pipe we tested was 46 centimeters. This chime was a C. To find out what length
the other pipes had to be, we multiplied the initial measurement by the ratios for the other notes.
To get a Db, we would multiply 46 centimeters by .9798. To get a D, we would multiply 46
centimeters by .9428 and so on. After we measured and cut the EMT pipes, we used a tuner to
confirm we had done our calculations correct.
Our chime design was pretty simple. We got a 66.5 cm piece of wood from the shed and
split it in half so that we would have two equal halves. Then, we connected them 12.5 cm apart
from each other by getting a 25 cm piece of wood, splitting it in half, then screwing it in on either
sides of the longer piece of wood. As soon as we had the structure, we started putting our 13
note scale on top. Basically, we screwed in small screws on the tops of both sides of the wood
to keep the chimes from falling off or moving around too much. We did have the screws pretty
apart to keep the sound as loud as could be because if the screws were touching the chime it
would suppress and dull the sound. We did that for all 13 notes and measured the chimes at 5
cm apart to use up the whole piece of wood.
Something that we discovered was that the more center the EMT pipes were between
the two pieces of wood, the louder they got. Most of the other groups had used rubber bands to
slightly elevate the chimes so they could ring freely. We think this is so because when the pipes
are centered, the two ends are more equal so they can produce their sound more evenly.

Strings
String instruments change pitch when the length of the string increases or decreases.
String players move their fingers along the string to change the pitch of a note. They also can
play on different strings that have different tensions or widths. However, our instrument only has
one string, with one tension, so the way we change notes is by moving the position of our
fingers. We found that pushing down on a part of the string creates an artificial end of the string,
and makes a new length that ends there. So, to create a certain note, find out how long the

string
has to
be and
press
down
there.
Our

instrument has a string that is 52.5 centimeters long, which normally produces an E. If you press
down the string at 49.5 cm and play, it produces an F. So you can play any note possible
provided your string is long enough. So knowing all of this data, you can play an entire
chromatic scale from E4 to E5. So, in summary, the string instrument works by artificially
shortening the length of the string being played, reducing the amount of material vibrating,
which then makes the note higher.
Strings also may need something to amplify them. Some instruments have a hollow box
and electric string instruments can use a pickup and an amp to make the sound louder. Our
design uses a box with a hole in it, but it doesnt amplify the sound because we used wood that
is too thick, so the string can not vibrate it. Ideally, the string would vibrate the wood and the
sound would be amplified by the box.

The different frets or lengths are associated with different notes.

Here is a chart that lists

the frequency, wavelength
and string length of all the
notes we use and more
notes that are too low for
our string to play.