Our next great water/music adventure involved students learning about instruments that music use of water to create their sound. We studied things like Benjamin Franklin’s armónica, crystal glasses filled with water, Chinese water bowls, the Zadar Sea Organ (in Croatia), the water gong, Benin Water Gourds, Norwegian Ice Instruments, and watched the STOMP video where they are standing in water raising and lowering pipes to bend the pitch. We watched a physics demonstration about the resonance of a glass tube, and how the quantity of water really matters when trying to get the best sound. We discussed how there are really four different ways to make sound in instruments – blowing, shaking, striking, and scraping.
Now came the fun part – students (preK-8th grade) were given the opportunity to take on an instrument design challenge where they had to create a new instrument that used water. I made them another wonderful Antarctic saltwater blend, as I knew some of them would wonder if their instruments sounded different with saltwater vs. freshwater (they have gotten very good with curiosity and experimentation, and I encourage such behavior in class!!!)
It was really fun for students to create, test, modify, recreate….and then they got the opportunity to perform on their instruments for the classmates. They loved performing with the VR headsets again, as I gave them the option to perform on the water or ice of Antarctica again.
Car Full of Harmony 
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