If you stop and think about it, we are surrounded by so many
different kinds of sounds. Just close your eyes, be real still and
listen very closely. What do you hear? I hear people talking and
children playing when I arrive at the kindergarten music class where I
teach rhythm.
On my way to the school, I hear the sounds of cars,
construction workers and tractors in the fields nearby. While I'm inside
the classroom with the kids, I play the piano and I listen to the music
I am creating while the students sing their patriotic songs excitedly.
Our
world is full of a variety of different sounds and the sounds are made
in many different ways. On the first day of school, I asked the
children, " What is music?" I was pleased to hear their responses such
as, birds singing, your heart beating and music coming from the radio CD
or TV.
A dog barking produces sound, as well as a clock ticking
and a door closing. I suppose one could say that water from a faucet
produces a rushing sound, too. The sounds described above, are made by
movements called vibrations.
I have introduced homemade kazoos to
the class since we are learning about sound and music. The tight wax
paper that has a thin rubber band around it at the end of the
paper-covered toilet paper roll, changes the sound of one's voice. Try
it sometime. It's a fun activity. Yes, one can buy plastic kazoos at the
dollar store now a days but I remember placing wax paper over a comb
and listening to the altered sound of my voice. When I was a kid, I
would place wax paper behind the mallets inside the piano to hear an old
player type piano.
Have you ever listed all the sounds that human voices make? Here are just a few I'd like to mention:
1. Talking
2. Singing
3. Shouting
4. Crying
5. Sneezing
6. Coughing
7. Whispering
8. Screaming
9. Humming
10. Blowing
So
your voice comes from a part of the throat called the larynx. You'll
find inside the larynx that there are flaps called vocal chords. Your
vocal chords vibrate when you speak or sing. In addition, your mouth and
tongue help to make the sounds we hear. One way to make the sound of
music is to sing. So, go ahead and sing out loud!
You hear sound
when it enters your ears. The shape of your outer ear collects sound
waves. From there, the sound waves travel down a tube to delicate parts
of your ear inside your head. While inside, those sound waves cause the
eardrum to vibrate and then sound messages are sent to your brain from
your eardrum.
Children can make musical sounds by blowing, too.
For example, blow across the top of some bottles. By placing different
level amounts of colored water in the bottles and then blowing, makes
the air inside the bottle vibrate. What you have is a long column of air
vibrating to make a low note. Experiment with this a little and you'll
find that short columns make high notes.
One can make sounds of
music by playing a
musical instrument, like hitting drums with sticks.
What happens is that the sticks make the skin of the drums and the air
inside vibrate that causes the sound.
Many musical instruments have strings stretched over a box or board
that make the sound louder. The strings vibrate and make sound. You can
strum or pluck strings on a guitar, mandolin or banjo to make
vibrating
string sounds.
So, you can hit an instrument, such as a drum or
tap a triangle or shake maracas, you know, that gourd shaped
percussion
instrument that is filled with beans or pebbles. Most important of all,
as you go through your day, enjoy listening to the various sounds around
your town, especially your own unique voice.
“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis
“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis
