Name ______________________

Invent Your Own Musical Instrument

Now that you have learned about sound its time for you to invent some new sounds of your
own. For this project you will invent your own musical instrument. This must be made of
safe materials that you can find around your house or obtain at low cost at a local store.
Your instrument must follow the guidelines given below and the instrument will be graded
on these guidelines and on the rubric shown below.
You will work in partners or independently to create your project. Your project must be preapproved by Ms. Williams before you start. You must do all of the following:
1. Make a hand-drawn plan of your proposed instrument. Get it approved by Ms. Williams
This plan must be handed in with your instrument and will be graded on how accurate
it is.
2. The instrument must make at least three different notes.
3. Each note must be stable, in other words every time that note is played, it should be
the same note.
4. On the day this project is due you must bring your instrument into class and
demonstrate it by playing the different notes. You must explain to us how you made
your instrument and how it works.
5. The class will vote on their favorite instrument.
6. Your project will be graded based on the rubric below.

This project is due on Wednesday February 10th at the beginning of class.

Create your own instrument project Rubric

10

diagram of
instrument is
complete &
correct

diagram of
instrument is
correct, one
small omission

diagram of
instrument
correct &
complete
except for one
error

diagram of
diagram with 3
instrument with or more errors
2 errors

overall quality
& design of
instrument are
excellent

overall quality
& design of
instrument are
great

overall quality
& design of
instrument is
good

overall quality
& design of
instrument is
fair

overall quality
& design of
instrument is
poor

creativity of
the instrument
is excellent &
original

creativity of
the instrument
is great &
mostly original

creativity of
the instrument
is good, not as
original

creativity of
the instrument
is fair, not very
original

creativity of
the instrument
are poor & not
original

accurate &
complete
explanation of
how the
instrument
works, why it
can make noise
& why it makes
different notes
(given in
presentation)

accurate &
complete
explanation of
how instrument
works, makes
noise & notes
except one
minor error
(given in
presentation)

accurate &
complete
explanation of
how instrument
works, makes
noise & notes
except for two
errors (given in
presentation)

explanation not
very accurate
or complete
(given in
presentation)

poor
explanation or
very incomplete
(given in
presentation)

Presentation
was smooth,
everyone
understood how
instrument
functioned &
instrument
functioned
reliably

presentation
was smooth,
everyone
understood how
instrument
worked, one
small error in
the instrument
function

presentation
not quite as
smooth or not
everyone
understood how
the instrument
worked, or
instrument
unreliable

presentation
not smooth, not
everyone
understood how
the instrument
worked,
instrument
unreliable

poor
presentation,
no one
understood how
instrument
worked,
instrument
unreliable

your total ___________________ out of 50.