Guitar or Diddley Bow?

In the second unit of the course Light, Sound and Time, we studied the speed of sound, echoes, the Doppler effect, Mach, rates, decibels, parts of the ear and how we receive sound. We also learned about harmonics, infrasound, audible hearing, ultrasound, sonar, how fast sound travels through materials, and how a guitar’s frequencies change through the strings. For our action project, we made a Diddley Bow. A Diddley Bow is a one string instrument made of a piece of wood, four screws, a battery and a tin can. During this action project I had difficulty getting tension on the string because my original idea was making a long Diddley Bow, but since I couldn’t get the tension needed, I made it shorter to get the right sound. From this project I learned that screwing a screw on a thick piece of wood with a screwdriver is hard and that to make a good sound for an instrument you need to be accurate with string tension and the type of string. I am proud of my Diddley Bow because it was difficult to build and to sound how I wanted it to sound and at the end I got it how I wanted it.

KIS. Diddley Bow. 2016.

The way my Diddley Bow produces sound using one string is that when I play it, it vibrates through the tin can which amplifies the sound. When it is played with a slide on the string it changes sound as it moves. For example, when it moves down towards the tin can the sound becomes higher because the strings vibration gets shorter and when moving the opposite way it sounds deeper and the string vibration gets longer. Depending on the thickness of the string it will most likely decide what type of sound will come out. For example on a thin string, the sound will be high pitch like a violin and on a thick string the sound will be low like a bass guitar. My instrument demonstrates pitch/frequency by the type of string. I chose a thick, short, tight wire string. Another thing that really helps with the sound is the size of the tin can because it changes how loud and clear your sound is. My Diddley Bow demonstrates sound waves because when I play the string, depending on how soft or loud I pluck the string it will determine the amplitude of the sound wave.

KIS. Sketch of Diddley Bow. 2016.

The Doppler Effect is when a frequency changes as it moves towards or away from the observer. The frequency get higher when it gets closer to the observer and the wavelength get shorter. The wavelength get longer and the frequency get lower when it moves away from the observer. My Diddley Bow can demonstrate this if I walk and play my instrument as I move towards someone who is standing still. As I move closer to the person the frequency is higher and as I move away from the person the frequency is lower.

The length of the string from the tin hole to the screw is 13 ½ inches, the diameter of the tincan is 4 inches and the radius is 2 inches. The height of the tin can is 5 ½ inches, the thickness of the string is 0.046 inches and the volume of the body is 69.11 inches. The way I got that is by using the equation “pi x r^2 x height.” The note of my string is F2, the frequency of that note is 87.31Hz and the wavelength is 395.16cm. The way I got the frequency and wavelength for my harmonics is by multiplying the 1st harmonic by 2 and dividing the wavelength by 2 and as I go on I just multiply and divide by the next number. The 1st harmonic is 87.31Hz (F) & 395.16cm (W), the 2nd harmonic is 174.62Hz (F) & 197.58cm (W), the 3rd harmonic is 261.93Hz (F) & 131.72cm (W) , and the 4th harmonic is 349.24Hz (F) & 98.79cm (W).

KIS. Harmonics. 2016.

If I could do this project again I would choose a different string, maybe a thinner one because it was very difficult to get the right tension for a thick string so it might be easier for a thinner string. Also the pitch of my Diddley Bow would be much higher than it is and I would like that. Also I would use nails instead of screws because the nails would be more easier to get through the wood and I would have finished my project sooner.

KIS. Diddley Bow. 2016.

 

Acapella

In the first unit of the course Argument, we studied the Declaration of Independence, we broke it down to understand, we made mini arguments and we discuss what happens in the republican and democratic debates. We also looked at photographs with no people for the reason that the space has a historical moment, whereas there was a protest, gun shot, etc. For our action project we were assigned to make a declaration of our choosing. I decided to make a declaration about having an Acapella third period class because I like acapella and I like many acapella groups. During this action project I had difficulty coming up with an idea to pursue and structuring the declaration to make it flow. I learned that making a third period is harder than I thought because there are many details that go into it and making the structure of the third period is crucial so there is guidance.

We should have an Acapella third period class because it will let students explore their tones of voices and what their voice can do. They will discover new ways of singing, their true voices and will learn how to harmonize with other groups. Working together is the key to a successful acapella group.
The purpose of school is to learn new things and to expand our knowledge of previous things. To explore new things and find out what you are good and what might possibly be you career. In our new space at GCE Lab School, there will be a recording studio and we will have the chance to experience how to record. School also helps us grow, find our voice and help us be independent. Some of the rights that we have is the Right to explore different things, Right to express your ideas, Right to experience something new, Right to network with professionals and many more.

The guiding question I will pursue Is Acapella part of Music or separate? Why? I think that student should have a chance to explore something new. We have a club after school, but I think that many students are shy to participate so having them take a class will push them to discover something about himself and something different than doing kareoke because in Acapella everything is done by one's voice. My desire outcome of this third period is for students to feel that they learned something new about themself, make new friends, find something in common with other people they didn’t think they had and over all they appreciate acapella and music.In order to make this possible I will need a teacher who is passionate about music and that will help students find a voice. I will need students who are interested in it or are willing to give it a chance. I will need people who think or can beatbox. People who have some kind of knowledge in music to help out others and help with arrangements. I will need some speakers to play some examples of song from acapella groups. Maybe we can do a partnership with an acapella teacher, and acapella academy or a local/ any acapella group.

KIS. Triple Diagram. 2016.

We should have an acapella third period class that allows students to explore different sides of music and different genres. Having this class will will give them a different point of view of music and they will see music differently in general.

My Homemade Camera!

For the first unit for the course Light, Sound & Time, we studied refraction, Snell’s law, Trigonometry, lab reports and light. We learned about the speed of light and how fast it goes. We also learned about frequencies, waves, electromagnetic spectrum, prism, colors, particles and how a camera is similar to the human eyeball. For our action project, we were assigned to create a pinhole camera. The camera's body can be a box, cardboard, metal, cylinder, etc. as long as you can open it and put (special) paper inside. At the end we will have created our own camera and have a picture from it developed in a dark room. During this project it was difficult to find a way to close the box so no light could come in but at the same time I needed a way to open it so I could put the film paper in and take it out. I also had difficulty finding a shutter speed that would create a good image. I learned how film is made, the process of it and how time consuming it is (9 minutes). I am proud of my calculations.

KIS. Camera. 2016.

The way my camera works is by capturing the light by opening a pinhole in the middle of my camera. The light then goes through the camera and shines on a special paper inside that will capture the image upside down. I leave it open for about two minutes to let the image develop then I close it. I put my hand over the hole to make sure no light enter as I make my way to the dark room. In the dark room there is no light allowed, only low yellow lights. In there I take out the film and put it in a process of four trays with chemicals that allows you to see the photo. Unfortunately my camera does not illustrate the idea of refraction because refraction only occurs when light goes from one medium to another, such as air to water or glass. It is super important to paint my camera black inside because when the light goes in it won’t reflect whereas if it were white it would reflect and the image wouldn’t come out as wanted.

My camera demonstrates wave vs. particle when the light hits the paper which will record the image. The light hits the paper as a particle and leaves photons behind which take part in the developing process. It demonstrates the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically the visible spectrum in terms of colors because it uses black to absorb the light and energy from the sun. The object I chose to photograph is a mini Eiffel Tower because I had it and because I like the Eiffel Tower. The distance from my lens to the photo paper is 8cm, the height of pinhole is 12cm, the height of the Eiffel Tower is 26cm and the distance from the camera to Eiffel Tower is 15cm.

 KIS. Similar Triangle. 2016.

                                           

                                                            KIS. Calculations. 2016.

For my first picture I used a shutter speed of 3 minutes and when I developed it, it came out black because it had been exposed to too much light. Then I tried again with a shutter speed of 1 minute, but it still came out dark when I developed it. That’s when I realized that my box wasn't covered well because light was getting in and that is what ruined my picture. If I could do it all over again I would choose a different box or a cylinder so that no light could come in and the opening would be different. I would also like to use less tape because after taping and untaping the same tape it loses the stickiness and that’s what probably happened to my camera.

KIS. Black Photo. 2016

Quinceaños

The celebration of a quinceañera is a latin tradition for many year. This is a celebration where families celebrate their daughter maturity. In some religion, reaching the age 15 meant that they are able to get married of, but this isn't the case now. The special day start with going to church, take pictures and lastly party. To make this special day perfect every little detail counts. The recommendation is to plan your 15 day a year before because it's stressful, but at the end it's worth it. In this tradition there are many traditions inside it. For example, crowning the girl as a symbol that she is the queen of the party, change of shoes as a symbol of little girl to a teenager, dance with her dad as a symbol of him presenting her to the society and giving permission for boys to dance with her, and many more.

Mendez, Alfredo.  Analise Quinceañera. December 12, 2015. Photograph. Flicker.

Rock out in Music Makers!

For the last unit of the course Rapid Prototyping we learned about different tools. For example, flathead screwdriver, phillips screwdriver, monkey wrench, hammer, hand saw, hacksaw, etc. We talked about the safety of using those tools and just safety in general. We also looked at lifehacks to make life easier and many ideas that people have come up with. From looking at that we got inspired to create a life hack for the new space we will soon be moving into. By looking at some examples in the Instructables website we found something we liked for the new space and we modified it the way we liked it. I decided to make a wall guitar stand, for a club that we have in school called the Music Makers. In the process of making it I had difficulty coming up with a creative way to make it possible in a short time.

Check out my Instructable in detail!

KIS. Guitar Wall Holder. 2016.

The project I made is a musical guitar stand on the wall. It holds the guitars when they are not being used, that way people won’t trip over them and they won’t get damaged. 

We went on an field experience to the Rebuilding Exchange where we met the owner of the place Briant William. The Rebuilding Exchange is a place where they reuse materials to create something of use or sell the pieces for someone else to build something new. An interesting thing that William sisd was “Stretch imagination and show the value of things.” I found this interesting because Music Maker right now have all the guitars in cases and the it takes time to take them out and it doesn’t interest other students to play music and jam out. That’s why I thought of this display to make the guitars appealing and easy to get without any struggles. I used my imagination to create this and I took into consideration the value of playing music and enjoy playing.

Looking at the Instructables website I saw something similar I liked which was a hand on the wall holding the guitar. I was inspired to have the guitar hangers screwed onto a music bar because it goes with music.

For my time lapse video I used my iphone. I never thought the option of time lapse would come in handy. When I got to the recording part of my project, I decided to take a different approach and record different part of the cutting process. If I recorded the whole process of the cutting it would be a long time, so I took clip of important part of the process. Using time lapse is like recording 1 minute, which equals 1 second. 

When using the jigsaw the blade are very sharp. That’s why one needs safety goggles to protect any flying wood getting into the eyes. Also the jigsaw itself has a safety switch, meaning that if someone tries to use it, it won’t function unless it’s off. Another thing the jigsaw has a metal in front of the blade, so if the blade breaks it won’t fly out because the metal stups it.

To put the final part of my project, I had to use a drill to screw two screws that connect the 3D print guitar holder and the wooden staff. In doing so the drill goes directly on top of the screw's head and with the electric power it turns the screws down into place. Using the power drill makes it more easier, faster and you know it’s tight. 

Making this project was a little overwhelming because I always go for something big, but in the process of making it and my family offering their help changed the way I felt about the project. I have never done anything like this so it was fun going to the home depot to get my supplies, to sketch it out and seeing how my idea comes to life. This project was big, simple yet complicated. If you are interested in making the same or similar project here are 5 suggestions:

1. Have a clear idea of how you want to make it and if you don’t have the tools then modify your idea, but if that's not the case then don’t change it.
2. Make sure the size of the wooden board is the one you want because the bigger it is the more work it is.
3. Safety equipment is always important
4. In small spaces or cutting in the middle, drill holes in the corner to make it easier for the jigsaw to cut.
5. If you are feeling creative think of adding color to it to give it a different look. More you, personalize it.

Reading is Power

In the course Book Bound there was only one unit where we studied our connection to reading, if digital reading counts as actual reading, what are good books, what makes them good, what is a canon, and what are criterias for literacy. We read the book The Great Gatsby and analyze it with the criterias of the canon and if it should stay in the canon. For this action project, we are putting together many mini projects that we did along the way like a storyboard of our early reading, making a video of a children's book, a group literary magazine, an essay on the book, a book for the canon slideshow and a reading poster. I choose to promote my storyboard, my group literacy magazine, canon slideshow and the reading poster. During this project I had some difficulty in managing my time to perfect my pieces.

Storyboard:

Made with Storyboard That

The Entertainment Channel:

I worked in a group to create this literary magazine. My partners were JM and JR. At first it was hard to pick a topic we all related to and that we felt inspired to write about. Then we all started talking about our favorite childhood tv shows out of nowhere and that just clicked, so we decided to use that topic as the theme of our journal. Some of the pieces talk about a tv show we really liked, while others compare old tv shows to new ones. Some are just visuals and one entry is a poem. As a group, we had difficulty getting our external submissions in the timeline and coming up with a creative title for the magazine. We tried to bring back memories of good childhood tv shows that many of our generation watched.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie:

A book I really liked that I read was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I liked this book because it touches on many important topics like identity, race and poverty. Also this book is interesting because it’s not a complete novel with no pictures, but it's not a comic book, either. It’s an Illustrated story and I enjoyed seeing the drawings of the main character. In making this slideshow, I had difficulty with the research because for some questions I had a bunch of information, but the others there wasn’t much. I am proud of how my slideshow came together and my presentation. I really enjoyed this book and hope you enjoy it, too.



The Great Gatsby:

Another assignment I did was to create an essay about the book we read--The Great Gatsby. The question I was asked to answer is whether this book should stay in the canon or not. This book is considered a classic and that is one of the reasons why it’s in the canon, but I argued that Fitzgerald novel should not keep its classic status. It was hard to decide if it should stay in the canon or leave and to get evidence to support my decision. At the end, I got my essay written and I am proud of it after all I went through.

Tagliatelle

In the third period class, I choose to learn Italian. We learned foods name, how to order food, how to say going, how to say I, we, they, etc. We also cook a pie from scratch and it was delicious. For our action project, we had to choose to describe our day, describe a painting or describe how to make an Italian dish. I chose to describe the process of making pasta. Hope you learn and encourages you to try it at home (the video voice over is in Italian).