IMG_4785.MOV

Click the above link to see our prototype in action!

Our Prompt: For this quarter-long idea session, we were tasked with the challenge of creating a musical installation somewhere along the walkway to the school entrance. This installation would have to entice students, teachers, and passersby alike to take the long trek down the walkway and would be able to be played either solo, or as a group effort. 

Our Project: After considering the prompt, we decided to address it by creating a xylophone fixed to the ceiling of the walkway, with a unique activation system. We debated attaching the xylophone to a wall, but we realized it would be best to keep it out of reach of people with bad intentions. The activation system is a collection of levers and hammers. The hammers hover below the chimes, and when a lever is pulled down, it tugs on a cable which is attached to the hammer above. The cable is fixed to the hammer on the opposite side of the fulcrum, meaning when the lever is pulled the hammer swings upwards, hitting the note. We have had several iterations of this. The first was the idea of a pulley system that dragged a hammer up a track. We were fairly satisfied with this idea, but we soon realized there was a way we could do the same thing in a simpler fashion (our current system).

Precedents: Our activation system closely resembles the Cornell Chimes. We took inspiration from the brilliantly simple way these chimes work and modified the system to meet our needs. 

Challenges/lessons learned: One thing we didn't account for was the lengths of the levers in relation to the lengths of the chimes. We needed the levers to hit the pipe in the exact middle, which we originally thought meant we would have to create a different length lever for each pipe. Eventually we realized we could stagger the pipes, lining up all of the centerpoints, eliminating this problem. Another overall lesson I learned was that prototyping and iterations are key. We were certain we had our final idea when we came up with the idea of a pulley system, but there is almost always a better way (for us it was the lever system). Also, when we had all of our final pieces in rhino, we decided it would be a good idea to cut just one lever/hammer combo first to see if it worked. We were lucky we did this because we discovered some problems we had to fix.

Next Steps/Iterations: Although we have worked long and hard at this project for the past quarter, we are far from done. Our activation system is complete, but we still need to figure out how to fix the chimes/notes to the ceiling. In addition, the final project would ideally be placed where it was originally meant to go (the walkway). I personally would also like to eventually change some small things like the shape of the levers (a more comfortable, aesthetically pleasing version would be nice), and add caps over the boxes holding the levers so you can only see the lever (this would give it a cleaner, simpler look). 

^!Video for Of Prototype working Above!^

Our Prompt:  Our task was to make a musical intervention that drew people down the main entrance hallway and could be Musical, not just noise. Our group decided to take up a wall and the ceiling making a xylophone on the roof and activation levers that lead to hammers that hit the pipes (that we have cut certain lengths to make certain notes) that people and friends can play music on.

Our project/musical intervention: My group is building a xylophone that uses hammers and metal pipes cut to certain lengths for different notes. The first step is the planing step, we made our final decision after making prototypes and seeing a video of our activation sequence at Cornell, and finalized the idea and started to design higher quality versions of the mechanism. While two of my group members were working on the activation systems I was cutting and measuring the pipes. We used notes C2 to C4 (15 notes) and then measured the 22.4% in of the total length on each side, which is where we need to hold the pipes up to get the correct sound. We ran into measurement problems and the mechanism actually executing the correct process. Also holding up the chimes that play the notes was a confusing challenge, but with some brain storming it was solved. 

Precedents: Our original idea for the activation system came from the Cornell Chimes lever activation system. we almost mimicked the concept to get the correct function.

Challenges: One challenge was finding the correct lever and hammer lengths to get the best result for a note and not having the hammer muffle the sound of the pipe. We could measure the length from the activation box to the center of the longest note, then line up all of the notes centers and make the same length hammer for all. We could use an elastic bungee cord to pull the hammer back down so it doesn't muffle the sound. Also we haven't figured out how to attach the mechanism that holds up the pipes to the ceiling. An overall problem we faced was the wear and tear that the users bring upon it, we hope people have the respect to not root on it too hard. 

Next steps: We need to make a section that limits the hurt that one person can put on the activation system. Also we want to finish this so we need to make a higher quality more solid final project with minor PLAN improvements. We also need to figure out how to attach the weather stripping to the ceiling. And we need to figure out the correct lengths for the hammers to hit the center f the pipes to get the correct notes.

Prompt: The prompt for this quarter's IDEA class was to create a musical intervention. The musical invention would be placed in the front walkway to draw people up the walkway and into the building. It would represent our school as innovative and interesting to visitors and passersby. Our group chose to address this prompt by making a ceiling xylophone that would be operated by pulling down cranks to hit certain notes. The reason for the notes on the ceiling was to keep the pipes out of dangers way such as weather or people. In the rest of this post I will go into deeper detail of the project.

Precedents: Our final product closely resembles the Cornell Chimes. The hitting system is very similar to this wonderfully simple music machine. A link to the Cornell Chimes is here .

Description of Final Project/Intervention: The intervention is a ceiling xylophone. The xylophone included many things that make it stand out from any other xylophone such as a crank system and a resetting hitter system. The cranks are placed six inches apart so they are far enough that two people can play them but not far enough that one person cannot play two. The self resetting system is a rubber band attracted to the hitter  so after the hitter hits the ceiling it is pulled back down to it's original position. The rubber band is made out of a flexible rubber that our coach, Max Vanatta, bought us.

Challenges: One of the challenges that came on later on in our project is the hammer length. As our project moved on we realized that we might need a different hammer length for each key but than Will came up with a brilliant idea. We had to measure the middle of the longest pipe and then we could center all the other pipes around the longest one.

How to play our Final Project: The way to play the ceiling xylophone is simple, just pull the correct lever for the desired note and the hitter will hit the correct note.

Next Steps: After all this explanation, my group has not finished our project. We still need to hang the pipes on the ceiling and drills holes into the brick wall to attract the hitting mechanism to the wall. We also need to attract the bungee cords to the hitting mechanism so everything can reset. And finally, we need to test and make sure everything works and then we will finally be finished.

Link for Video for the 4: https://youtu.be/p7jEMdKbnAU

In IDEA we are making musical projects that we can actually play. I am making a piano walkway for the front of the school walkway so that people would be more intrigued to walk through the main entrance. 

My project is made from wood, springs and a little button. I'll be attaching a  speaker to it so that it would work and create music. But for now it just uses springs to push itself up and down and buttons to act as a sensor for the speaker. 

I made my project by putting one piece of wood on the bottom and making holes in all of the tiles so that I can put the springs in it while on the bottom there are little holes that keep the buttons in place. This also makes it so that the button doesn't break from the weight of the person stepping on it. I put a long piece of wood in front of the piano so that people won't be able to mess with anything inside if the piano. There is enough room in the back of the piano, that I could hook up the wires from the buttons and hook it up to a speaker. This means when you step on the tile it will play the note that I assigned it to. The hinges that are screwed into the back piece of wood makes it so that you could easily step on the tile without it breaking. I also made sure that the piano doesn't take up the whole entire walkway so that if anyone doesn't want to step on it they don't have to. All I have to do now is screw in the tiles to the back.

My inspiration for my project is when I watched a video of piano stairs and each stair was its own key. They also look like piano keys.

Piano stairs - TheFunTheory.com - Rolighetsteorin.se - YouTube) 

The purpose of my project is to make people want to go through the main entrance so people stop going through the high school. My project will be located in the main walkway entrance under the brick wall next to the gym doors.