Continued Progression

Blog Post #6

The goal for the second full day of building was to get as much of the prototypes completed as possible. This was our last full day of building, so we had to make most of it. In order to do this many of our group members brought supplies from home that were very helpful in construction.

All of us were very busy during this time. Most of the xylophone was put together and spray painted green, the metal drum flower was also sprayed painted and the petals attached, and the drum flower began construction. I was on the drum flower, which we had finally started to build that day. However a group member took the wood home and came back with the pieces already cut into petals and supports. This would help us put everything together faster.

The first pieces we attached to the stem of the flower for the drum, were the supports. A whole was drilled in diagonally so that a screw would cut through both the support and the base. After holes were cut into the wood petals so that the drums would have a place to hang in. While waiting for these holes to be cut, another group member and I spray painted the stem and supports of the flower green. After the holes were cut, four of us went outside to spray paint the petals. We each had one petal to spray paint either blue, pink, orange, or purple.

The most significant progress we made that day was finishing constructing the drums. There was much detail and group effort in the making of these drums after much dispute. I had helped cut the metal of lids of the drum, which had to be cut precisely, then made sure that each drum had its matching petal and lid. The dispute came when discussing how to attach the lids to the drums. We had run out of bolts and screws, so we had to think of another way to connect them. In the end red duct tape was used although some group members argued that the color would show through the paint.

I feel that the upcoming prototype days will be successful. The projects are coming out beautifully and are very colorful. These will attract people and make them curious about the instruments. I also feel that the size of them promote community because it takes more than one person to play them. The aspect that we are lacking the most is the sound quality. Only a musician can make them sound really good and we wanted to incorporate all types of people.