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Bring the harp. Better to have the chance at some points than no points. The very first instrument I built had, a marimba, similarly went out of tune in bizarre ways. We took it to the invite anyway, and wound up getting second (most teams didn't even have instruments). And promptly scrapped the entire instrument afterwards.

Moral of the story: Might as well take a shot at some points rather than concede all of them. You could end up on the medal stand.

Two of my harp strings went out of tune (by a lot, I'm not joking) right before we had to play last year at states. And the performances were reccorded with professional equipment, too. We ended up doing fine anyway. My advice is to tune your intrument as best you can during the time slot before, and then fix whatever you can right before you go into the room. I had a person on my team do some tuning for me because I had events back to back (also, he was stronger and had an easier time with the bolts) and that kept me from having ALL of them out. You're better off, as Z said, trying to get whatever points you can.

aljones wrote:does our second song, the one you get to pick, have to be in the allowable range?

Any notes you play that are outside the specified range should be judged as if they were not played. They don't count for you and they don't count against you. However, if none of the notes in the song are within the specified range, then it's as if you didn't play any notes at all...which won't be good for your score.

My Science Olympiad coach wants me to do Sounds of Music again, even though our harp was horrible and it cannot be fixed.
So, are there any ideas for Instrument 2 that are made of household items, like paper or cardboard or something from the PVC harp (my parents won't buy me anything), but isn't a quick instrument (I have 3 months and winter break).
My flute is fine, and the judges gave us a sound quality score of 5!!

I need to know which instrument to build for the treble clef one. My partner really wants to build a violin, but I think it's gonna be too difficult and it won't turn out very well because she wants to make it out of cardboard. The strings will probably go out of tune really easily too. I'm thinking of building a glass harp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgoaehDEBrU) but my partner is insistent on building a violin. Which instrument should we build? Or should we choose a completely different instrument instead?

couragecat wrote:I need to know which instrument to build for the treble clef one. My partner really wants to build a violin, but I think it's gonna be too difficult and it won't turn out very well because she wants to make it out of cardboard. The strings will probably go out of tune really easily too. I'm thinking of building a glass harp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgoaehDEBrU) but my partner is insistent on building a violin. Which instrument should we build? Or should we choose a completely different instrument instead?

I would suggest that you do not do the violin. First of all, is the violin going to be entirely made out of cardboard, or are you going to use wood or another material for the bridge, neck, pegs, etc...?
If the violin is going to be entirely cardboard, then do not do this. Unless you have super strong cardboard that will not fold and has the same strength as wood, then no. First of all, the bridge needs to stand up on the violin top, and I think that normal cardboard would bend under the tension and pressure of the violin strings. Under the tension of the strings, the neck will just fold under the tension of the strings. Also, pegs just cannot be made out of cardboard.
If it is made out of wood and cardboard, then there are still problems. If the cardboard is for the body (ribs, top, and back), then the tension of the strings and bridge will make the top of the violin collapse and fold and it will not work. Think about it: the soundpost of the violin, which you do not necessarily have to make, stands up because of the pressure of the bridge and the tension of the strings.Now think about if cardboard can take the tension of the strings. I don't think so, because there is a reason why spruce and other woods are used in violins, not cardboard, and it is not just a sound quality difference. I am not saying that it cannot be done, but it would be near impossible if you used real violin strings. Now, plywood would be okay for a Sounds of Music violin (not a real violin), so if you can afford a lot of plywood, wood glue, and tools, then you could make a violin (but you would need to find horsehair and make rosin for the bow!)
The glass harp idea is actually pretty good, but you would have to spend a lot of money on specific glasses that have a specific pitch. However, if your partner doesn't approve of the glass harp, then here are some other suggestions:
Flute: It is a very simple instrument, which can sound really good. My partner and I made a PVC flute for an invitational, and they gave us a Sound Quality score of 5/5, so it is possible that a PVC flute could sound super nice. You can also make it out of bamboo or metal (we tried copper, but the metal made my fingers smell REALLY BAD! Use measurements from a website called "Flutomat" (look it up on google). Remember, the creativity score is only 5 points!
Kalimba: A soothing instrument that is portable. Look up designs and instructables on how to make a simple kalimba. A kalimba is a thumb piano, by the way.
Hammered Dulcimer: A "harp" type instrument that can be plucked or hammered. (Some people hammer the strings, but other pluck it.)
Xylophone, chimes, or a glockenspiel: The xylophone (out of wood) will be expensive, and you will need resonator tubes to make the sound fuller and louder.
Chimes: Copper or any metals pipes cost a lot of money, and the tools needed to cut them are also expensive.
Glockenspiel: Same as above.

So good luck on your instruments!

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. I just have to convince my partner. Thanks for giving me suggestions as well!

couragecat wrote:I'm thinking of building a glass harp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgoaehDEBrU) but my partner is insistent on building a violin. Which instrument should we build? Or should we choose a completely different instrument instead?

I used angelic glasses (glass harp) for invitationals last year, but ended up with a Kinor harp for states and nationals. The glass harp was a pain (too heavy for me to carry around, hard to set up, very breakable) but sounded beautiful. It wasn't worth it, honestly. It took me forever to find glasses to make the lower ends of the range, and it's very difficult to get perfect tuning.

silverheart7 wrote:

couragecat wrote:I'm thinking of building a glass harp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgoaehDEBrU) but my partner is insistent on building a violin. Which instrument should we build? Or should we choose a completely different instrument instead?

I used angelic glasses (glass harp) for invitationals last year, but ended up with a Kinor harp for states and nationals. The glass harp was a pain (too heavy for me to carry around, hard to set up, very breakable) but sounded beautiful. It wasn't worth it, honestly. It took me forever to find glasses to make the lower ends of the range, and it's very difficult to get perfect tuning.

Thanks for the warning, I guess we'll have to choose a different instrument.

Do you guys have any suggestions for particularly resonant woods? For example, to make a resonator box to have strings resonate off of?