Sounds of Music B

[hscmom]

I found that PVC is the best material for wind instruments--why is that? I looked it up but.......

I'm probably wrong, but here are a few things to consider:
It's cheap, so if you mess up, you can buy some more.
It's consistent, which is especially useful for making instruments.
It's somewhat easy to carve/shape/cut/etc.
I have no idea why.

And there are plans on internet and in books on how to make some awesome PVC-based instruments.

[ali941]

I found that PVC is the best material for wind instruments--why is that? I looked it up but.......

I'm probably wrong, but here are a few things to consider:
It's cheap, so if you mess up, you can buy some more.
It's consistent, which is especially useful for making instruments.
It's somewhat easy to carve/shape/cut/etc.
I have no idea why.

And there are plans on internet and in books on how to make some awesome PVC-based instruments.

If you want simple, a flute would be best. Yes, it's rather unoriginal, but it sounds really nice when built well. And it takes 3 minutes with a drill. On our flute, each fingering actually has around 3 to 4 different notes coming from it, because you can play the fundamental and several overtones, so your range is actually quite large with very little effort. But, a warning: You will get dizzy if you play for more than 10 minutes at a time.

[Zuul]

I know that being in Div C, I can't participate in this event, but out of curiosity has anyone seen a homemade Tuba?

I haven't seen that, but we made a variation on a natural trumpet this year - a natural slide trumpet. They were called Renaissance slide trumpets and existed in the late 14th century, but have never been found. The slide allows the player to hit the notes that can't normally be hit with a natural trumpet. We're still working out the final kinks, but I have to say it is VERY cool. You need a skilled trumpet player to play it though. They need to create all the slide positions themselves, and have to hit each note by creating it each time they play. (As opposed to a xylophone type instrument that once it's built, can be played easier than one where you have to tune each note every time you play.)

I'd love to see a gallery of all the instruments once competition is finished. All the ones I've seen have been very cool!

[rfscoach]

Great Gods of the Physics Rules Committee (Chalker) hear my call:

I am about to submit a Sounds of Music FAQ. The result does not matter to our team this year and we, Fulton Science Academy, offer our heart felt congratulations to Dodgen Middle School on their 1st trip to Nationals, but I want all the B Teams in the state of Georgia to benefit next year from an official FAQ answer on the topic:

Are the mandatory scales of C Major and G Major to contain 12 notes including sharps and flats, or is the minimum number of required notes in each major scale just the 8 main notes?

Background - The Georgia State SOM event supervisor DQ'd 11 of 24 teams on Saturday for not including any sharps and flats in their C Major and G Major scales. Mind you, this was not a 2nd tier based on differing rules interpretations, but a flat out UNANNOUNCED DISQUALIFICATION. The teams involved had no idea until the results sheet was posted late Saturday evening, giving no coaches an opportunity to protest. The State Director asked her twice to tier the event instead, she refused, but he won't toss the event. We'd have been better off not entering the event.

As I said - it doesn't matter for this year and doesn't change anything, but I want our ducks in a row for next year.

[chalker]

Great Gods of the Physics Rules Committee (Chalker) hear my call:

I am about to submit a Sounds of Music FAQ. The result does not matter to our team this year and we, Fulton Science Academy, offer our heart felt congratulations to Dodgen Middle School on their 1st trip to Nationals, but I want all the B Teams in the state of Georgia to benefit next year from an official FAQ answer on the topic:

Are the mandatory scales of C Major and G Major to contain 12 notes including sharps and flats, or is the minimum number of required notes in each major scale just the 8 main notes?

Background - The Georgia State SOM event supervisor DQ'd 11 of 24 teams on Saturday for not including any sharps and flats in their C Major and G Major scales. Mind you, this was not a 2nd tier based on differing rules interpretations, but a flat out UNANNOUNCED DISQUALIFICATION. The teams involved had no idea until the results sheet was posted late Saturday evening, giving no coaches an opportunity to protest. The State Director asked her twice to tier the event instead, she refused, but he won't toss the event. We'd have been better off not entering the event.

As I said - it doesn't matter for this year and doesn't change anything, but I want our ducks in a row for next year.

Sorry to hear about that. I'm not going to address the FAQ here, nor am I going to jump to conclusions as to what happened without hearing both sides of the story, but I'd like to say a few general words about these types of situations.

Specifically, far too many event supervisors have a 'gotcha' mentality and don't err on the side of the competitors, which is deeply troubling to many of us at the national level. The SO Code of Ethics, printed in the back of every manual and available on the website here (http://www.soinc.org/ethics_rules) includes everyone involved in SO: Students, coaches, event supervisors, parents, and guests It explicitly says "All are expected to display courtesy and respect toward one another" with the goal to "promote the spirit of cooperation among all participants"

We have an official scoring policy (available at http://www.soinc.org/scoring_guidelines) that makes the following general ideas very clear:

1. Supervisors should try to allow teams to compete or correct mistakes in order to be able to compete, and should try to score and rank EVERYONE
2. In the rare event you can't score / rank someone, a participation rank or no show rank should be applied
3. DQing is ONLY for cases of misbehavior or cheating
4. The tournament directors / arbitrators have final say over scoring decisions, not the event supervisors.

[rfscoach]

3. DQing is ONLY for cases of misbehavior or cheating
4. The tournament directors / arbitrators have final say over scoring decisions, not the event supervisors.

And this is what just burns me up. I'd have accepted a 2nd tier, no problem. Differing rules interpretations happen all the time and that is just how the ball bounces and we let it go and move on. You learn pretty quickly which Event Supervisors in which regions write tests that adhere to the rules, which will use the same test over and over again, and which ones are "my way or the highway". And you learn which Tournament Directors care about the kids and will toss a bad event and which ones just don't want to offend an ES and go through the hassle of finding a replacement for next year.

[MathGeek22]

Does anyone know if there is a point deduction if there are two of the same instrument? My partner and I built the same type of instrument.

[mrburrito]

There isn't a point deduction, but they'll probably count off for lack of creativity.

[silverheart7]

What is a way to attach strings to an intrument so they are tune-able?

[Ricks I]

Rules state no rosin. Doesn't that pretty much rule out a violin or anything that you'd need to make a bow to play with. I get why they ruled out tuning pegs. But if strings are allowed, why not rosin? Just seems odd to me.