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Making a Reed Pipe

Some orchestral instruments, such as oboes and bassoons, make their sounds when a double-reed vibrates. People in many countries around the world make reed pipes. For example, a reed pipe from Turkey is called a zurna. One from India is called a shawm.

Materials

  • 5 plastic drinking straws
  • hot water
  • pencil
  • scissors
  • cardboard
  • tape

Procedure

  1. Cut the cardboard into a shape that is wider at one end than at the other, as shown.
  2. Ask an adult to heat a pot of water on a stove or hot plate. Remove the pot from the heat and turn off the source of heat.
  3. Hold the ends of the straws in the hot water to soften them. Then flatten the softened ends by rubbing them with the side of a pencil.
  4. Cut the flattened ends of each straw into a point, as shown. This is the reed. Cut the other end of each straw so that each straw is a different length.
  5. Tape the straws to the cardboard in order from longest straw to shortest.
  6. To make a sound, close your lips tightly around the straw so that the "reed" is inside your mouth. Then blow hard to vibrate the reed.



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