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Flapophone

This is latest of the my instruments. It has an interesting origin. CitiZen One kept telling me about an instrument he'd seen. He described it as having a reed on the the end of the tube that you hit with a mallet. He was really vague about where he'd seen it. I had no real idea what he was talking about, but I started playing with the idea.

I'd found a bunch of PVC tubes a few blocks from my house one night this past Summer. I've known that PVC tubes were close to sonically ideal for a slapophone type instrument. So I was glad to find them because my aesthetic and ecological sense would not allow me to buy them to make an instrument.

In the slapophone a column of air vibrating in a fixed length tube, produces a note. With the slapophone the air is made to vibrate by a rubber paddle hitting the end of the tube. This is fairly awkward as you have to hit it just right, and the paddles are pretty heavy. This flapophone gets around this by having a lightweight wooden flap that is covered with a thin layer of rubber placed over each hole. The flaps are attached by a spring like hinge to the edges of the tubes. In their resting positions they are ajar leaving about a half inch gap. The flaps are hit with mallets, forcing the flaps to hit the edge of the tube. Then the flaps bounce back letting the sound come out both the top and bottom of the tubes. This seems to be essential to the unique sound of these kind of instruments.

So after I made this flapophone, the CitiZen finally told me where he saw this instrument. It turns out the Blue Man Group was looking for an instrument maker to work in their shop. He'd applied for the job and toured their workshop, and saw it there. I think he knew I would have been reluctant to directly steal their instrument ideas. But he tells me that my resultant instrument is actually quite different than theirs. I have no idea. And what the hell, it's made already! The alternative name for this beast is the Love Bazooka.

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COMMENTS:

buttitful.....ecb

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i need to make an instrument tonight help

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daz cu yo

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hi

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where can i find a place to tel me how to make instruments


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HELP

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stuuuuuuuuuupendous

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i love this sight and gamelan music at svc

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rebecca and emily are great at making instruments so is ben

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I have to make a musical instrument for my 8th grade science class. It needs to be kind of complicated, but not too hard for me to make. Any ideas? please...

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i need closed cell rubber paddels for my instrument anyone know where i can get them

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I AM IN 6TH GRADE AND I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR MY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT


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