Musical Inventions: DIY Instruments to Toot, Tap, Crank, Strum, Pluck, and Switch On (Make:)

Kathy Ceceri is the author of activity books for beginners of all ages, including "Edible Inventions," "Paper Inventions," "Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future," and "Video Games: Design and Code Your Own Adventure." Her STEAM workshops for kids and educators are popular at schools, museums, libraries, and Maker Faires around the country. She lives with her family in Upstate New York.. Kathy has written about the importa

A well-written and smoothly structured how-to guide for creating homemade musical instruments using common items Si Dunn Humans have been making music using homemade instruments since long before recorded history. This fun how-to book blends music, science, common household items and tools, and instructions on how to create everything from a zucchini flute to a homemade music box and an eerie-sounding theremin using three old AM radios positioned close together. The book includes numerous full-color photographs and illustrations, plus step-by-step construction details and interesting vignettes on historical music inventors, such. Fun and Inspiring Book I'm a middle-aged woman who's become quite interested in music and musical instruments. This book is fascinating.I'm learning about the science and history of music-making. In addition, there are my inventions that are fairly easy to make.It's a well-designed book that should appeal to all age ranges, especially those who have curiosity about sound, physics, music history, etc.

That's science! When you explore the way different materials produce different sounds, that's engineering. People have been playing music on homemade instruments for thousands of years. When you want to make a note sound higher or lower, you have to change the sound waves coming out of the instrument. But creating new instruments is much more than an art form. When you speed up or slow down a song, you're counting beats -- using math. And technology makes electronic instruments and devices to record and play back music possible.

We have ordered several copies of Make: Musical Inventions by Kathy Ceceri to sell in our museum store as these are a great fit for both our museum (focused on music) and this temporary exhibit (focused on design, engineering, and creative makerspaces). I think there are so many great projects in that book and we are excited to have the book for sale in our museum store. -- Rene Rodgers, Ph.D., Curator of Exhibits and Publications, Birthplace of Country Music Museum