By making their own instruments, kids learn how sounds are created and gain concrete experience with music fundamentals, such as timbre and pitch. My daughters and I made several instruments, and the two biggest hits were the glockenspiel made from a length of copper pipe and a rain stick made from a mailing tube. Both were simple and fun to make.

COPPER-PIPE GLOCKENSPIEL

MAKE MINE MUSIC! by Tom Walthar (Little, Brown & Company) has by far the easiest directions for making a copper-pipe glockenspiel. The kids loved marking off the piping, and turning and turning the pipe cutter until each piece fell off. In the end, the instrument made a lovely ringing tone. Every time Rachel walks past it she stops to pick out a tune or compose her own melody.

MATERIALS

• 1 10-foot length of 1/2-inch copper pipe
• Yardstick and pencil
• Pipe-cutter (the best inexpensive cutters are tubing cutters with no exposed blades) or a hacksaw (which should be used only by a parent)
• 2 strips of foam rubber

STEP 1: You need to measure and cut the pipes to the following lengths in inches: 11, 10 1/4, 9 3/4, 9 1/2, 8 7/8, 8 1/2, 7 7/8 and 7 5/8. Start with the longest--if you make a mistake, you can cut them down to a shorter size and not waste the pipe. Have the kids measure the lengths as closely as possible and mark the future cuts with a pencil. Open the pipe cutter and position it so the blade is right on the marking. Tighten the screw, then turn the cutter around the pipe several times. You can rest the pipe on a workbench for easy turning. Periodically stop to tighten the cutter screw, then continue turning around the pipe. Repeat turning and tightening until the piece of pipe falls off, or until you can break it off with gentle pressure. Continue until you have all eight lengths.

STEP 2: Place the two strips of foam rubber parallel to each other on a table or flat surface. Arrange the pipes in order from the smallest to the largest. Lay then across the rubber strips, giving the appearance of train tracks. Experiment with different strikers and when you find one you like, start playing.

THE RAIN STICK
Several months ago, Anna returned from school to report that a friend had bought "this really neat musical instrument" that sounded like rain when you tipped it over. Later, I saw a rain stick in a store and, like Anna, was instantly captivated by its bewitching sound. The instrument's history only adds to the novelty: Indian tribes were said to have created rain sticks to bring showers.

I came across a modified rain stick in Ann Wiseman's MAKING MUSICAL THINGS (Charles Scribner's Sons) and leaped at the chance to make one. We made two versions, one using tubes three inches in diameter, the other using 1 1/2-inch-diameter tubes. By randomly hammering a pound of nails into each tube, you make a kind of inner maze into which you pour a cup or so of small solids, such as rice or beans. While each tube size produces something great, the 1 1/2-inch-diameter tube works best for a close copy of a rain stick. Because the tube is narrower, the rice or beans pass through the maze of nails more slowly, and the effect is more like falling rain. With the wider tube, you get a sort of percussion instrument. The contents pass through it more quickly, producing a larger sound.

If you make only one instrument with your children a rain stick is the one to try. Not only is it immensely satisfying to the kids to hammer a pound of nails into a mailing tube, but it also is a wonderful listening exercise as the kids try out the sound effects of a variety of beans, lentils, popcorn, sand, macaroni and rice. This is definitely an instrument that makes children want to get up and dance around.

MATERIALS

• 1 1 1/2-inch-wide mailing tube (or 1 3-inch-wide mailing tube) per child
• 1 lb. 1 1/2-inch nails (or 3-inch nails) per child
• 1 hammer per child (borrow from friends)
• Wide plastic tape (only if your tubes don't have their own stoppers)
• Funnel
• Selection of sand, rice, lentils, popcorn kernels, dried beans
• Origami paper, wrapping paper, contact paper, colored electrical tape

STEP 1: Set up each child with a mailing tube, a supply of nails and a hammer. Instruct them all to drive the nails into the tube wherever they like. Be sure to advise them to drive the nails straight through, because the ends will poke out if they are driven in at an angle. (If this happens, you can simply push the nails back out and adjust their angle by hand.) The kids will enjoy peering down their tubes to see the nail maze. Encourage them to use up the entire pound of nails. When we tried it, the kids ran out of nails before they ran out of interest.

STEP 2: Once the kids have finished the nailing, have them seal up one end of each tube, either with a stopper sold with the tube or with wide plastic tape. Then let them experiment with the choices you've provided for the contents. To minimize spilling, use a funnel to pour a test amount of rice or beans into the tube, and have the children seal the open end with one hand while they experiment with sounds. Once they decide what the contents of their tubes will be, seal both ends securely, so that it doesn't rain beans all over your kitchen floor.

STEP 3: Decorating the rain sticks comes next (wrapping the instruments also ensures that the nails stay in place). When my kids and their friends tried it, I offered them a packet of origami paper and a couple of rolls of colored electrical tape.

You won't need to demonstrate what to do with these instruments--as soon as my kids and their friends finished making theirs, they were all up on their feet dancing and shaking their rain sticks. It grew so wild that when they stopped, one of Anna's friends commented, "The neighbors are going to think it's raining over here." Rachel's friend Kate added, "They're going to think we're dancing up a storm."