From the page: Glass that was waiting for a second chance
Idea 10
Glass shaker and mini percussion
Glass is an excellent acoustic material: it has low absorption and resonates with brilliance. Flasks tuned with different water levels are the ancestors of the "glass armonica" — an instrument of glasses that Mozart composed music for. A well-cut bottle glass with little seeds inside becomes a dry, crystalline shaker, with a timbre no plastic can imitate.
What you need
- Cut bottles or glass jars with a firm lid
- Seeds, rice, coarse sand or beads
- Strong adhesive tape or hot glue to lock the lid
- A balloon or thin leather to cover it (optional)
How to make it
-
1
Choose jars of different sizes: the internal volume changes the body of the sound — smaller jars sound higher and drier.
-
2
Put the material inside: rice gives a dry, medium sound; sand, soft and continuous; large seeds, deep and sparse. Test amounts before closing — the filling defines the timbre.
-
3
Glue or lock the lid tightly with tape. Glass with a loose lid is an accident waiting to happen.
-
4
For a tuned glass: put water at different levels in glasses and run a wet finger around the rim — each level gives a note.
Finishing touches
with four or five glasses of water at tested levels, you can play simple melodies. Wrap the jar in a cut balloon to cushion falls and create a deeper timbre, great for children.
This is one of the ideas from the full page — see all the possibilities.
This page feeds the collective knowledge 🌱 — every discovery makes the next answer better.