Sounds of Music C

[fleet130]

Does anyone know where to find a disc (9" diameter) of any (reasonably) malleable metal such as copper/aluminum etc. for a trombone?

I have seen at least 2 trombones where the "horn" was made from a single piece of sheet copper. I don't have many details on the construction, but, they started by "drafting" a 2-dimensional pattern for the approximate shape of the horn, rolling it into a 3-dimensional shape, fastening the edges of the seam together (I think one used rivets and the other was soldered.) and then "hammering" the horn into final shape on an anvil. I believe they both used copper flashing from Home Depot.

The horn that was riveted had a missing rivet about 1/3 of the way up from the throat of the horn. This single hole, approximately 1/8 in in diameter was very detrimental to the sound quality and volume produced by the trombone. Plugging the hole with some chewing gun (really!) brought out the full brass sound you would expect from that type of instrument.

[Pity]

That rule could easily be interpreted as "it must be built in the current year". Either way, it kinda violates the code of ethics: "Student participants are expected to compete in tournament events with honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of the competition." Reusing an instrument from a previous year isn't exactly in the spirit of the competition.

Of course, you're going to be seeing lots of instruments you probably saw last year because there's no real way to enforce any sort of rule about this matter anyway. This doesn't mean you can't put together a new instrument, follow the spirit of the rules, and win easily. And that's much more satisfying.

At my school, I feel like this rule (or guideline, I guess) is kind of ignored for financial and practical reasons. For my team, if a student made an instrument last year, than it is okay to reuse it this year so long as he/she revises it to fit the newer rules and revises some significant part of it; after all, there are always things to do to improve an existing instrument like perfecting the tuning or making more notes within the allowable range. Plus, it seems a little bit unreasonable to make an entirely new instrument when one has already spent months of time and substantial funds on a former one.

[hscmom]

1. I suppose they could be, but you would be losing a lot of points in the creativity section of the rubric (part I). (Also keep in mind they'd have to be different ranges)

2. Not specifically within the SoM rules, but that would probably be breaking one of the general sportsmanship rules. Will that stop teams from doing it? Probably not.

Here's what we did...

The same two girls that did SOM last year wanted to do it again this year. We decided that it was against the spririt of the rules to reuse last year's instruments as they were. However, we really LIKED one of the instruments. So, she took that instrument apart, kept the parts that were good, scrapped the bad parts and did a lot of design work to make a much improved (but similar) instrument. The other girl had a nice sounding instrument with good intonation, but she wanted to make something totally different, so she started from scratch (and just finished about four days ago -- whew!). So, we now have an instrument that is 100% new and another that is probably 70% new (since it incorporates some parts from last year). We all agree that this is the spirit of the rule here... And, looking back, they put in more hours this year making these instruments than they did last year.

If I were a judge last year and this year for SOM, I would look down on instruments that are the same as last year. I'd like to see at least some modifications.

[fsimpro]

Hello,

Do you guys have any ideas for a replacement for bow rosin? I've got a pretty good violin-like thing going, but since we can't use commercial parts, what other substances will work to make the hair sticky?

Thanks!

[seraph_wings]

Hi - I'm new to the Sounds of Music thing, so forgive me if I'm being stupid. I'm an oboist, and I was thinking of rigging up a recorder with a reed, since that's what I know best. The thing is that an oboe reed is based on a staple, which I guess may or may not be permissible? Anyone know for sure? And if it isn't, any ideas on how I should switch it up?

[wonderbread]

Is anyone making a piano?

[zyzzyva980]

Hi - I'm new to the Sounds of Music thing, so forgive me if I'm being stupid. I'm an oboist, and I was thinking of rigging up a recorder with a reed, since that's what I know best. The thing is that an oboe reed is based on a staple, which I guess may or may not be permissible? Anyone know for sure? And if it isn't, any ideas on how I should switch it up?

You just can't buy the reed. You have to make it yourself.

Is anyone making a piano?

I have not seen a piano at a competition, but if you can fit it through an 80 cm wide door, go for it.

[AlphaTauri]

Finally got a reply from Nationals for the clarification I sent in about Sounds! Here it is, if anyone else was wondering:

No, collapsible legs would not be an alteration to an instrument. Students
have 5 minutes to set up upon entering the room.

The original question is included for your records; there is no need to
respond unless you feel there is an error.
=========================================================
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

If students have collapsible legs on a instrument, and fold them up in order
to facilitate transportation through a doorway (with no changes to the rest
of the instrument), would this be considered an "alteration" to the
instrument under rule 3d?

Sounds of Music

(section: 3 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: / line: 1)

Edit: This technically means we were unfairly penalized at Stoga...perhaps we could've gotten a medal otherwise? I swear I'm doomed to never medal in Sounds.

[hscmom]

Question: using fret wire would be illegal, right?

probably. unless you would for some reason want to use it for something other than frets...

Just reading this now -- it's a thread I don't follow often.

Fret wire is illegal. My daughter made a really nice ukulele and used silver bezel (sp?) wire that was similar but not quite as mushroom-shaped in its cross section. After she's totally done competing with the uke, she'll put real tuning pegs on it (the case won't shut with the gears she has) but will leave the bezel wire because it totally works.

[hscmom]

Does anyone know where to find a disc (9" diameter) of any (reasonably) malleable metal such as copper/aluminum etc. for a trombone? I have experimented with an aluminum cone, but that didn't work so well...

Are there sheet metal shops nearby? Last year, my daughter got put on Sumobot when a kid quit the team. A nearby sheet metal shop GAVE her the metal she needed -- as the pieces were "scrap" and too small for them to use.

Maybe a sheet metal shop can either give/sell you the metal or point you in the right direction. Look under "fabrication" in the phone book or ask the guy at Ace because (at least at my Ace) those Ace guys are often very well connected.

Copper will be quite expensive but very pretty!

Do well.