Blow across the top of a bottle, and you get a single tone. Fill a bunch of bottles with different amounts of water, and you've got yourself an instrument! We've calculated how much water you need in eight bottles to create a musical scale.
What you'll need
- (8) 20-ounce bottles
- water
- blue food coloring (optional)
- (8) small pieces of paper labeled 1-8
How to make it
1. Set up your instrument by filling eight 20-ounce bottles with water according to the scale below. If you like, add blue food coloring so that you can see the water better.
2. How to Fill the Bottles:
1. 7 ounces (Do)
2. 9 1/2 ounces (Re)
3. 12 1/2 ounces (Mi)
4. 14 ounces (Fa)
5. 16 1/2 ounces (So)
6. 17 1/2 ounces (La)
7. 18 1/2 ounces (Ti)
8. 19 ounces (Do)
3. Affix numbers 1 through 8 to the bottles.
4. Blow across the lip of each bottle and you'll hear a different tone depending on how full the bottle is. Blow across them in numerical order to play a scale. Now you're ready for a song!
5. Try "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."
- 1 1 1 2 3
- 3 2 3 4 5
- 8 8 8 5 5 5 3 3 3 1 1 1
- 5 4 3 2 1
