Investigate How to Make Sounds Louder or Quieter

When sounds are made, air moves and vibrates. 

Let's have a look at the variety of instruments and how they make sound. 

Wind instruments

A sound is made with a wind instrument by blowing down a pipe. 

When we blow into a wind instrument, the air inside vibrates which is how the sound is made. 

Recorder:  Bagpipes: 

Percussion instruments

A sound is made in a percussion instrument by banging it.

When we bang, shake, or scrape a percussion instrument, a part of it will vibrate. For example, the skin of a drum or the body of a cymbal will vibrate to make a sound. 

Drum: Cymbals: 

String instruments

A sound is made on a stringed instrument by plucking or twanging a string. 

When we pluck the strings of a string instrument, the vibration is passed into the air and you hear a sound.

Guitar:   Violins:   

When sounds are made, something moves which causes vibrations. 

In this activity, we are going to investigate different instruments.

We will work out whether they are string, wind or percussion instruments. Then we will work out how to make the sounds louder or quieter. 

Let's look at an example:

Let's investigate these panpipes. 

How does it make sound?

We blow through the end of each pipe and the air vibrates against the inside of the pipes to make a sound. 

What type of instrument is it?

It is a wind instrument - we blow into it and use the air from our bodies. 

How can we make it louder?

If we get more air into the pipes it will make a louder sound, so we need to blow harder. If we think of a whistle, when we blow harder the sound is louder. 

How can we make it quieter? 

We need to do the opposite to make the sound quieter. If blowing harder makes it louder, this means that blowing softer makes it quieter. 

Let's investigate some instruments!