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Coppophone

How To Make A Simple Musical Instrument From Copper Pipe And A Cardboard Box

:: Requires Adult Assembly ::

Making A Coppophone Musical Instrument For The Classroom

It is not uncommon to see children engaged in the act of making musical instruments in the classroom or nursery.

Most instruments that I personally have seen being made in this scenario include shakers made from containers and rice, elastic bands stretched over a lunchbox or other simple to make and perishable instruments.

But what to do if you want to make an instrument that will endure, one that can be an indoor xylophone or perhaps made into outdoor windchimes... If only you had a construction 'recipe'...

Materials & Tools

- 3m Copper pipe 22mm diameter (£12)

- Pipe cutter (£13) or Hacksaw (£6)

- Cardboard Box

- Sandpaper to remove sharp edges

- Measuring tape

- Pencil

- Elastic bands to attach bars

As a commercial designer and manufacturer of Outdoor Musical Instruments, Bingbangbong knows and appreciates all too well how expensive it can be to purchase professionally made instruments. With that in mind, this article delivers a cost effective way to add a great new instrument and educational resource to your classroom - The Copper Pipe Xylophone or 'Coppophone'.

We have tried to use common materials but there would be a cost of around £12 for the copper pipe alone. If you are purchasing a pipe-cutting tool or hacksaw then add about another £10. You will often find that you can make this instrument for zero cost by using bits & pieces and simple tools that may already be available at home or within the school/nursery maintenance cupboard.

Coppophone

The Coppophone is a great instrument for teachers to make and share with their class, it sounds beautiful, it isn't terribly loud and with a few simple pointers can provide a lot of educational and entertainment value.

The construction time is about an hour including making a simple mounting frame and, using the dimensions given, you will create a beautiful in-tune (important) instrument that can be used to explore harmony and simple melodies.

Although the instrument that we are making is in a Diatonic scale (the white notes on the piano), it can be simply adapted in the manner of Orff Instruments by removing the F and B notes thus leaving a pentatonic scale that is absolutely ideal for pre-schoolers.

The pentatonic or 'Dragon' scale is a universally recognised 5-note musical format and basic teaching tool. Why? Quite simply because it has NO WRONG NOTES! Dragon scales are recommended by the UK Department for Education and educationalists around the world as a key strategic building block for further musical development.

coppophone-ingredients To illustrate the usefulness as a melody and performance instrument, we will also be providing a further Article with the 'Acka Backa Shacka Lacka Ping Pang Pong' song, one of the songs from our upcoming pentatonic songbook 'sing sang songs'. When you have made your xylophone, you will be able to play and enjoy this music with the children.

Would you like the FULL Coppophone Recipe?

Would you like the instructions for building your own Coppophone? Simply subscribe to our brochure using the form to the right and we'll send you a link to the full illustrated instruction PDF document as a thank you.

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Colour Coding Outdoor Musical Instruments

{sidebar id=11}At Bingbangbong, we aim not just to bring great quality long-life instruments, we also set out to continue that relationship through bringing you and your users a blend of services and supports designed for the non-music specialist. These are available to all existing and new bingbangbong customers from the Client Resource Area

dragon_sml_med_graphic2 We have facilitated this kind of use through the adoption of a rainbow colour scheme where each note is represented consistently by one colour of paint. For example - every red bingbangbong instrument is the note C.

Because of this scheme our instruments become tools for songs, games and activities that utilise colours. AkabakashakalakaPingPangPongtilt A wonderful creative tool for young children to create their own melodies. We have lots of games and activities that can generate musical melodies from our everyday lives.

Looking beyond compositional tools, we use the colours on the note heads of the songs and music that we provide when the children are starting to be introduced to musical scores.

We also recommend you place coloured stickers on your existing instruments so you can carry through your colour references both indoors and outdoors.

Because we have been music educators we understand that this kind of stuff is important and we understand how difficult a lot of musical activities can be for those with less musical confidence.

We have tried to make our approach very accessible for non-musicians. The client resources do not just give lists of games and activities, and there is definitely an element of teaching 'how' to fish in our pentatonic primer - this is empowering for the adults and really allows the instruments to be used effectively with maximum benefit to the children.

Our games and activities are easy for the children to absorb conceptually and produce lots of variety in outcome. No awkward fumbling with guitars or piano chords for the adults, yet simple fun for the children providing a strategic educational by-product.

BSEN1176 The Playground Standard

Safety and Outdoor Musical Instruments

The safety of children and other users of our equipment is our over-riding priority.

Bingbangbong outdoor musical instruments designs conform with and exceed the British and European safety playground design standard : BSEN1176.

In addition to 'going by the numbers', we do our very best to anticipate the kinds of uses and abuses that the users of the equipment should encounter, there is low potential for risk of injury. This does not mean that everything is wrapped in cotton wool of course, Anything permanently sited is a potential obstacle, when considering Outdoor Instruments we recommend you study the flow of play around the proposed space.

We recommend that our customers consider wall mounting as a preferred option. We believe that it is safer - more secure - less of an obstacle - easier-fitted - allows for creative installations and is cheaper.

ROSPA States

“The European Standards EN1176 and 1177 are not mandatory in the UK. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have made it clear that whilst compliance with EN1176 and 1177 is recommended, it is the risks associated with the equipment which are of paramount importance. They state that compliance with EN1176 does not remove the operator’s responsibility to ensure that equipment is safe; equally failure to comply does not necessarily mean that equipment is dangerous. The courts have also made it clear that compliance with EN1176 does not remove the operator’s obligation to have a safe area and that EN1176 compliance cannot necessarily be used as a defence in the event of litigation”.

Chime Colours

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We are delighted to offer an expanded colour range to our customers.{sidebar id=1 align=left}

Our Rainbow scheme is standard because it ties in with our Free games and activities, however we have given an indication below where we feel each colour scheme may be used appropriately. We are of course happy to provide colours to meet your needs.

Schools (KS1) & Nurseries

For our customers who wish to use the chimes in an educational environment we recommend either the Rainbow or Piano colour schemes.

The rainbow scheme has been designed specifically to work hand in hand along with a range of games and activities available to customers in our online Client Resource Area made available after purchase.