Ive finished making curves into the bottom of the keys and we have had our crits with Mike because Rod wasnt feeling to well. Overall received good criticism 🙂 pleased to say. Some of the recommendations I received called for me to:

a) create an internal structure so that the base is not so brittle.

b) put a finish on the keys so that they look more authentic.

c) raise the piece off the ground with legs or something of that nature. I probably wont do this however because the traditional xylophone is supposed to be played on the ground.

d) fasten down the pieces in some way on the one side so that they dont move. I also probably wont do this, because the keys are supposed to be able to move freely to an extent, however i will create holes so that nails can keep them in place and they wont be as loosey goosey.

Due to the inaccessability ive been facing trying to get into the wood shop over reading week and during school in general. Ive had to resort to making cuts or slits in the wood using both bandsaws and chipping away with a chisel to create the perfect curves. However it is leaving behind an unfavourable stubble. Its going to have to be sanded down thoroughly and carefully to avoid it being broken where the wood is glued.

Im feeling a lot better after being my dogs chew toy. Ive started cutting my pieces and have made the box. The hard part now is going to be sanding the inside of the keys and forming them curved so that they resonate sound better because mr. Pittman and the percussion specialist at the school of music pointed out that these elements were key in tuning the instrument. The box is very brittle however im going to have to make the structure more study.

Despite it not being advisable to, i tried doing some cuts so that I can at least get started on my project heres where im at thus far.

Materials

Pine seems to be the more affordable of the 2 types of wood suggested by Mr. Peerman. Im gonna start with the largest key being about 3 feet tall and each subsequent pieces beings 2 inches shorter.

I will have to purchase the materials from Home Hardware due to proximity more than anything. Got into a hiatus because my dog had bit me right on the middle finger….how ironic. So I will have to hand in my project a little late. Im gonna use this time to hopefully get as many materials as possible.

The Beginning Stages

Here are some examples of what I wanted to mimick with my project. However on a much smaller scale because of cost constraints.

I reall hit the ground running with this concept I did not want to work with any other instruments. My real problem here was the simplicity of the idea. I had to make it more complex than just a six key xylophone. Thanks to Trevor Peerman of the music department I was able to get my hands on a glockenspiel and get his insight on materials. He said that using a wood like pine or oak to get better resonance and rope under the keys to get more reverberation.