Project

Idea: Building instruments inspired from culturally iconic instruments. audience: I will hold a knowledge quest for all who are interested in the culture of music, and building their own instruments. December 17, 2010 Dear Senior Project Committee, Musical instruments have been around forever. And through the construction and exhibition of musical instruments, entire cultures are expressed. Through the construction and exhibition of musical instruments, people come together. This is an experience I want to have, and share with other people, and I believe my senior project will accomplish this. Many cultures have created iconic musical instruments that have lasted centuries. The sitar, and shamisen for example, are instruments that are instantly recognizable and upon seeing or hearing them, you get a feel for what the people are like who play them. These instruments define cultures and I wish to take part in the making of them. My senior project will be based around the construction and presentation of stringed musical instruments. I will analyze aspects of instruments from different countries and use my knowledge of stringed instruments to create my own instruments. I will videotape everything I do and create a documentary/instructional video of my experiences building instruments, and interacting with people who do so for a living. I then wish to post my videos on the internet for other people to experience, and host a knowledge quest describing the process of making instruments, and all of the things I learned and experienced during the project. Through this project I hope to display the amazing experiences you get from building an instrument and the cultures you experience. I will learn about the art of making instruments, and of the people who make them. This project would be a very large undertaking for me, and I feel that this would be an amazing experience for not only me, but everyone I share it with. The reason I am changing my project is because recently I attempted to make my own "Cigar Box" guitar, and the experience of coming up with the plan and building it was amazing, and I felt that I should share it with others. I will continue to teach music however, as community service to all who are interested. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; display: block; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX41454299" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt;">Sincerely, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; display: block; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 0px; text-indent: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX41454299" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ellis Carroll

Questions: How Do musical instruments represent the cultures they come from? Thesis: Musical instruments represents the cultures they come from by 1: The processes and traditions they are made by. these methods are passed down from generation to generation and some of the best techniques have lasted since the beginning. the process of making an instrument from specific regions represent the nations and cultures they come from. 2: every instrument has its own sound, and many instruments carry the best known sounds of each region. the musical instruments define how the music from certain areas sound.

thesis thing: 1: Musical instruments are an integral part of society and hold the ideas and values of a nation or culture. 2:Methods of playing and making musical instruments have been passed down from generation to generation and are ever changing. Music is a gateway to the past and future. 3: Methods of playing change drastically all the time, and musicians now and forever will be shaping the sounds of cultures.