Water Glass Music-Making

Lesson #2: Using the Scientific Process

With my second week at Spanish Oaks Elementary, we used the scientific process to answer a question about the pitches these water glasses would make!

1. The Scientific Process

All students received a handout that listed the steps within the scientific process. Together as a class we went through each of the steps:

• Purpose/Question
• Research
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
• Data/Analysis
• Conclusion

Our scientific experiment involved the five water glasses shown above. Each of the identical glasses are filled up with different amounts of water (with food coloring). The students were asked to make a hypothesis about if all the glasses would make the same pitch when hit by a metal spoon. If they thought the glasses would make different pitches, then which glass would create the highest pitch and which glass would create the lowest pitch.

After experimenting, the kids made the conclusion that the blue glass (that contained the most water) made the lowest pitch, and the purple glass (which contained the least amount of water) made the highest pitch.

2. Further Experimenting/ Music-Making

Next I used the water glasses and a spoon to play a melody for the kids. They each raised their hands when they recognized which song it was (Mary Had a Little Lamb). These glasses form an E Major scale (do, re, mi, fa, & sol). I added another tiny glass which then became 'la.' Then each student got a turn to come up and help play a common children's song (while they rest of the class listened and guessed which song it was). 

Because of the setup of the glasses, each student knew it was their turn to play when I lightly tapped the top of their head (which I did with student permission). We played through several songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; It's Raining, and London Bridge is Falling Down (the latter being the trickiest for the kids to recognize). 

This was a fun activity that caused the students to think, listen, and participate! We could have spent many more minutes playing around with our little water-glass-ensemble!

Music Standards Met: 

3.M.P.11

Side Note:

The students thought I was so cool because I went around the room and listed off all of their names (which I had memorized using the class roster).

                                             #ProudTeacherMoment