Water Glass Xylophone

My latest assignment for Little Passports was to write about musical jars and the science of sound. Even though Trevor has made a water xylophone before, he was more than willing to do it again while I took pictures. This time, he used water glasses instead of plastic containers.

Step 1: Fill five glasses with decreasing amounts of water.

Step 1a: Apologize to rabbit for conducting science experiments in the dining room during his naptime. Explain to rabbit that if he wants to sleep undisturbed, he should not choose the room with the best lighting conditions.

Step 2: Use a metal rod (or wooden dowel) to tap each of the glasses. Add or subtract water to each until they are all in tune. 

Step 3: Add food color to each tuned glass.

 

Step 4: Play a song! You can play Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hot Cross Buns, and many other simple songs with five or fewer notes. Add more glasses to play songs with a wider range!

 

Step 4a: Catch rabbit listening to music with interest. 

That's all there is to it!