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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I developed a weekend workshop for 8-16 yr olds on this a while back.
The closest thing I came up with is also the simplest....a balloon. It
might be too difficult for the 3-5's but simply stretching the neck
laterally and compressing the balloon is pretty much what's happening in
the larynx.
As the neck of the balloon is increasingly stretched the pitch rises, as
it does in the human neck when the larynx tilts and stretches the vocal
folds.
Another idea that works quite nicely is :-
- cut a short length of pipe. (2" diameter(ish))
- half cover one end of the pipe with balloon rubber. (slightly stretched)
- cover the remaining half hole with a second piece of balloon rubber,
with a slight overlap.
- blow through the tube
Not such a pretty sound but much easier to visualize what's going on,
and it sort of looks like vocal folds.
A follow-on would be to send the sound into different resonant cavities
and see what happens to volume and tone; mimicking the pharynx/mouth.
The 'oboe straw' demo is great for woodwind. Worth the comment to kids
that we can't change the length of our neck though ;)
Sounds like a fun and loud day.
Dr Kevin Hollis
Science Communicator / Physicist / Opera Singer
(not necessarily in that order)
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