Scientific Sounds of Art Workshop Premise

For my final High School Girl Scout community service project, the Gold Star Award, I took on the issue of providing under-served communities that are not provided enough funding for arts programs with music workshops. With a group of volunteers and my family, we created music workshops to teach kids how to make their own instruments. Instruments are expensive to purchase. Since most parents are unable to provide them, students can create their own instruments. With recycled materials from their homes and items from their local dollar or hobby store, children can continue their interests in music at a low cost.

Music has always been an important part of everyone's life. It relates to all subjects and especially math and science. People relate music to certain feelings, emotions and memories that last forever. It connects people together and helps us have empathy for one another. Music bridges people of all languages together because it brings out the reason for happiness, sadness, loneliness, longing, confidence, love and many more of the way people feel. Music connects us all.

I want to help students starting at young age to pursue music despite the high cost of instruments. Students at young age may give up on music or on learning an instrument without access to one. To help create a solution, I formed music workshops for students to learn to create their own instruments by using recycled materials from everyday materials in their homes. Students crafted their own shakers that make the sound of maracas and drums out of Girl Scout cardboard boxes for students. With volunteers, we provided the materials to instruct students of all ages on how to create the instruments. We also demonstrated a small science experiment to teach the children how sound is made. Using the words oscillation, pitch, volume, and amplitude, we taught them the vocabulary of sound waves. Lastly, we showed them examples of different instruments. I placed a violin, one I use from high school orchestra, and one from elementary school, a roll-out keyboard, maracas, a guitar, and a mini xylophone.

Continuing the project, orchestra students from Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center will host the workshops either in person or because of Covid-19, they will be on Zoom. To advertise, the high students will use reusable, laminated flyers providing a link to RSVP. These are the facilities where I held the music workshops:

N.W. Harllee Early Childhood Center

For Oak Cliff Community Center

DeSoto Public Library: Black History Month Event