How to Make Pentatonic Scale Wind Chimes
Wind chimes hanging in your garden or porch allow you to enjoy the music nature makes on a breezy day. Making your own wind chimes is a fun home project, and allows you to customize the sound and scale of your wind chimes. To make wind chimes that use a pentatonic scale, you need a piano, or some sort of pitch reference, or an electronic tuner, when you are choosing the pipes that will be your chimes.
Things You'll Need
- Pipes (pitched)
- Nylon Line
- Fast-drying glue
- Metal rod
- Jig saw
- Drill
- Wood planks (2)
- Hacksaw
- Washers
- Pencil
Instructions
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1
Buy a wide variety of pipes in different sizes. If you do not have access to a pitch reference at the hardware store, buy more pipes than you will need and take them home.
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2
Hold each pipe by the end one at a time and tap it with a metal rod to identify the pitch, either on your piano or with a tuner. Write down the note each pipe gives. A pentatonic scale requires at least five notes in the following pattern: Major second, major second, minor second, major second. If your first and lowest pipe is a C, the other four should ascend as D, E, G and A. If you want more pipes, begin with a minor second (in this example, the higher C) above the last note and repeat the pattern.
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3
With a wide variety of pipes, you are likely to find the pitches you need. However, it may be necessary to cut your pipes down to find the pitch you want. Use your largest pipe as a starting reference, and trim the next pipe a few centimeters until it matches the pitch a major second above the largest pipe. Continue in the note pattern until you have a pentatonic scale.
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4
Draw a circle between 6 and 8 inches in diameter, depending on how many pipes you are using, on the wood plank. Cut out the circle using the jigsaw.
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5
Draw a circle about half the diameter of the first circle in the second wood plank, and cut out with the jigsaw.
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Using a 1/16-inch bit, drill a hole through the center of both the smaller circle and the larger circle. Drill holes for the pipes into the larger circle around the edge, two holes for each pipe evenly spaced around the circle.
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Drill two holes into the top of each pipe, opposite of one another. The holes will not significantly affect the pitch of the pipe.
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Cut a small length of nylon cord for each pipe. String it through the holes in the pipe, then through the holes in the larger circle. Begin with the largest pipe and work around clockwise to the smallest pipe. For each one, tie a knot at the top of the circle and add a dab of fast-drying glue to help hold.
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Cut three lengths of nylon cord that are just shorter than your smallest pipe. Run them through the hole of the smallest circle–this is the clapper–then through a washer. Tie each piece to the washer so that it holds them against the hole in the circle.
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Place the clapper in the center of the pipes, washer side down, and run the three pieces of cord through the hole in the large circle, repeating the washer step on top of the large circle. The clapper should hang from the large circle high enough so that the shortest pipe can touch it. Tie an additional small piece of cord through the top washer to act as a hanger. Touch each knot with a dab of fast-drying glue.
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