Musical railing

How does the exhibit work?

Walk along the fence while your stick taps against the bars. Which song do you hear?

What is the science behind it?

Sounds are vibrations. Every bar you hit will vibrate. The pitch (frequency) of the rod depends on its thickness, on its length and on the type of metal.

The vibrations of the rods travel through the air, to your ear, and that's how you hear the song you can make with them.

Do you like this setup? Then also check out our Tube piano.

Pipes of different lengths on a pan flute

A pan flute also consists of a lot of tubes of different lengths. Are you blowing on the long tubes?Then you get a low tone. And are you blowing on the short tubes? Then you'll get a high tone.

Pipe of different lengths in a recorder

Do you leave the holes of your recorder open? Then the air can already escape from the first open hole. The pipe is then 'short'. That makes for a high tone. Do you close the holes in the recorder with your fingers? Then you make the tube 'longer' and get a lower tone.