Kitchen Zinger

by Zach F.

The "Kitchen Zinger" was made from an old shelf stand that I used to keep my toys in. I took out all the shelving units, which left ample space from which to hang various kitchen items.

The items I used were a metal pitcher, a tin measuring cup, and a tin sauce-bowl. I decorated the "Kitchen Zinger" with colored plastic wrap, and a few eating utensils.

First of all, "The Kitchen Zinger" belongs to the idiophone music family, since they are instruments that need to be struck. Pitch-wise, the "Kitchen Zinger" has a wide range from high to low. This is made possible because of the three main parts of the instrument: the pitcher, the tin measuring cup, and the sauce-bowl. The pitcher produces the lower pitch, the sauce-bowl produces the middle ranged pitch and the tin measuring cup produces the high pitch. This is due to their relative size The pitch can change as well. This is made possible through the addition or subtraction of water, or any thin liquid for that matter. More water will produce a lower pitch, while less water will do the exact opposite by making the pitch higher.
The volume of the instrument is dependent on the velocity at which the player strikes it. Short and somewhat thinner sticks are ample to produce a good volume. Since the instruments themselves (pitcher, sauce-bowl, etc...) move back and forth to allow the water inside to move, they cannot be hit too hard. Therefore the volume isn't very loud, as for the resonance. Resonance occurs due to the size and shape of the kitchen items, the amount of water and the material they're composed of.

Finally, the timbre of the "Kitchen Zinger" is a metallic, dark and light. The instrument contains three main parts, which in return produce three similar, yet slightly dissimilar timbres. The quality of the sound is metallic because of the metal being used and wobbly (almost uneasy and unpredictable) because of the water being used inside the kitchen items.