by Nicholas R.
My instrument is called "Totally Tube Drum." My Dad helped me make my drum. After I picked my instrument, I looked up the instructions on the internet. I sat down on the floor and made a supply list. My Dad then drove us to Home Depot to search for supplies.
At Home Depot, we got a 10 foot long tube, duct tape, glue, paint, and plastic caps. At first, my Dad picked up the wrong tube and we had to go back to get the right one. My Dad paid for the supplies and then drove us home to make the "Totally Tube Drum."
We took everything down to our basement. Then I measured the first line and my Dad told me to make the line with a permanent marker. Then my Dad told me to hold the tube while he cut it. Then I measured and marked the second line and my Dad cut that piece too. We did the same thing for all five tubes. I had to number each tube to keep track.
My Dad and I read the instructions again and found out that the plastic caps that we bought were no good. We needed flat plastic to use like a drum top. So my Dad went out to the pole barn to search for plastic. Luckily, he found an old plasctic window well cover to use.
While my Dad cut the plastic circles, I sanded the top and bottom of each tube because of shavings. I tried to put the glue around the tubes, but I could not squeeze the glue bottle. So my Dad put the glue on the tubes and I put the plastic circles on top. We then had to wait for the glue to dry.
Two days later, my Dad and I went back down to the basement to work on the "Totally Tube Drum." I measured a piece of duct tape that was 30 inches long. Then I placed tubes 1, 2, and 3 on the duct tape. My Dad put glue between each tube. Then I put tubes 5 and 6 on top of tubes 2 and 3. My Dad put glue between these tubes too. My Dad and I put duct tape around those tubes and then around all of the tubes to hold them together. Then we had to wait for it to dry.
The next day I took off the duct tape and decorated my "Totally Tube Drum." I painted it blue. The next day I painted the tops red. Then I put cool stickers on it. When I played my drum, it was hard to hold. So my Dad and I decided to put a strap on it. I like it a lot.
My "Totally Tube Drum" makes cool sounds. I can change the sound dynamics by hitting the tube drum hard to make it louder and gentle to make it softer. I can change the pitch by hitting the long tube to make it low and the short tube to make it high. The timbre of my "Totally Tube Drum" sounds hollow like an empty container.