THE CRAZY CLAVES By: Alyssa W. My instrument is call The Crazy Claves. I got the idea of making claves when I looked at other people's instruments from that were made the year before. I got the wood from a hardware store, and I got the paint from my neighbors. Also I used a saw to cut the wooden dowel in half. I made The Crazy Claves by buying wood and decorating it with blue and yellow paint. To make The Crazy Claves, the first step is to buy a wooden dowel. I then cut it into two nine inch pieces. Then I painted it with a dark blue, and waited for it to dry. Next I added the bright yellow paint. To make my claves look good, I had to add decoration. So I added a pretty deep blue, and shining bright yellow. The Crazy Claves belong to the percussion family. Anyone can play the claves, all you have to do is pick up the two sticks like claves and hit to make a pattern of your own. The claves can only make one sound, wood on wood. Claves can make many different pitches depending on the wood you use. If you use thick wood, your sound will come out deep. My claves are thinner than some claves, so it makes a higher pitched sound. The Crazy Claves can get pretty loud depending on how you hold it and how hard you hit it. My Dad, and my neighbors helped me make The Crazy Claves. My Dad bought the wood, and my neighbors let me borrow their paint. The greatest problem I had with making my instrument was waiting for my paint to dry, I wanted to start putting on the yellow paint while the blue paint was still drying. Without the help of my Dad and neighbors, The Crazy Claves might not be here today.