Museum of Science and Industry

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Make Music With Straws

Make music with drinking straws and learn about how sound works. You can entertain your family and friends by playing some well-known songs.

What you'll need

8 straws
Scisscors
Ruler
Masking tape
Pen or marker

What to do

Measure and cut the straws into these lengths: 19.5 centimeters, 17.0 cm, 15.5 cm, 14.5 cm, 13.0 cm, 11.5 cm, 10.0 cm, 9.5 cm. Label the longest straw #1, the next longest straw #2, and so on. The smallest straw should be labeled #8. Tape the straws together in order from longest to shortest. You can use small pieces of straw (about 2 cm long) as spacers between the longer straws. This is called a pan pipe.

Hold the pan pipe vertically below your lips. Blow across the tops of the straws as though you are blowing across the top of a pop bottle. Try playing one of the songs below, or make up your own songs. Remember: 1 is the longest straw and 8 is the smallest straw.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
11 55 66 5 44 33 22 1
55 44 33 2 55 44 33 2
11 55 66 5 44 33 22 1 

Jingle Bells
333 333 35123
444 4433 3355421

Mary Had a Little Lamb
3212333 222 355
3212333 322321

What's happening?

As you blow across a straw, the air in the straw vibrates. These vibrations travel outward and reach our ears sounding like the notes of a scale. You can change the pitch (the perceived highness or lowness of a sound) by changing the length of the straw. A long straw produces a low note. A short straw produces a high note.