Hello. I’m Lin.
This is my big sister, Sato.
Sato is in a band with her friends.
They keep their instruments in our garage.
I wondered, “How is it making that sound?”
I reached out to touch the strings as Sato played.
I wanted to see how they felt.
Stop & Talk
Sato said, “Don’t touch the strings. It makes the sound stop.”
“Let me try again,” I said. “I’ll be so gentle!”
Sato strummed her guitar.
I put my hand on the strings so softly…but the same thing happened. No music!
“Why did the sound stop?” I asked.
“Did you feel the strings wiggling?” Sato asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Then they stopped.”
“The strings were wiggling really fast,” she said.
“Those wiggles are called vibrations. You need vibrations to make sounds.”
Get Up & Move!
Sato picked up Ben's bongo drum.
"Do you want to try again with Ben's drum?" she asked.
"Yes!" I said.
Sato played a rhythm on the bongos.
After a minute, I put my hand on top of the drum.
Sato kept playing, but the drum made a new sound.
“If you change the vibrations,” Sato said, “you change the sound.”
“But drums don’t have strings,” I said. “What’s vibrating?”
Sato smiled and tapped the top of the drum. I could see it was stretched tight.
“The top of the drum vibrates when you hit it,” she said.
Stop & Talk
“Let’s do Emmie’s cymbals,” I said.
“There are no strings. Nothing is stretched tight. Maybe I’ll be able to feel them better.”
Sato picked up Emmie’s cymbals.
“Ready?” she asked.
Then she banged the cymbals together.
I put out my hands and gently touched the edges of the cymbals.
“I can feel the vibrations!” I cried.
The sound slowly died away.
Just then, Ben and Emmie came in.
“What are you guys doing?” they asked.
“Playing with vibrations,” I answered.
“That’s what music is all about!”
THE END
