Landfill Harmonic

Shaunta Butler

Purpose: Explore how to manipulate materials and sounds through everyday trash, junk, simple tools, and fabrication methods to create a new one of a kind musical instrument.

Description: Just like the instruments and sounds of Harry Partch and the musicians from the Landfill Harmonic. You will create a sound device, utilizing your abilities to manipulate materials, forms, and tones. By using simple materials, students will use junk as their medium to create abstract sounds and noise through a form.

  • Input: blow, hit, strum, tap
  • Output: Manipulation of sound through tonality, pitch, volume changes
  • Final instrument should be able to perform a well-known composition or an original composition. 


Materials: Take home kits, trash, + found items around your home.


Resources Tab | from this studio:


Deliverables: 

Post to your project folder under responses

  • Instrument name
  • List of materials used
  • 2-3 precedent images
  • 3-5 process images
  • 1 peer review proof photo (zoom screenshot)
  • 1 Sketch w/annotation (hand drawn/digital)
  • 2 Final prototype images (try to use solid background)
  • 1 Final instrument demo video 

In the body of the post, write a short reflection (3-5 sentences) about what you discovered through this exercise.