Piano and Drums Do You Know?

# There are lots of things all around us

# Exciting things that surround us

# But how does it work?

# Do you know?

# How is it made?

# Do you know?

# Things that go up Things that go down

# Things that go pop Things that go round

# With special cameras to show you inside

# It's going to be a big surprise

# But how does it work?

# Do you know?

# How is it made?

# Do you know?

# Do you know?

# Let's find out! #

Hello, I'm Maddie, and today, I've come to this local market,

where they have a piano that anybody can come and play.

How amazing is that?

DESCENDING NOTES

Do you play the piano? It sounds lovely, doesn't it?

But what I want to know is what's going on inside the piano.

Do you know how a piano works? Let's find out.

A piano!

We are in a piano shop.

There are lots of pianos here, but they don't all look the same.

This type here is called an upright piano,

and that's because the main body of it, that's this bit, stands upright.

Just like we do.

But this type here...

SHE PLAYS NOTES

..is called a grand piano,

and it stretches out this way instead of upright.

It's a bit like lying down.

Playing a piano starts with this - a keyboard.

All these white and black bits are called keys,

and each one plays a different note.

Have a listen.

LOW NOTE

HIGHER NOTE

HIGH NOTE

Did you hear how each key plays a different sound?

Well, there are 52 white keys and 36 black keys,

and each one plays a different note.

But do you know how it works?

Well, to show you, we need to open this piano up.

Hidden inside every piano are lots of strings.

They're like the strings you would see on a guitar or a violin,

but there are lots more of them.

These longer, thicker strings are for the low notes.

LOW NOTE

And these shorter, thinner ones are for the high notes.

HIGH NOTE

When the string makes a sound, it wobbles.

This wobble is called a vibration.

But the best way to see the string vibrate

is to see it moving really slowly,

but to do this, we need my special little camera,

which can film in slow motion.

I'm going to press a key, and I want you to look at this string here.

Can you see it vibrate?

LOW NOTE

That's amazing. Let's see it again.

LOW NOTE

It's exactly the same inside an upright piano,

only it's all standing up this way instead of being laid out flat.

Come and have a look inside this upright piano.

We've taken off the front so you can see inside.

Look - here are the strings here.

Now, watch what happens inside the piano when I play it.

HIGH NOTE

Can you see that white bit hitting the strings?

HIGH NOTE This bit is called a hammer,

and it hits the strings when I press a key,

which makes the strings vibrate.

HIGH NOTE But to see exactly what's going on,

we need to look deeper inside the piano.

SHE PLAYS A TUNE

Every key is longer than it looks,

because it's actually part of a wooden lever.

A lever is like a seesaw.

When one end goes down, the other end goes up.

At the end of the lever is the key.

At the other end is the hammer.

When a key is pressed, the end of the lever shoots upwards.

This pushes another small lever up, too.

And it forces the hammer to hit the string so that it vibrates.

As the string vibrates, it makes a musical note.

HIGH NOTE

When you stop pressing the key,

the lever tips back and the hammer comes away from the string.

Wow! How amazing is that?

And we can see it in real life here.

Look. When I press this key,

it pushes the wooden lever to make the hammer hit the string.

HIGH NOTE

Just like that.

As you might be able to tell, I'm not brilliant at the piano.

But I know someone who is. Meet Nick.

He's going to show you just how wonderful a piano can sound,

and I'm going to use my special camera whilst he's playing,

to show you the strings and hammers in action.

Take it away, Nick.

MUSIC: Flight Of The Bumblebee

Wow! Very good.

What was your favourite thing about seeing how a piano works?

Do you remember what you call the part of the piano

that hits the strings?

Yes, they're called hammers.

Did you hear the sounds the different keys made?

LOW NOTE

HIGH NOTE Each key makes a different note.

SHE PLAYS A TUNE

And did you see how the black and white keys are all levers,

which move like a seesaw?

MUSIC: Flight Of The Bumblebee

So now when you play or watch someone playing the piano,

you'll know just how it works inside,

but there are lots of other ways you could make music, too.

How do you like to make music?

I like to play the drums!

You can make big loud noises like this.

LOUD DRUMMING

Or little soft noises, like this. SOFT DRUMMING

There are lots of different kinds of drums.

Like this. It's called a steel drum.

METALLIC DRUMMING

But you could also make your own drum...

Out of an old pan, using a couple of wooden spoons.

METALLIC DRUMMING

Just make sure you ask an adult nicely first.

Drums are great fun, but do you know how they're made?

Let's go find out!

DRUMS CLATTER

A drum!

We're in a drum factory, and making a drum begins with this.

Here we have lots of very thin slices of wood.

It's called veneer, and it's the first thing we need to make a drum.

Come with me and I'll show you how this turns into this.

For each drum,

lots of layers of veneer are stuck together with a thin layer of glue.

This makes the drum nice and strong.

The glued together pieces of wood are now taken to a special machine

that keeps them nicely pressed together while they dry.

And now our thin sheets of wood are ready to be made into a drum.

But can you see? The wood is still really bendy.

That's important, because a drum is round,

so our wood needs to be able to bend into a round shape.

Listen to that wibbly wobbly sound! WIBBLE-WOBBLE

Doesn't it sound funny?

WIBBLE-WOBBLE

The drum maker is choosing the bits he wants

to make a pattern around the outside of the drum.

And now the wood is ready to go inside this mould.

Can you see that it's round?

This gives the drum its round shape.

The first sheet of wood is put inside the mould

and pressed together.

And now another sheet of wood is added.

This sheet has a layer of glue on it,

so it sticks to the inside of the first sheet.

Once the drum is dry, it's ready to come out of the mould.

It's a bit like getting a cake out of a baking tin.

This bit is called the shell.

It's beginning to look like a drum, isn't it?

But there's a few more stages yet.

The drum needs to be nice and smooth, so it has to be sanded.

Sandpaper is rough on one side, like sand.

When you rub the paper against the wood,

it takes off all the rough bits

so that when you use your drum, you don't get splinters.

Now it's time for some colour.

Each drum is spray-painted by hand,

and the drum makers use something called a stain.

It's a bit like paint.

It makes the wood look a bit darker, but it can get very messy!

So I'm going to use my special camera

to get closer to all of the action.

Let's go and see.

I've attached my special camera to a pole

so I can stand a safe distance from the spray gun.

Ready? Take it away!

Wow!

Look at the paint coming out of the spray gun!

That looks amazing.

I'm just using the screen so I can see what's happening on the camera.

Let's just make sure the paint is even all the way around the drum.

Brilliant!

-Zach, do you think it's finished?

-Yeah.

-Ready to go.

Wow! And this is what the drum's shell looks like

once it's been painted and dried.

It looks brilliant, doesn't it?

But what do you think is missing?

It's the top part of the drum, the bit you hit to make the sound,

and this is called the skin, or the head.

And for that, we need a special sheet of plastic.

But before we attach the drum's shell to the plastic skin,

we have to drill some holes.

Next, metal blocks called lugs are screwed into the holes

and the plastic skin is placed on top of the drum,

with a metal hoop fixing it into place.

The next thing to do is put the drum to the test

and check it makes great sound.

Take it away!

HE PLAYS A BEAT

Wow, that sounds amazing!

And there you have it - a shiny new drum.

What was your favourite part of making a drum?

Do you remember what the wooden part of the drum was called?

That's right, it's the shell.

Did you hear the wibbly wobbly sound the bendy wood made?

WIBBLE-WOBBLE

And did you see how the drum was painted by a spray machine?

Wow!

So now you know how a drum is made,

from the wooden sheets that make the shell

to the stretched plastic that makes the top.

And we learnt how a piano works, to play lovely music.

Speaking of lovely music,

there's only one thing left to do with this drum.

See you next time!

SHE BANGS DRUM

# There are lots of things all around us

# Exciting things that surround us

# But how does it work?

# Do you know?

# How is it made?

# Do you know?

# Do you know?

# Let's find out! #