Musical Instrument Competition
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New Hampshire
Science and Engineering Exposition
Objective:
To build a musical instrument and to then perform with it. The instruments will be built in advance and then used to
perform on site.
Purpose:
To encourage research and development prior to the contest.
Means:
Teams of students will have to determine how to build a musical instrument that has a tone produced by vibrating
strings. This event allows students a chance to behave as real world scientists do when faced with a problem that has
to be solved.
Besides learning how to be part of a team, each student will essentially follow scientific method when seeking to
achieve this objective. By the time each team comes to the Expo, it will have learned through trial and error how to
build an instrument that meets all of the given criteria. This advanced preparation will be demonstrated at the
competition when the team presents its best effort.
Rules:
1. This competition is open to all schools with a maximum of four teams per school and a maximum of four
students per team. Each instrument may be submitted by only one team and each team may submit only one
instrument.
2. Each team will designate one and only one student to play the instrument.
3. To qualify for competition, each musical instrument must meet the following specifications:
a. The tone must be produced by vibrating strings.
b. Any amplification of the sound must be by mechanical rather than by electrical methods.
c. The instrument must be able to play a complete octave to get maximum credit.
d. Store-bought strings may be used as a source of the tone.
4. Acceptable entries include (but are not limited to) the following:
a. guitar
b. banjo
c. lyre
d. mandolin
e. sitar
5. Each team is to provide a poster board that displays Title and Objective at the top,
and will include the following content:
a. The logic used when making the initial selection of instrument type, and
building the instrument. Discussion of the principles of science involved.
b. What was learned from trial and error.
c. Whether trial and error affected the final structure of the instrument.
d. Discussion on how the tone was produced and amplified.
Competition:
1. The designated student will perform before a panel of judges who will score the instruments on the criteria listed
under Scoring.
2. The best six will be asked to perform a second time in order to provide a better
ranking for the top scorers.
Scoring of the Competition:
(The maximum score is 70 points)
1. Due to the nature of this particular competition, scoring will be largely subjective. It will include the following items:
a. Instrument is capable of producing a complete octave with notes of good quality: 20 points
b. The song (selected by the student) is well Played and has at least 50 notes: 20 points
c. Craftsmanship: 15 points
d. Creativity in design: 15 points
2. The Team who scores the most points on this competition will be the winner and
will earn 70 Points.
3. The team’s final scoring for the competition will be determined by how well it does in relation to the other
competitors.
Team Score = Team Points Earned × 70
Winning Team Points Earned
Scoring of Poster Board and Interview:
(The maximum score is 30 point and requires the following)
1. The poster shows Title and Objective at the top.
2. All five components required for the poster board were presented.
3. The display was neat, organized, and appealing.
4. The team made a compelling case for their prediction of how well they would do.
5. The team was able to point out any newly discovered flaws in their original plan and to offer suggestions on how
these flaws might be overcome.
Overall Scoring of the Event:
(The maximum score possible for this event will be 100 points)
1. The overall score will be based on the sum of the points earned by a team during the competition and the
poster board judging.
Revised March 1, 2007
