What are they?

Tuballoons are very easy instruments to make. They are based on the principle that air passing through a membrane (a balloon) makes it vibrate and causes a column of air (the tube) to also vibrate. Tuballoons make sounds with definite pitches (notes), with larger tubes making deeper notes. They can make quite complex sounds and it is interesting to discover their different sounds to generate ideas for new compositions. When played together, they make consistently rich sounds.

How to make them

Materials and Tools

To make Tuballoons you need tubes, balloons, elastic bands, electrical tubing and electrical tape. You will also need scissors, a steel saw and sandpaper.

Construction process

The construction process is simple and fast. It has four steps and takes less that 20 minutes.

How to play them

Blow into the mouthpiece. If it does not work at first, try repositioning the mouthpiece in relation to the main tube. If it is placed too high, too much air will circulate and if it is too low, there will be too little air. It is, however, very easy to find the right way to produce a note. You can change the note by stretching the membrane more or less. It is also possible to produce other sounds by changing the tension of the membrane and the amount of air you use.

Some original compositions

Here are some examples of pieces recorded with children between the ages of 6 and 9. And with two sheep. Creating music with Tuballoons is fun and helps with the development of simple ideas that are essential for composing music (exposition, contrast, variation, repetition, progression, breaks). The sounds of Tuballoons also mix well with other sounds in an interesting way.

Tubalões Quarteto
Tubalões Trio com Piano
Tubalões Quinteto
Tubalões Balada Balida
Tubalões Duo com Trombone

 

Instructions

You can print instructions to refer to when you are doing this project.
Click here to download the instructions on how to make Tuballoons.