The Art and Science of Building a Xylophone

thinkstockFinishing TouchesNow I had to deal with the appearance. Points would beawarded for workmanship, so my 27 oxidized, ugly pipeshad to be cleaned. Research and testing yielded citric acidmixed with salt as the most effective way to clean them.Over the course of a week or so, I scrubbed one pipe at atime in the kitchen sink, then discovered to my dismay thatthe pipes were oxidizing again. It turned out that I neededto neutralize the acid and then apply a store-bought, paintoncoating to stop the pipes from oxidizing.In one night, in a race against oxidation, my father andI scrubbed the pipes with citric acid, neutralized them withbaking soda and water, scrubbed them with a foul-smellingpolish, and finally scrubbed them with isopropyl alcoholto remove the polish. We then hung them up on a pieceof fishing line across the garage, using binder clips to keepthem from sliding together, and painted them with a coatingto prevent oxidation. After two coats, the pipes wereready to be mounted.We stuck two lengths of adhesive-backed weather stripping,which struck a good balance between dampeningthe notes and allowing them to ring, to the top shelf of arack we bought from Costco. Zip ties—white for naturalsand black for sharps—connected the pipes to the rack andweather stripping through the holes at the nodes.The final step of construction was to find mallets withwhich to play the xylophone. After experimenting witheverything from wood to my fingernails, we found anespecially good option: screwdrivers whose handles hada plastic core and rubber coating. These provided a loudenough sound without too much harshness. Once we hadfinalized the mallets, there was a moment when I turnedaround, looked at my dad, and said, “Are we done?” Aftersome confused blinking and mumbling, we realized that wewere indeed done but also that it was very late and not at allthe correct time to begin learning to play the instrument.The sense of accomplishment came the next morning,when I couldn’t stop playing it.In the week before the competition, Katie and I arrangedand learned two duets. One piece, St. Anthony’s Chorale,was required. For the other, we combined In the Hall of theMountain King by Edvard Grieg and Tubular Bells by MikeOldfield into a piece we titled In the Hall of the Tubular Bells.It wasn’t until the night before the competition that we gotboth pieces down.At the competition, Katie and I were the first of the 39teams to perform for the judges. The performance wentwell, and, after all we’d done and learned as we planned,constructed, and played these instruments, the interviewand written test were a breeze. It was the awards ceremonythat heralded the excitement and satisfaction of a secondplacefinish.The xylophone is still in my living room, where my dador I will walk by and play a few notes most days, thoughI’ve mostly lost my ability to play it compared to the officialperformance. Making this xylophone was quite an experience,but I think next year I’ll choose a different event.Soren Schlassa is a sophomore atPacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, CA,where he participates in Model UNand Science Olympiad. In his freetime he enjoys doing math homework,playing frisbee, hiking, andbackpacking. He looks forward toattending The School for Ethics andGlobal Leadership in Washington, DC, this fall.Learn more about Science Olympiad at http://soinc.org.www.cty.jhu.edu/imagine imagine 27