🛠️Marimba Build

Project Melissa

Practicing marimba skills at home was a challenge. Bringing home a school-owned instrument is usually not an option. My drive to fulfill this void inspired me to build my own. Overall, it was a very humbling and informative experience. While learning to tune marimba bars, I developed a greater appreciation for nature and the study of acoustics. Among the bars, I experimented beyond the normal frame. I repurposed a standing desk frame to implement automated height adjustments. This also came with the perk of having height preset via the control panel. Aluminum structs were used for the bar supports to provide modularity. The instrument could easily go from 5 octaves to 3 for smaller setups. It also breaks apart into smaller pieces, which is great for traveling.

Images of Building the Marimba at Different Stages

The finished marimba (minus the resonators) was used in the following video performance of my original composition entitled "Motherly Love".