CHRIST CATHEDRAL ACADEMY’S middle school student body recently explored its cultural heritage through music by researching and creating its own instruments out of recycled materials.
Music Director Mallory Susank challenged her sixth-, seventh- and eighth graders to choose a musical instrument that is culturally relevant to themselves, build it and write a research paper on it. More than 100 students from the Garden Grove campus created their own instruments from the guitar, maracas and glockenspiel to the Vietnamese Dong Son drum, the Indigenous Mexican huehuetl (upright drum) and the Macedonian gajda (bagpipe).
“My goal was to have students dig even deeper into their culture and learn how music played a role,” said Susank. “Everyone knows what a drum is, but do they know how and why it is used in their culture?”
The idea for the project came from Susank’s own middle school days when she was assigned to make her own instrument. Susank remembers loving working with her dad in the garage as they built a zither. For Christ Cathedral Academy, she decided to add an additional dimension.
“Since our students have such rich and diverse cultures that are celebrated daily, I knew I wanted to enhance the project by making it more relevant to them,” Susank said. “I added the cultural element so that the students could dig deeper into their heritage and feel a sense of purpose to the project.”
Eighth-grader Benjamin Ngo, 14, said he originally didn’t think he could build a musical instrument. But he chose to make a Chinese rattle drum out of two cups, a boba straw, string and dice.
Seventh-grader Grace Mayberry, 13, enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about her family’s history.
“I think it was good to connect more and look into it,” Mayberry said.
The 13-year-old with heritage from England, Poland, Italy and Germany decided to honor her German side by making a glockenspiel — an instrument she was already familiar with.
“I like the sound of it,” Mayberry said. “It stood out to me in orchestras and I thought it would be really cool to make.”
With the help of her grandpa and his decades of construction experience, Mayberry took PVC pipe and wood, cut them down, put them together and painted her instrument with flowers.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MADE BY CHRIST CATHEDRAL ACADEMY STUDENTS ARE ON DISPLAY DURING A RECENT CULTURAL FESTIVAL. PHOTO BY ALAN WENDELL/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
“It’s a little different because it’s not all metal; it’s PVC pipe,” Mayberry said. “But we cut it down to where it makes all the noises so when you hit it with the mallet, it does make do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.”
The students’ research papers reflected how their instruments influenced their cultures and why they chose it. After reading them all, Susank said she was blown away by the submissions she received. The entire middle school was assigned the project and had over 100 instruments submitted, each made uniquely.
“I particularly loved how the students decided to decorate their instruments with a lens into their culture,” she shared.