Design and manufacture of the quatraphone and composition of a short piece

This thesis describes the design and manufacture of a chromatic instrument, the quatraphone. This instrument is made of square metal keys that are struck by a wooden mallet activated by a lever action mechanism. Vibration and damping of the rectangular plates were analyzed for various materials in order to determine which material produced the most musical tones. Brass and aluminum were selected for the quatraphone design. The final assembly was created with the objective of minimizing the instrument's size and its unique parts, while enabling simple disassembly to allow for easy repair of the instrument. The prototype includes fourteen tones, yet further developments could include additional notes in the chromatic scale and in several octaves. An original composition, entitled Prelude, was composed for the quatraphone in order to present the distinct sound qualities of this new instrument.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Chiafair, Jessica E. (Jessica Elizabeth)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Barbara J. Hughey.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32974

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32974