Straw Oboe

Safety Notes

• Adult supervision and assistance recommended for young children using of scissors.
• Cut straw end can be sharp. Be careful and don’t hurt your mouth.

Activity Supplies

• Plastic Drinking Straws
• Scissors
• (Optional) Single Hole Punch
• (Optional) Slightly larger width straw

Activity Steps

Watch the instructional video at the top of the page or follow the steps below to build and use your Straw Oboe!

Building the Straw Oboe:

1. Flatten about an inch or two at one end of the colorful straw.
2. Cut a reed, by cutting a triangle point into the flattened end of the straw. This requires two cuts.
3. Practice blowing through the straw to make sound. The “reed” vibrates with your breath to create noise.
1. Sound Troubleshooting: If you have issues making sound, try flattening the side of the straw with the triangle reed to ensure that both sides can vibrate against each other easily. Blow hard.

Changing Pitch

There are three options for changing pitch for your straw oboe by changing the wavelength of the sounds: (1) Changing the length of the oboe by cutting it shorter; (2) adding a slide straw, or; (3) cutting in tone holes.

Cutting it Shorter:

1. Blow into the straw oboe and listen to the pitch.
2. Take your scissors and trim the end on the side without the triangle shaped reeds.
3. Blow again and listen to the pitch. How does it change?
4. Repeat this as many times as you like to hear the difference in pitch as the straw oboe gets shorter.

Slide Straw:

1. Change the length of the straw to change the wavelength by adding a second straw to be a slide.
2. Put a slightly wider straw over your initial straw.
3. Now you can slide the larger straw up and down to change the length of the oboe.
4. Try doing this while blowing on the oboe to hear a pitch change.

Cutting Tone Holes:

1. Change the length of the straw by cutting in tone holes using either scissors or a single hole punch.
2. Pinch the straw where you want to cut the hole in the opposite way from the way you cut the triangle reeds.
3. If using scissors, cut out a small triangle.
4. If using a hole punch, punch in a half circle.
5. Flatten the triangle reeds again, and blow through the straw.
6. Cover the holes with your fingers to change the pitch.

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