Let's Make a Boobam!
Okay, so first of all….
What the heck is a BOOBAM?!
A boobam is a unique percussion instrument. If you switch the syllables of boo|bam, you'll get bam|boo which makes sense because originally that is what these instruments are made of. The pitch is determined by the length of the tubing and how tight the membrane covering one side is. The boobam is a relatively new instrument that was first used in the 1950’s. Nowadays, you’ll find boobams made of many different materials including the PVC pipe our Music Readers used to make their own boobams!
DIY Boobam
Susan Wood describes several unique instruments in her book Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist. The book shares the story of Juan Garcia Esquivel, a pioneer of the Space Age Pop genre of the 1950’s and 60’s. Have you ever heard of a theremin? What about an ondionin? Esquivel used these strange sounding instruments, combined them with popular tunes and added a new technology called stereophonic (stereo for short) to create truly unique songs. Esquivel’s music was used in several different TV shows and movies.
Making a mini boobam is simple enough and only requires two materials. We used PVC pipe and Washi tape. I purchased a very handy tool to cut the PVC pipe down to the lengths we needed but you can ask for help at your local hardware store.
Here are the steps we followed:
Use washi tape to wrap two lengths of PVC pipe together. Make sure that the pipes are lined up at one end.
Place the third length of pipe in between the two that have been wrapped together to make a pyramid (lined up with the first two pipes at one end).
Wrap the third PVC pipe with the first pair.
Use your remaining washi tape to create a unique pattern on the PVC pipe. You can also cover your craft stick mallet with washi tape!
Play your boobam by tapping on the opening with your craft stick mallet.
*Music Readers received three lengths of PVC pipe cut to 10, 8 and 6 inches long. You can add as many pipes of varying length as you’d like!
Step-by-step video instructions!
Now your boobam can help you create music that is “out of this world” just like Esquivel!
Tag @musiclibrarybox in your social media posts so we can hear your new creation in action!
Boobam photo by HorsePunchKid - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32962875