How to Make Pitched Paper Percussion:
Paper Xylophone, Tube Harp, and Tube Bass

Tools: Large paper, scissors, tape/rubber bands

Paper percussion is also great for young kids! It is easy to play, inexpensive to replace, and fun to decorate with crayons or markers.

Basic Tube

A rolled-up tube of paper makes a simple pitched percussion instrument. Different lengths give different pitches. For pitched percussion instruments, the quality and type of paper is much more important than with other instruments. I have found that a thin and hard paper gives the best sound once rolled up, and that the paper should be large enough that you can roll it up many times, ending with a very solid-feeling tube.

Sliding Tubes

It is easy to roll a paper tube and cut the paper to different lengths to form different pitches. The more interesting approach taken with these instruments is to make the tubes tunable, by nesting one tube inside another so that the inner one slides in and out of the larger one to change the pitch.

The most difficult part in making the sliding tubes is getting the inner tube to be loose enough to move in and out, but not so loose that it slips on its own. First, fix the size of the outer tube (glue, tape, and wire all work, though the instruments pictured use paper string). Then, roll the second tube tight enough to fit in the first. Insert it, then let it unroll as much as it can. Slide it out partway to fix its size on one end.

Paper Xylophone

The paper xylophone is a series of sliding tubes, which you can tune to the desired scale, played with tiny paper tubes instead of mallets. Here I've tied them together with paper string so that the xylophone can be easily strewn across a surface.

Hendrik Goris plays the paper xylophone watched by Frank Maes' two sons.

Tube Harp

The tube harp is a series of vertical sliding tubes, which you can tune to the desired scale, and play by tapping with your hands. To avoid the ends resting on the ground (which would dampen the sound), the tubes are suspended within a soundbox on the bottom.

Hendrik Goris plays the tube harp.

Tube Bass

The tube bass is the paper equivalent of the base guitar. You use one hand to change the pitch of a tube, and one hand to strike the tube. The two tubes are tied together at the top and to a shoulder strap, to leave both hands free for playing. At the bottom, the tubes are tied together with string one foot-width long, so that you can step on the string and hold the tubes to the ground. This keeps them from lifting when sliding the inner tube upwards.

Vi plays the tube bass, accompanied by Frank Maes on paper drum.