Schools Competition: Making Musical Waves Challenge
COMPETITION POSTPONED
Due to the developing situation with the coronavirus COVID-19 we have taken the decision to postpone the Making Musical Waves competition.
Teachers can still register interest, and we will be in touch with teachers who have already pre-registered.
Resources for investigation activities that can be run in class or STEM club are available here.
For more information please contact waves_competition@manchester.ac.uk
Due to the developing situation with the coronavirus COVID-19 we have taken the decision to postpone the Making Musical Waves competition.
Teachers can still register interest, and we will be in touch with teachers who have already pre-registered.
Resources for investigation activities that can be run in class or STEM club are available here.
For more information please contact waves_competition@manchester.ac.uk
To celebrate International Year of Sound 2020/2021, we are launching the Making Musical Waves Challenge! This is a national cross-curricular STEM competition that challenges secondary school pupils to combine design, science, mathematics and music to create original musical instruments from repurposed materials.
The competition supports key elements of the KS3 and KS4 (and CfE 3rd/4th) physics, and mathematics curriculum, and challenges pupils to develop problem solving and team-working skills. Prizes are up for grabs for the most creative and innovative entries!
Who can enter?
Secondary school students aged 16 and under may enter in teams of up to 4. Entries are submitted by your teacher or STEM club leader, and the competition can be run as a class or STEM club activity.
When can we enter?
The competition has been postponed, but we hope to relaunch later this year. Teachers interested in taking part can register their interest now and sign up for email notifications here.
The challenge
The challenge is to design and create one or more musical instruments using what you have learned about sound, and your own imagination!
Your musical instrument must:
The competition entry has two parts:
Competition entries must be submitted by your teacher. Guidelines to help you create your instrument, poster and video submission are available below.
The competition supports key elements of the KS3 and KS4 (and CfE 3rd/4th) physics, and mathematics curriculum, and challenges pupils to develop problem solving and team-working skills. Prizes are up for grabs for the most creative and innovative entries!
Who can enter?
Secondary school students aged 16 and under may enter in teams of up to 4. Entries are submitted by your teacher or STEM club leader, and the competition can be run as a class or STEM club activity.
When can we enter?
The competition has been postponed, but we hope to relaunch later this year. Teachers interested in taking part can register their interest now and sign up for email notifications here.
The challenge
The challenge is to design and create one or more musical instruments using what you have learned about sound, and your own imagination!
Your musical instrument must:
- Be acoustic
- Be able to produce notes in a scale of at least one octave
- Be made mostly from repurposed or recycled materials
The competition entry has two parts:
- Submit a poster of your design. One poster per team entry. We want to see how you arrived at your design, and an explanation of the science behind it, along with pictures of the finished article.
- Perform! Send us a video recording of yourselves playing your instrument(s). We want to hear an octave scale and a short piece of music. The musical performance may be solo or ensemble, but may only feature the instruments your team have built and only team members may perform. Recordings must be short (2 minutes or under).
Competition entries must be submitted by your teacher. Guidelines to help you create your instrument, poster and video submission are available below.
| competition_submission_guidelines.pdf |
How to Enter
Registration and entries must be submitted through your teacher or adult STEM club leader. Registration will be opened in early 2021.
Teachers will register teams online, giving school name and address, team name, year group(s) of team members and teacher’s email address.
Entries will be submitted by email, together with a completed Competition Entry Cover Page which will be available to download here when the competition opens.
Students who perform in video or feature in poster images must have parent/guardian permission, which teachers will confirm on the cover page.
Videos and posters will be used for judging purposes only. However, we may wish to publish winning submissions for publicity purposes, in which case we will contact the school to obtain parent/carer consent. We will not publish or share any videos or images of pupils without first obtaining consent.
Please read our privacy notice and competition rules, terms and conditions.
Registration and entries must be submitted through your teacher or adult STEM club leader. Registration will be opened in early 2021.
Teachers will register teams online, giving school name and address, team name, year group(s) of team members and teacher’s email address.
Entries will be submitted by email, together with a completed Competition Entry Cover Page which will be available to download here when the competition opens.
Students who perform in video or feature in poster images must have parent/guardian permission, which teachers will confirm on the cover page.
Videos and posters will be used for judging purposes only. However, we may wish to publish winning submissions for publicity purposes, in which case we will contact the school to obtain parent/carer consent. We will not publish or share any videos or images of pupils without first obtaining consent.
Please read our privacy notice and competition rules, terms and conditions.
Prizes
Prizes are up for grabs for:
Prizes are up for grabs for:
- Best designed instrument (on the basis of your poster and video submissions together)
- Best poster
- Best performance
- First placed team: £30 in gift vouchers
- Second placed team: £25 in gift vouchers