Makey Makey: Bananas Make Music

Senior Cole Wenzel was invited to demonstrate a piece of equipment called a Makey Makey to the fourth grade art class. A Makey Makey allows one to turn anything that can conduct even a small amount of electricity into an input for a computer. Because of this, many ordinary objects can be thought of and manipulated in infinite ways. By doing a bit of wiring, using this circuit board-like device and fashioning a set of copper drumsticks, he was able to create a drumset out of a bunch of bananas. When the bananas were hit, the computer registered an input and created a sound. To the fourth graders this seemed like magic; before their very eyes, the bananas were instruments. As Cole remarked, "It’s kind of hard to explain but needless to say -- this thing is sweet!"