Activity Time: 15 minutes
Recommended Grades: Young learner and up (with adult supervision)
Objective: Make sounds of different pitches with a simple model of human vocal cords.
Your vocal cords are located within the larynx and are attached to the thyroid cartilage, also known as Adam’s apple. If you place your hand gently on your throat and hum you can feel vibrations. The vocal cords behave like rubber bands. They can experience stretching, contracting, and pivoting. As you exhale, the vocal cords come together and stretch, vibrating quickly to produce a high pitch, or they contract and vibrate slowly to produce a low pitch. Vibrating at different speeds results in different pitches.