TogsTech

Part 7 – Togs the Builder

THE MAKER MOVEMENT

We’ve spent some time this week talking about making instruments for ourselves out of rubbish found in our recycling bins at home! Lucky for me, during this Covid-19 lockdown situation, I had the fortunate opportunity to have plenty of bits and pieces for me to sift through to tinker with this. BUT FIRST

We spoke to Phil Nanlohy, a music teacher in Sydney whose purpose at the school he teaches at is to run a ‘Maker Space’, an area where students can come into and improve creative, motor and physical skills to create a small item over the course of a term. He spoke about making fans that create very small electrical currents when you blow into them, and even small xylophones for the students to play with.

PERKS AND PUNISHMENTS

As awesome as this idea is however, it has some flaws to this perfect idea, which Phil effectively discussed with us about!

Money and Resources:

• Having the money to run a program such as this can be quite difficult if you don’t use it the right way. Phil spoke to us about finding recycled materials, offcuts, rubbish, finding leftovers from council cleanups etc.
• By doing it in this process, you can save tons of money compared to buying wood from Bunnings and most other materials that can be used.

Space:

• It can be difficult to locate a spare room or some space in a school to run a program such as this. Phil spoke about how his school has its own space, although most school this is a dream.
• However, it’s possible! Have a classroom which shares with another area and use the sides of the room to put tables and gear along to make it work instead! Its a super fun and creative way to engage students

TogsTeach

This gives students TONS of epic creative ways to make music from small bit of trash. Later this week I’ll put up another ‘TogsTest’ post where I go through and show you an instrument I’m going to make right from my recycling bin. Stay tuned for that!