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On Holidays with Linden
> Make a lagerphone

What do you do with a lagerphone? Well … you play it!

A lagerphone, or a music stick, is an old percussion instrument, like a tambourine, that was played in bush bands in the countryside. It is a wooden stick with bottle caps nailed onto it and makes a great sound when you tap to the music. We are going to make our very own music stick.

Inspired by Nicholas Folland's exhibition Burn Down the House.

"I hope that when you go home, you start to look
at everything around you with new potential."
Nicholas Folland

Download the activity in PDF

Materials needed:

Stick/small branch from the natural environment, such as a tree branch or an old broom stick
Recycled materials you find at home, such as plastic bottle tops, bottle caps (crowns), paper or cardboard, metal lids, containers, old cookie tin, wire, string, old buttons, paper clips, old CD’s, bells, string, wool or soft toys
Base – masking tape/sticky tape, soft padding (piece of fleece or material), bubble wrap

autumn flora sculptures

Monet, The Galette

Step 1

Find a stick or small branch from the natural environment, remove any smaller branches so it is one smooth piece. You can also use an old broom stick

Step 2

Make a hole in some of your objects, for example make a hole into a bottle cap with a nail and hammer

Monet, The Galette

Step 3

Hammer the bottle tops or objects onto the stick – don’t hammer them all the way through, give them space to jiggle around

Or you can loop a bottle cap through some string and tie it to your stick. Make sure you tape the string to the stick, so it doesn’t slide down

Step 4

Attach various objects to your stick, you might like to decorate or paint the stick in different colours

Monet, The Galette

Step 5

Add the padding to the bottom of the stick so you don’t damage the floor when you tap to the beat

Step 6

Now you can tap, jiggle or shake your instrument in time to the music

Monet, The Galette

Step 7 > Share it with us!

Share it with us! Upload a photo of your artwork below and we will share your creations on this page

IMAGES > Activity and images by Linda Studena

FREE ENTRY
Tuesday > Sunday
11AM > 4PM
Closed on Public Holidays

Bunurong Boon Wurrung Country
26 Acland Street
ST KILDA VIC 3182
E > gallery@lindenarts.org
P > 03 9534 0099