Passion for percussion pays off

Brandon Ly didn’t even bother with the science fair last year.

“To me, it took a lot of work,” he said. “I didn’t choose to do it in the fifth grade.”

His opinion changed drastically this year after big wins at the Montana State Science Fair.

Ly, an 11-year-old West Valley student, took home a Grand Award in the sixth-grade physical science category and won the Peterson Grand Award for having the best sixth-grade physical science project.

The latter honor includes a $100 prize.

“I was pretty excited,” Ly said.

His project, “Drum Amplitude” did take a lot of work, he admitted. “But it’s pretty fun when you get into it.”

Ly’s award-winning project examined whether drumsticks with different tips have different amplitudes. He examined four tip types, all named according to their shape: teardrop, barrel, acorn and round.

The experiment was born from Ly’s passion for percussion.

“I love to drum,” he explained. “When you use different tips, the amplitude changes. I wanted to find out why.”

To answer that question, Ly, with help from his father, Jon, built a device that would wield the drumsticks.

Ly taped the sticks to a pivoting metal arm attached to a wooden post; he raised the sticks and dropped them to strike a drum.

Using the device to drum allowed him to get controlled, consistent data, Ly said.

“If you use your hand, you might have additional force,” he explained.

Ly used Adobe’s Audition program to record how loud each drumstick was. Teardrop sticks were the loudest at 14.53 decibels. Round-tipped drumsticks were the quietest at 11.2 decibels.

That means people who feel the urge to drum when they can’t sleep at night should use round-tipped sticks to show consideration for their family and neighbors, Ly said.

His experiment impressed judges at the Flathead County Science Fair in early March.

Ly won a grand champion medal for his project, which qualified him for the state competition.

The Montana State Science Fair took place before spring break at the University of Montana. About 670 students entered 558 projects in the fair.

Ly said he wasn’t intimidated by the event’s size. He even found the questions by the state judges easier than the questions he’d been asked at the county competition.

He said he wasn’t expecting his project to do as well as it did and wasn’t quite prepared to hear his named called out in front of all those people.

“I was surprised. I’m a little shy,” he said.

Despite his bashfulness, Ly stepped up on stage to accept his awards. His parents may have been more excited than he was, he said.

“My mom did scream,” Ly said.

Ly was thrilled with the $100 award, which he’s planning to spend on video games and books.

The state science fair is the end of the line for Ly’s drum project. There is a national science fair, but it’s only open to seventh- and eighth-graders, Ly said.

“If there was [a fair for sixth-graders], my dad would enter me,” he said.

Ly enjoyed the fair so much he’s already gunning for another county science fair-winning project.

“I’m going to see if I can make it to state again,” he said. “You can meet new people. I made a lot of friends.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.