Bike wheels as musical instruments ?

[Spikey]

My daughters school are asking for junk for making into musical instruments. The list provided included old bike wheels! (of which I had a pair cluttering up the garage).

My mind boggles as to how to make musical instruments from bike wheels (especially bearing in mind health and safety considerations). I know you can vary the spoke tensions to get different picth when you pluck the spokes, but I'm not sure how effective or 5 year old friendly this is.

[gonzo]

I knew this would come in handy one day:
Specialized makes Christmas tunes using only bike parts

[richie_b]

I'm fairly sure that Depeche Mode managed it in the 80s:
http://depechemode.tv/2007/discog.asp?type=singles&id=12
which includes the vid.
IIRC, they miked up the wheel, spun it & held something solid against the rotating spokes, I'm sure YouTube will have more..

[teethgrinder]

The closest I ever get to music with my bike wheels is when I build them.
I swear like Ozzy Osbourne when I drop my spoke key in my tea.
Disk wheels are noisy. Not my idea of music.
I never knew schools were so short of money!

[Chris N]

What health and safety considerations?

[David Martin]

And don't froget grandma from Belleville Rendezvous..

..d

[Deano]

ISTR that a bicycle pump featured amongst the instruments Galactic Symposium used for their cover version of YMCA.

[Mr Larrington]

And don't froget grandma from Belleville Rendezvous..

if (deliberate)
then
  groan
else
  ToBAGO¹
endif

1 - Typo But A Good One

[ABlipInContinuity]

Then there is always the Levenshulme Bicycle Orchestra.

[David Martin]

And don't froget grandma from Belleville Rendezvous..

if (deliberate)
then
  groan
else
  ToBAGO¹
endif

1 - Typo But A Good One

Twas accidental, but so good I left it in..

..d

[Adrian]

One of my sons had to do something like this in primary school. I drilled a block of wood and we set a steel fork in it and it could all be clamped to a table. There was also something to hit it with. It was a large tuning fork which made a pleasing note as I recall. He called it vibrationus.