One really cool thing to do with your beginners and to combine science/engineering curriculum is to have them research the their instrument in a particular era, its history, and then recreate the instrument using anything they like (pvc, aluminum foil/cardboard, etc..) and give a brief explanation of how it came to look like it does now versus the era from which they created. You would be surprised at how many creative and "working" instruments the students will show up with. It also gives an opportunity to get the family involved in building a project together.