Educational Materials to Go with the Video & Extra Materials For

Educational Materials to go with the Video & extra materials for preparation and extension of the concert

Prepared by Valerie Trollinger ([email protected], or [email protected] ) October 2012 Discovery Concert Series

The Science of Sound Reading Symphony Orchestra Discovery Concert Series October, 2012 The Thrill of Resonance (Grades 4 , and above; Grade 3 with help)

Teacher Quick-Start Guide

The video is the second one in our sequence about the Science of Sound. There are three (3) ways to use this series at this point:

1) For students to get the full benefit of the science behind the sounds, then viewing the first video “The Science of Sound” is strongly recommended.

a. Show the first video in the sequence (The Science of Sound) with the accompanying worksheet, go over the worksheet as needed. When the students are familiar with the meaning of the words Frequency, Amplitude, Time, Dynamics, and the rest of the terms on the worksheet, then go on to the second video (The Thrill of Resonance) with that accompanying worksheet. From there you can continue with activities that are relevant to your curriculum. There are a lot of other activities that go with both of these videos, addressing STEM technology ( adding the arts ) and building on creative thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, reading, writing, and even engineering.

2) If you don’t have time for the first video at this point and want to only show the second--

a) The students still need to be familiar with the terms Frequency, Amplitude, and Time. Definitions will follow in the teacher pack. Students can use the worksheet.

3) If you are really pressed for time…

a) You can Use ONLY The Thrill of the Orchestra segment to reinforce what you have already taught about Tone Color. This contemporary work for children is the showpiece of our concert. The worksheet that accompanies this video can’t be used only with this segment.

AFTER THE CONCERT: We have a follow-up reflection activity and we would like the students to send us their ideas of Resonance. There are two possible selections:

1) Students send us a drawing of their favorite instrument, and include a paragraph on the science of that instrument makes sound.

2) Students send us a drawing of an instrument they would like to invent, and a paragraph on the science of how that instrument makes sound.

We will make these reflections available online and draw special attention to the schools and the students! Please send them to Valerie Trollinger at [email protected].

Video Running Length:

Video 1: The Science of Sound (separate download from the website) – runs about 20 minutes. It features students of the RSY0.

Video 2- the Thrill of Resonance—goes about 25 minutes. Teacher’s definitions if you forgot them since college……

Frequency: Is the objective mathematical measurement of how many pressure waves occur in a second. The pressure waves are what are perceived by our ears, and from there, transduced to electrical energy that our brains interpret into sound. Pitch, on the other hand, is the subjective human experience of frequency. For example, the frequency of the tuning Pitch A is 440 sound pressure waves per second. The Pitch is named A, but the frequency is 440 vibrations per second. 442 vibrations, and 445 vibrations can also be interpreted to be the pitch A.

Amplitude : is the power of the vibrations, also known as pressure. Pressure is measured objectively by decibels. Subjectively, we experience amplitude as degrees of loudness and softness.

Time: is objectively measure by milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, and so forth. Humans subjectively experience time by estimations of duration.

In acoustics, especially for instruments, over a period of time frequencies ( of not only the fundamental, but also all of the harmonics of the frequency) interact at different levels of amplitude over a period of time ( often in milliseconds) and affect something that vibrates in response to that ( for example, instruments, vocal bands, vegetables, glass, and so forth) that create sound waves and shapes that our ears interpret as resonance, or, for our purposes, are identified as having a particular tone color.

The students need to be familiar with Frequency, Amplitude and Time to be able to see the video The Thrill of Resonance” and have it make sense to them. The introductory video, the “Science of Sound,” can take care of that very easily. The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOPIC PAGE

Table of Contents 1

BACKGROUND

Introduction 3

Objectives 5

The RSO 6

Brief background of the Music (For Teachers) 6

Quick Guide for Teachers 12

Welcome to our 13 Concert! (For Students)

LESSON IDEAS

Lesson 1: 15 Experimenting with with Resonance

Lesson 2: Is it noise or is it music?

Lesson 3: Make your own sound pieces.

Lesson 4: Wild and wacky animal voices.

Lesson 5: Exploring the music of the universe.

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**Lesson 6: Following up on the concert-students send essays and pictures to the RSO for the website!

USEFUL LINKS AND 20 RESOURCES

21 WORKSHEET TO ACCOMPANY THE VIDEO “THE SCIENCE OF SOUND”

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INTRODUCTION

Dear Teacher:

We are so very pleased that you and your students will be joining us for a performance of the music from “The Science of Sound Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance.” We know you will find it entertaining, enjoyable, and educational. Our large work for the concert is The Thrill of the Orchestra” by Russell Peck.

This year the RSO offers students and teachers a continuing innovative experience in investigating the science behind the sound of music. The teacher Quick Start guide allows you to select the way you want to go about preparing your students for the concert.

Starting with the first introductory video (The Science of Sound) featuring members of the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra and using the accompanying worksheet, the students will become familiar with the basic scientific acoustical properties of Frequency, Amplitude and Time and the psycho-acoustical correlates of Pitch, Loudness and Duration. The video component has an accompanying worksheet that provides the impetus for further exploration and experimentation in the acoustical properties of sound and music. This video was available for the 2011 Discovery Concert Experience. Continuing the sequence for this year, the student can view the second video (The Thrill of Resonance) which further reinforces the concepts of the first video and extends student knowledge by focusing on Russell Peck’s The Thrill of the Orchestra in addition to additional footage of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, the introduction of Chaldni patterns, and showing how liquid also reacts to sound vibrations. The concert this year is a capstone experience, or can continue to serve as a doorway to further study, experimentation, and inquiry. While designed for grades 4 and 5, the video and the accompanying materials encourage and provide further age appropriate enrichment activities for older students.

Education standards addressed by the videos, accompanying worksheet and activities are the National Standards in Music Education, the Grades 4-5 standards in the National Science Education Standards, and the NCTE/IRA standards for the English Language Arts grades 4-5. STEM education is also addressed. Due to time constraints, the RSO will only be able to perform the music in the concert, therefore the sequence of before and after concert activities outlined in this pack will serve as the instruction.

We offer lessons that are also more geared toward music class, although a general classroom teacher may be able to use them. Above all, feel free to manipulate, modify, or tweak any of the lesson materials to meet your and your students’ needs. You should need to spend no more than three 30-minute music classes (or the equivalent) preparing your students for this concert, however, there are plenty of materials in here that can be used both before and after the concert, and any time during the school year. These materials are designed to work with PA Arts Education Standards and also the National Standards in Music Education, S.T.E.M. curricula, National Standards in Science Education and National Standards in Language Education, and will allow the students to be actively immersed in the topic rather than passively sitting and listening without any guidance or engagement.

At the end of this packet is a resource page with links to other sites that can further your understanding of the science of sound. If you are interested in finding non-music activities and more information on composers for this concert, please check this link for the Dallas Symphony The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 4

Orchestra (http://www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms/musicroom.asp), as they have some excellent interactive materials that are of a more general nature. Because there is so much available on composers and their lives online, we won’t include that information here, although other websites are listed in the Useful Links and Resources at the end of this pack.

Have fun preparing your students, and we look forward to seeing you at our concert very soon!

If you have any questions or concerns, PLEASE don’t hesitate to contact Valerie Trollinger at either [email protected] or [email protected]

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OBJECTIVES

The purpose of these materials are to:

• Provide music teachers relevant musical materials to help them prepare students to see and hear the concert. • Provide materials that work within the structure of the general music class. • Familiarize students with the backgrounds and characteristics of the music. • Familiarize students with musical & scientific aspects of acoustics and psychoacoustics. • Promote creative engagement with the music. • Provide materials consistent with the National Standards for Music Education and the Pennsylvania Standard for Arts and Humanities, National Science Education Standards, NCTE Language Standards, and S.T.E.M. curricula. • Encourage the use of music in the classroom.

Before attending the performance, students should [be able to]:

• Aurally recognize the main melodic and rhythmic themes leading to the form of the music. • Identify conflict, tension, resolution and relaxation as indicated not only in music but in other arts, and in daily life. • Have had experiences with various acoustical aspects of instruments, voice, and found objects. • Be able to identify tone colors of instruments. • Be able to identify the components of resonance. • Be able to describe the power of resonance. • Be familiar with the terms frequency, amplitude, duration, pitch, dynamics, and time tone color and resonance. • Be familiar with concert behavior and etiquette.

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The RSO—a brief history

It's easy to think of the Reading Symphony Orchestra as a perennial favorite, but there was a time when the organization was downright subversive! In 1913, a group of music-loving citizens, headed by Harry Fahrbach, banded together in a symphony organization. While that may not seem particularly subversive, the concert time was: Sunday afternoons. It was an era of rigid enforcement of Blue Laws - statutes preventing business or entertainments on the traditional Sabbath day. The early Reading Symphony organizers were brought before the Mayor, where they were chastised for their irreverent symphonic activities. It was only after the early members of the Reading Symphony invited the Mayor to a patriotic concert - and provided a generous collection of free passes for his entourage - that the group could proceed unencumbered by statute. Fahrbach was the Reading Symphony Orchestra's first music director, leading the group for ten years. He was succeeded by a number of eminent musicians, including Saul Caston, Alexander Hilsberg, and Hans Kindler, all alumni of the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra during Leopold Stokowski's reign. Louis Vyner followed preceding the remarkable thirty year tenure of Sidney Rothstein. A national search of nearly three hundred conductors brought the RSO Andrew Constantine now in his second year following an opening season that brought critical and box office acclaim.

Today the Reading Symphony Orchestra looks toward its 100th season as one of the longest continuously-operating symphonies in the United States. For a complete overview of the orchestra's performance history, visit the orchestra's archives at www.readingsymphony.org/archives.asp.

(This information is from Reading Symphony Orchestra website: http://www.readingsymphony.org).

Background & Focus (For Teachers)

The music for this concert was selected to work with aspects of the science of sound, also known as acoustics. As music educators and musicians, it offers us an opportunity to delve into the multiple arts understanding, which meet the National Standards in Music Education and also the Pennsylvania Standards for Arts and Humanities, and into the scientific and mathematical aspects of sound, which meet the National Science Education Standards. Activities are also geared to meet S.T.E.M. standards, for schools that are using those.

The first activity we ask you to engage in is using the videos and the accompanying worksheets to help focus the students on the science of sound, with this year’s theme the Thrill of Resonance. The completed worksheet serves as the impetus for further experimentation and listening. A number of links to outside resources are provided in this packet to further encourage experimentation and inquiry into the science of sound. These The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 7 materials can be used both before or after the Youth Concert. The materials to the original Science of Sound from 2011 are a good introduction to this year’s (2012) materials for The Thrill of Resonance.

After viewing the video, students can be engaged in experiencing the music scientifically and aesthetically. There are some post-concert activities included in this pack as a follow-up to the concert performance.

The second part of these materials addresses the music for the concert. The pieces included are:

Peck—The Thrill of the Orchestra

Dvorak—Slavonic Dance #8

The Youth Audition Winners and their music pieces this year are:

Mendelsson Violin Concerto, Mvt 1 JiWon Lee, Violin Soloist Grieg Piano Concerto, Mvt 1 Nicolas Agia, Piano Soloist

There will be one soloist performing for each concert this year.

The Thrill of the Orchestra, by Russell Peck (1945-2009)

The Thrill of the Orchestra serves as a more contemporary work to introduce musical instruments to children. The rhythms and melodies are very catching and very listenable, and the work is narrated (this year by Count Dracula!) to guide the live listening. The recording on the DVD is narrated by the composer.

Musically, this work introduces a main theme that is played by each family of the orchestra. The theme gets multiple treatments from traditional styles to jazz and rock, and each instrument family “introduces” the next family. The first version of the theme is played in 8 bar measures all in 4. Later, the rhythm of the theme is generally an 8 bar rhythmic phrase with 6 measures of 4 followed by one of 6. You will hear this version take over when the brass first introduce the full version of the theme while introducing the woodwinds.

Acoustically, this piece introduces the instruments by (1) showing how the sounds are made and (2) helping students become familiar with the tone colors produced. The different ways we perceive the power of resonance are what helps humans identify different sounds that we consequently process as music. Part of the video shows the Apple iTunes visualizer presenting a visual interpretation of the tone colors, and some students may see the patterns in which they go (generally, louder creates brighter and The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 8 more energized visuals). For older students, this work serves as a good musical contrast to Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. About the Composer:

Russell Peck's orchestral compositions have received thousands of performances by hundreds of orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. These include the major American orchestras of Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Milwaukee, etc., Britain's London Symphony and Royal Philharmonic, and orchestral performances at Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center, and in Berlin, Warsaw, Barcelona, Kiev, Montreal and Singapore. Peck's music is notable for colorful and idiomatic orchestration and an exceptionally accessible personal style combining the classical idiom with a recognizable influence of popular American musical language.

An Albany Records compact disk of four of the composer's orchestral works (TROY 040) features recordings by the London Symphony. Other recordings are on Koch International and Channel Crossings (Netherlands). His Peace Overture was among the first serious contemporary American orchestral works played in the People's Republic of China (Shanghai Symphony).

In 2000-2001 a consortium of 39 American orchestras - the largest in history - commissioned Dr. Peck's new Timpani Concerto Harmonic Rhythm. The premiere performances began in September 2000 with the Louisville Orchestra and include orchestras throughout the country.

The best known works by Dr. Peck include his percussion trio concerto, The Glory and the Grandeur; Signs of Life for string orchestra; and The Thrill of the Orchestra, a narrated orchestral instrument demonstration piece which was recorded for the Discovery video series by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, and has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Korean and Cantonese.

Russell Peck (born Detroit, Michigan) is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he also received Master and Doctoral degrees in composition. His teachers have included Clark Eastham, Leslie Bassett, Ross Lee Finney, Gunther Schuller, and George Rochberg. The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 9

Dr. Peck also performed extensively as narrator of his own orchestral works for young (and adult) audiences, and appeared as guest artist with orchestras throughout the United States.

( Below was sent from his wife, Cameron--)

Regarding Russell and what instrument he played: Russell began piano and composition lessons in late grade school I believe (what we here in NC would call middle school.) He continued with those lessons through high school. His teacher's name was Clark Eastham. Russell admired and respected him, and enjoyed studying with him very much.

When Russell started high school he realized that he wanted to be in the orchestra, not just listening and studying about it. He wanted to hear and learn about it from the inside. He started playing trombone, and continued with that through high school and for a couple years at the University. Actually, now that I think about it some more, I'm pretty sure he played bass trombone in college. And I sort of think he played bass trombone in high school also.

Russell didn't continue with the trombone after his undergraduate degree. But he played piano all his life. He used it as part of his composing process.

The video for The Thrill of Resonance is dedicated to Dr. Peck’s memory. His tragic death in Greensboro, NC at the young age of 64 was a terrible loss, especially for music education. His wife, Cameron, provided the RSO the special permission needed to make this video.

LINKS:

To learn more about the piece: http://www.russellpeck.com/thrill_of_the_orchestra.html

Illustrated listening map (no music) http://www.fwsymphony.org/education/materials/thrill_listening_map.pdf

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Slavonic Dance #8 by Antonin Dvorak

This piece was originally written for piano 4 hands, but translated easily and beautifully for the symphony orchestra. The melodies are repetitive, with the main refrain (the A section) identifiable by the strong hemiola, and moving from minor to Major at the end of the section.

The most pervasive acoustical aspect is the interaction of the instruments—the more instruments that play, the stronger the acoustical power and also the louder the sound. It also features pairings of woodwind instruments.

Mendelsohn: Violin Concerto first movement & Grieg: Piano Concerto first movement

Both of these works are characteristic of the Romantic Period of music. Visually, the students will see a great amount of energy expended by our young soloists ( which will increase or decrease the amount of resonance in the instruments) as they physically play. Aurally, the students will hear sudden changes in tempo, dynamics, and instrumentation. A cadenza may or may not be included in these performances. As is typical of most concertos of this time, the form of the first movements are sonata- allegro.

Links:

Click here to see Julia Fischer play the first movement of the Mendelssohn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUQD6Rr2M8

Click here to see a Julia Fischer play the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK5jWbI-hOk

Click here to learn who Julia Fischer is: http://www.juliafischer.com/index.php/en/

Best Approaches for preparing your students:

As the focus of this concert is to hear and listen, having students listen for how amplitude, frequency, and time work together in different ways to make different tone colors that illustrate resonance in music. Using this music as the foundation of the unit, playing the pieces and having students tie the pieces into the various activities will help the preparation and also help them focus on and retain what they hear at the concert, which will help them write their response essays to the orchestra. Having the students engage in at least some of the activities in this pack before the concert (especially the video activities), and then following up after the The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 11 concert will round out the experience and hopefully lead to new directions in looking at music and connecting it with science, math, and technology.

Activities follow the “Quick look at the pieces” (for the teacher) and the “Welcome to our Concert” that you can copy for your students.

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Quick-Look at the pieces:

The Thrill of the Slavonic Dance #8 Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, mvt 1 Grieg Piano concerto, mvt 1 Orchestra Orchestra Orchestra Solo violin and orchestra Solo Piano and Orchestra Genre Program music, Dance Concerto Concerto Program educational Mostly in 2, but can vary In 3 and 2, prominent use of In 2, may be occasional changes ( use of In 2, may be occasional changes ( use of Meter (simplified sense of 2 to 3. hemiola in the A section triplets) that can change the perception triplets) that can change the perception into 2’s or 3’s by how they feel) Mostly fast Moderately fast Fast, but has moments of slower Flowing, moderate Tempo:

Form Through composed, a Rondo Sonata Allegro Sonata Allegro loose theme and variations. Period of Music 20th Century 19th century 19th Century 19th Century History

Young person’s Guide to Any other dance music Grieg Piano concerto, Violin concerti of Piano concerti by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Cross connect with: the Orchestra, Color Mozart Brahms spectrum in visual art. Scientific Frequency, duration, Frequency, duration, Frequency, duration, amplitude, Frequency, duration, amplitude, human connections amplitude, human amplitude, human human perception of sound, resonance, tone perception of sound, resonance, tone perception of sound, perception of sound, timbre color color resonance and tone color

Literary and/or Any kind of or story that Poems of Croatia Life of the soloist in literature: webblogs, Life of the soloist in literature: webblogs, Geographical requires the use of http://www.studiacroatica.org/jc for example : for example : Connections different voices, accents s/28/2808.htm ( they are http://kidsmusicthatrocks.blogspot.com/200 http://kidsmusicthatrocks.blogspot.com/2 translated) also considering or sound effects requirements for the use of 8/12/view-from-inside-kids-musicians- 008/12/view-from-inside-kids- different voices, accents or who.html musicians-who.html sound effects Language Arts The vocabulary word “ Formal structures of essays, Students can write about their own instruments Students can write about their own instruments connections resonates” is used frequently poems, and so forth( for they would like to create or how the instruments they would like to create or how the when one says “ that example cinquains) they like work scientifically. instruments they like work scientifically. resonates with me, for If they study music, they can also start a blog as a If they study music, they can also start a blog example. Students can young musician. as a young musician. explore the different ways the word is used in English. The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 13

Welcome to our Concert!

The members of the Reading Symphony and our conductor, Mr. Andrew Constantine, look forward to your visit with us this year. This year is different than other years. The concert is part of a special unit called the “Science of Sound,” and you will be learning about science of sound and the new word RESONANCE before the concert day. Before you come to see us, we also want to let you know more about the music you are going to hear, what you will see on the stage, and how to show us your best listening manners. Many of us who play in this orchestra once sat where you are going to sit for the concert, and for us, it helped us learn how much we love music. We hope that you will learn to love the music, too.

The music that we are performing for this concert focuses on the tone colors of the instruments in the orchestra. In science, we call tone color Resonance. You will need to listen very carefully to how resonance works in different ways to make different kinds of musical sounds, and different kinds of noise.

When you see the orchestra, you can look for some special things. You will see that we wear black clothes. We don’t do this because all our other clothes are dirty and in the wash. We wear black because it goes back hundreds of year and is our tradition in all orchestras. We don’t want you looking at our clothes. We want you to listen to the music. That is why we all wear black.

You can also see where all the instrument families sit in the orchestra. The stringed instruments sit in the front, and the woodwinds, brass and drum family all sit in the back. The string instruments sit in the front because they don’t play as loudly as the woodwinds and brass and percussion instruments do. You will also see us playing when you come into the theater. We do this to warm up our muscles. Playing a musical instrument is just like being in gym class. We need to stretch our finger, arm and breathing muscles just like you do when you will run around or play. If you watch and listen carefully, you will be able to see and hear who is playing.

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When we are ready to start the concert, then it’s time for you to make sure you are very quiet. We need to have quiet when we play, because if you talk, we can hear you on the stage because we have very good hearing. Besides, we have very important musical stories to tell you, but if you are talking you may miss them! This year we also want you to write about the concerts after they are over to tell us what you learned about resonance and tone color of the instruments.

Two people are the last ones to come on to the stage. One is our concert master, who sits right at the front of the violin section. When he comes out on the stage, he will bow, and then you will see him turn around and quietly ask the oboe player to play a note, which we will tune our instruments to. After we are done tuning, the concert master will sit down.

Finally, Mr. Constantine will come on the stage, and he will conduct us as we play the music. If you watch him carefully, you will see how he moves his arms. He doesn’t do this to be funny. He is talking to us with his hands (like you, he cannot talk when we are playing), and that helps us all play together so we tell our musical stories well. He uses special patterns to lead us. If you watch him carefully, you will able to see what they are. Your teacher may even show you these before the concert!

After we finish a song, we like to hear you clap. That tells us that you liked the music. So please clap a lot for us!

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Lesson Suggestions

These lesson suggestions may help you create activities to better acquaint your students with the music for this concert.

Lesson 1: Experimenting with Resonance There are a number of online videos and activities to help students engage in experimenting with frequency and what they hear.

For 4th-5th graders:

Introductory activities:

http://www.gcse.com/waves/sound_detail.htm --this is a basic presentation of looking at sound, and addresses both frequency and amplitude http://www.smm.org/sound/nocss/activity/handson.htm --this site from the Science Museum of Minnesota presents hands-on activities concerned with making sounds with nails, rulers, wood and metal, making a model eardrum, using a slinky to show how soundwaves work, and working with strings to make sounds, including vocal bands. For the rest of the site, which has activities concerning multimedia presentations of sound, you will need a plugin for your browser and can download and easily install it. http://library.thinkquest.org/5116/sound.htm --this is a site on sound by students for students. http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/D_Lab/acts_sound.html --there are a number of activities here for students, from NASA.

Videos: http://www.professorgizmo.com/01highlowsounds.html --the sequence of demonstrations by Professor Gizmo can be found here.

Activities the address Resonance:

Sympathetic Resonance: http://www.cmhoustonblog.org/2012/01/25/singing-glasses- and-sympathetic-resonance/. Sympathetic resonance results when something is set into motion but is not directly touched by a stick or blown into. Resonance occurs as a reaction to other vibrating objects nearby. The word “tone” the narrator is referring to is the “pitch.” The water that you see in the glass is resonating to the movement of the glass, and you will see the slow-motion movement of the actual glass.

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Sound Resonance Tubes : http://www.ehow.com/info_12031872_science-project-ideas- sound-resonance-tubes.html . This site offers several activities using boomwhackers, soda bottles (plastic will work), and resonance tubes ( which imitate the way wind instruments work).

Making a Carrot Clarinet (or use another vegetable if it will work!) Here is the complete video as sampled in the Thrill of Resonance Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbj7FYEi3M Here are the directions on how to make a carrot clarinet ( video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrme04RIsE8 and here are verbal/written out directions: http://www.ehow.com/how_10033745_make-carrot- clarinet.html. Making these will require a LOT of teacher prep and supervision. You will need large carrots, so turnips may actually work better. The carrot works like a PIPE or TUBE that resonates in direct response to air being blown through it.

Making a Drumbone: Popularized by the Blue Man Group, the video demonstrates how PVC tubes can be made in to resonance chambers that when shortened or lengthened, can change frequency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-VgW4Knb5s . Here are the directions on making a drumbone: http://www.ehow.com/how_2238950_build- drumbone.html This activity also requires a great amount of teacher prep and supervision.

Animusic Animation for Resonance Chamber : This activity uses the entire video that was sampled in the Thrill of Resonance video. Here, the resonance is activated by the strings that vibrate by the act of plucking. Students can watch this video and describe the different resonance chambers, and how the sound is being communicated into those chambers. Having experience with the activities in the original Science of Sound (from 2011) will help. This activity requires critical thinking. An extension of this activity would be for students to create their own instrument that uses different resonance chambers ( tubes, for example). Here is the link to Animusic’s YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXNVbvFXyk

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/sound/ --this is a comprehensive site geared for Junior High & High School students.

Activities and ideas you won’t find on the web:

Students and teachers can download several apps for Android, iPhone, and iPads that allow their phones or iPad to work as a mini- sound processor. For Android, you can get the Spectral Audio Analyzer (https://market.android.com/details?id=radonsoft.net.spectralview&feature=related_apps) for iPhone and iPad, the programs by Faber Acoustical are excellent, however, they aren’t free nor cheap. The program soundview http://www.rareworksllc.com/soundview- v2.html is available for iPad for 99 cents. Even if you don’t know how to interpret the numbers, just the visual representations of any sound you record will show how resonance is occurring. For example, if you record a bird and compare it to a clarinet, The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 17 you’ll see just by looking that the patterns are very different. Children can go around the classroom tapping anything ( book, wall, desk) and record the sound to see how it resonates. This is a good beginning activity to introduce children to how sound works, since they will want to know why the book, wall and desk make those patterns when they resonate.

For class computer (PC, not Mac, or Mac running windows software) http://userpages.chorus.net/cspeech/ --this is a free program that will allow students to record sounds into the computer, then see how they look graphically.

Digital tuners: You can download digital eTuners that will show frequencies of sound, for example , eTuner from the iPad and iPod apps store.

To use the spectral analyzer programs mentioned above: The key skill is to have students notice, in the spectral analysis, where the strongest frequencies are (often near the bottom, but with some animal voices, you will see that the darker areas are higher on the spectrum). Overall, they simply get to see how sounds look like. You can also show the students ( by following the simple directions) what the frequency of the sound is.

To use the eTuner programs: Students can play an instrument, sing, make another sound, and the tuner will show what the frequency is in Hz ( also known as Cycles per second). They can compare and contrast high and low sounds and their numerical values using this program.

Sound identification game: Teachers can play mystery sounds, animal voices, or mystery instrument sounds for the class, as a game. The student can identify the instrument /sound/animal voice, but then needs to identify if it is an instrument/sound/animal voice that plays mostly high frequencies or mostly low frequencies. Here are a couple links to download animal voice and other sounds: http://www.vtk.com.hk/sound_v.html --these use 32 bit. Your browser may ask to reopen using this setting, and it only takes a few seconds. There are many sounds available here. http://www.animal-sounds.org/animal-sounds-free-download.html --these are free downloads.

Lesson 2: Is it noise, or is it music?

This can be an extended writing activity. Students can listen to several sounds in class, or, respond to the Space Music segment of the video, elaborating on the question of noise vs. music. Including questions about why and how is something noise or music will help students develop critical thinking skills. From a S.T.E.M. standpoint, they can also address the manner in which noisy sounds are made and how they resonate in space vs the manner in which musical sounds are made and how they resonate in instruments. The Science of Sound, Part 2: The Thrill of Resonance RSO 2012 18

Lesson 3 : Making your own resonance sound pieces

Students can use classroom found sounds and with the teacher’s help, create a sound piece using whatever mapping format the teacher uses ( rhythm box, sound box, linear representation, and so on). A student conductor can lead the performances, for example, if the class is divided into 1) book closing sounds 2) pencil tapping sounds and 3) drum sounds, the conductor can point to a group to have them play, show dynamics by raising and lowering hands, and also cut off certain groups. Adding recordings of animal voices or other sounds are also possible, and they can also all be performed at various decibel levels through-out the pieces.

Lesson 6: Wild and wacky animal and human voices.

This activity expands upon the first two lesson suggestions . Students can compare animal voices for not only how they sound, but how they look on the spectrogram. Students can also compare the sound of a real donkey voice with the musical donkey voice in Carnival of Animals (COA), the real sound of an aquarium with the musical sound in COA, and the real cuckoo sound with the musical cuckoo in COA. They can compare and contrast how their own voices look on the spectrogram when they speak using the phrase How Now Brown Cow (a directed speech activity), when they discuss the clothes they are wearing that day (spontaneous speech activity), and when they sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. At this level, just noticing where there are differences visually in the spectrograms (illustrating resonance) are important. However, hopefully it will lead to further interest that can be developed as they get older and can deal with all of the mathematics involved in explaining the color differences.

Lesson 6: Exploring the Music of the Universe.

This activity can tie into the Lesson 3 above. Many composers have written music that we associate with outer space—John Williams, Gustav Holst, Richard Strauss (accidentally), and others. NASA has recorded sounds of outer space, and these are available to download and listen to, and perhaps serve as an inspiration for student compositions of any kind (musically notated, iconically notated, mixed with instruments sounds, as part of a sound piece, and so on) dealing with outer space. The sounds recorded in space are not really audible to humans in space, so the computers that record and process the pressure waves turn them into audible sounds for us to hear.

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A further and more interesting activity is to subscribe to the SETI-at-home project http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ . The SETI project started in 1996 at Berkeley in California. Since the project was downloading a large number of data sets from the largest radio telescope in the world (Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico) they began a program in which computers from all over the world can subscribe to the project, download a data set, have it analyzed by having the analysis program running while the home computer was not in use, and then have it sent back. All of this happens automatically. What Arecibo records are the sounds from the stars. SETI particularly looks for patterns in the sounds that suggest that it may be receiving information from another world, no unlike what was portrayed in the movie “Contact.” What is cool about this project is that the screensaver it generates, which is easy to pull up, shows spectrum analysis and also the strengths and frequencies of the sound over time. It is particularly exciting when you notice that your computer is identifying a pattern (SETI tells you how to see this when it happens). This is a real science project, and since then, there are other projects dealing with astronomy and physics that require the processing of sound waves. I have been attached to this project since its inception, and it’s really a blast to see what I come up with on my computers (I have 4 running the analyses). I have also used this to help introduce the various spectrums of sound to my college students, because visually, they understand it very easily from the graphics. Engaging in this activity will allow your students to be engaged in music of the spheres but also applying all of the S.T.E.M knowledge and skills components.

Lesson 7: Following up on the concert

Students are invited to write their reactions to the music in the concert addressing the following areas:

Which instrument family did you like best in The Thrill of the Orchestra? Can you tell us how the instrument makes a sound by drawing a map or writing a paragraph about it?

If you could create any instrument in the universe, what would it be and how would it make sound? What would it sound like?

Please send these essays/illustration to me (Valerie Trollinger ) at either [email protected] or [email protected]. If you scan them as PDF, I can simply post them, but some of them I may just retype and that’s no problem. We would like to put the students’ writings on a special webpage, and they will be identified by first name (last name if the teacher and parent say it is OK) and school. Students who submit drawings as a reflection component of the concert can have those scanned and sent to me as well, and we’ll get them up there.

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Useful Links and Resources-Teachers and Students

Musical Acoustics, and the Science of Sound Videos:

Need a really basic approach? Click here: http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/dl/a495f9c90f483110265d247a3e4b6ea7d13772ce /6689-KS1%20Sound%20and%20music%20teacher%27s%20guide.pdf

This shows how pressure waves move in a water tank, just like sound waves. The visual is larger and easier to see. The particular wave generated is a standing wave, because it looks like it is standing or walking down the tank. Music waves work just like this, particularly for instruments that play sustained sounds with the bow or breath. At the end you see it starts to slosh as the pressure stops. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpEevfOU4Z8

Bill Nye, the Science guy….”I love your wave, baby” Seems very popular, and it’s another good and short reinforcement of the concepts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77slIdkkQWg&feature=related

How sound works, and how it travels : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovMh2A3P5k&feature=related

Make your own Chladni Plate: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Chladni- Plate/790/1#.UEeY32ie7ns :