We are having a Music Camp! I am not going to post all five day's outline notes on this blog- they will belong to the
Circle of Fifths blog, but if you are interested in the physics of sound and music, here are links to the presentation examples I will be using in the morning!
Chord Review - Virtual Keyboard Project: play major, minor, augmented and diminished chords on the virtual or actual keyboard, then write them on manuscript paper
Project: Rhythm games- 1. name rhythms, 2. practice them, building length 3. ensemble practice rhythms, 4. Rhythm games
Theory: Modal Music- Discover the modes: Modal Music is Music that can have half steps in other places than the traditional Major scale half steps between scale degree 3 and 4, and scale degree 7 and 8, or minor scale half steps between 2 and 3 and scale degree five and six. Try playing a scale from E to E using only white keys- this is Phrygian Mode. It sounds so startlingly unusual by beginning with a half step.
The Roman Church leaders had pretty strong ideas in the Middle Ages as to which modes were acceptable. C to C was called Ionian, which is pleasant to out ears, but was considered borderline acceptable, being a little on the bright and happy side; D to D is the darker and very pleasant Dorian, E to E Phrygian as I have mentioned, F to F was Lydian (which has a very bright sound and was too "risque" and considered taboo) G to G was Mixolydian which was more muted and very acceptable, as well as the Aeolian A to A (which also is called A natural minor scale) was used a lot. Finally, Locrian (B to B) sounds so bad because not only does it start with a half step, it has a diminished chord as it's tonic triad which no one can feel rested listening to, therefore, the Loco Locrian scale. Try transposing a piece to that key if you want to drive your family crazy.
Play Irish music in ensemble
Play the Circular Modal Improvisation game
Camp project, key signature memorization
Science Day 1
Define Rarefaction, compression/condensation, experiment with standing shoulder to shoulder and sending a gentle bump down the line- hopefully we'll be mature enough to handle this one all right.
Cut apples like 3D pie charts (I'll handle the knife thankyouverymuch) and draw on paper plates the percentages of nitrogen, trace gases, etc.
Do a Cheerios Animation of Wave motion with camera time-lapse photo series
give the kids the note decoders to find their slinky springs around the house
Crowd wave
Belarus soldiers wave effect
Draw the story of the bug in the water- A bug in the water on the surface of the pond is having a bad day- he fell in the water and is wiggling his legs trying to swim or fly, or whatever, to no avail. What is happening to the water all around him? (Ripples in a ring, extending out evenly all around, etc.) Draw the picture.
Now the Goldfish in the pond sees his plight, and offers to the bug a tiny motor to attach to his back and give him a boost to the side. The bug, relieved, turns on the motor on the lowest setting and slowly starts to putter along. What to the ripple rings look like now? Draw the picture. What happens when he turns up the speed and catches up to his first waves? The bug is going forward at the same time as the waves he makes, and now they've piled up in front of him into a little mountain called a wave barrier. If he's going to get past that he's going to have to turn up the power. The bug struggles to overcome the mountain of collected waves just like a boat whose nose rises high in the air when you begin to accelerate. Note- supersonic jet go through this struggle as well when they are breaking the sound barrier. What do the ripples look like when he passes his wave bump and creates a wake behind him? Draw the wake. What happens when a little water skater asks the bug if can tow her using a spider web tow rope? She jumps the wake- wakeboarder style- and the bug forgets he was ever in trouble and has a fun day on the pond thanks to the goldfish...
What happens to the mosquito on the leaf when he sees the bug coming? Does he feel the wake yet? no. Can the mosquito feel the bug's wave when the bug pulls up beside him? (No) At what point does the mosquito feel the wake? (When the bug passes him.) When the mosquito
feels the wake, does that mean that was the time that the bug overcame his wave barrier? No, of course not. Similarly, the sonic boom people hear is NOT the moment the jet breaks through the sound barrier- it's the moment it's (3 dimensional, conical) wake crosses your path. You should not expect to hear a supersonic jet before it passes you any more than you should expect the wake of a motorboat to splash you before it passes you.
The faster the boat/plane/waterbug, the longer and narrower the wake.
Air pressure do the thing your mom always tells you not to do- hold a cup to your face by sucking in, and try not to make a big purple ring around your chin....
How does the cup stay on your face?
What if an astronaut tried that in space with no suit on? A lot of bad things would be happening to him at that moment, for instance, his blood would boil (Boiling happens at a much lower temperature the lower the air pressure) that's called ebullism and he'd feel pretty cold. How does air pressure affect weather? How does an airplane wing create lift?
Ok, this is way off topic, but....
train demolished by tornado
Another one
Breaking windows with supersonic boom
These air force pilots flying over the Brazilian Supreme Court building during a flag changing ceremony got into trouble! Many windows broke out of this building as well as nearby buildings. The Brazilian Air Force paid for the damage, but investigated the pilots who were acting irresponsibly. People have known for decades that sonic booms can break windows.
...to name a few... Can you tell this is a busy week for us?!
Now on her face you can see: "Now I know what I have to do..."
