Sound Waves Music Camp Day 1 Review and Day 2 outline notes

Yesterday was the first day of music camp! The day started out with rhythm games and sharp key signtaures

F C G D A E B! These feet are in the order of sharps. 

Stella is the banker distributing camp points in the form of play money in standard U.S. denominations- (Some of the activities earn practice credits that are reflected on the general studio practice chart.)

At snack time, apples were distributed cut into three pieces like a pie chart- approximately sliced into 78% (N2) 21% (O2) and 1% (trace gases such as helium, ozone etc.) Usually the trace gases percent was consumed first, then the 78 percents were submitted for more divisions and also their cores had to be removed...

Then as we moved into the physics section and studied transverse and longitudinal waves, it became suddenly very, very active!

We went through the outline list and I was relieved that I did not run out of material- actually we ran out of time. Which is a good sign- we are going into things thoroughly. 

Today's outline: 

8:30- Rhythm warm up: Cross rhythms and ensemble practice -rhythm games including triplets and quints, +, 

How to figure out any cross rhythm

9:00 Flat key scales and transposition, circle of fifths

9:30 HISTORY! Medieval Musicians, Renaissance period and Baroque Musical Analysis

10:00 guest speaker/performer

Circular Modal Improvisation game - Playing Church modes at the piano

10:30 Rehearsal for recital

11:00 Terms Memorization

Science: air pressure pitch, harmonics catch up on yesterday's missed presentation points

11:15 EXPERIMENT IN HARMONICS: Singing very loudly into a large can to make salt jump into cool patterns ...called CYMATICS (maybe I should warn the neighbors)

11:30 watching movies of other people doing cymatics on even cooler surfaces

More cymatics

Steel Pan

More steel pan

The Vegetable Orchestra

Ear

Cochlear implant

Cochlear activation

Pitch

Use violins to demonstrate partials, nodes, pitch

The doppler effect -using yesterday's notes

Great Pianists:

 Paderewski, Horowitz, Myra Hess and the RAF orchestra, Emil Gilels, Olga Samaroff, Sviatoslav Richter

Great Pieces

Islamey Balakirev

Sound Waves Music Camp Day 1 notes

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.

Irish Modal Music - Mixolydian

Play Irish music in ensemble

Dorian Mode: Simon and Garfunkel

Riverdance - Modal Music

Play the Circular Modal Improvisation game 

Camp project, key signature memorization

Key Signature Memorization tips

Science Day 1

Composition of Dry Atmospheric Air maybe for some this presentation is boring! But good to know...

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

Transverse Waves

Longitudinal Waves
Use slinkys to demonstrate

Animation of a string moving air molecules

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

Doppler Effect- train horn compare the sound of this train horn to the one who is just about to get demolished by a tornado. Why do they sound different? Why does one lower in pitch and the other stay on pitch?
Doppler Effect: Soldier and the Airplane

Cracking the whip

Sonic Booms - Aircraft flying by

Blue Angel at 700 mph- first you don't hear it

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.

Heads up! Tomorrows topic will explore waves within waves! Slow Motion Violin String 

Standing Waves

Music History
Medieval Notation
Hildegard Von Bingen
Medeival coloring pages
Early Music Notation
Renaissance music history
Michael Praetorius (with beautiful painting) Play Old German Dance in group
Bet you didn't know there was an instrument called the Theorbo 
New take on early music

Legendary Pianists
Paderewski
Horowitz

...to name a few... Can you tell this is a busy week for us?!

Cars, Yards and Knitting

Some Summertime activities we've enjoyed:

Cat therapy

Admiring the cars at the show in town

Yes, indeed! We are now taller than [some rare] cars!

The kids are getting tennis lessons from Marc (and basketball!)

And now, pictures of our "landscaping" BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

This is what we did on Thursday morning this week: We went to our neighbor's house and played our keyboard for them. It's a large house whose lower level is a very nice assisted living facility. These ladies were so welcoming and appreciative of our playing for them: we are looking forward to going back there soon. We played plenty of Classics: Chopin, Grieg, Granados, and a few modern pieces too, but I also played a hymn, and Marcella (between Amber and Luke) began to sing when I played "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine." I accidentally cut off Mrs. Jones in the picture. The kids felt very comfortable playing there! The caretakers and the facility owner and her little children also listened. We will come back soon with some of my students as well. 

Friday was Knitting Lessons with Aunt Ginger! Amber has been begging for knitting lessons, and when she got started Luke thought he'd better try too. I'd told him that knitting was OK for guys too, since Mr. McConnaughey the truck driver does it, and also lots of men in Scotland knit.

Aunt Ginger's patience was outstanding. She can undo many confusing problems! The kids had a great time.

"The Marathon"

THE MARATHON

By Jamin, age 8

June 14, 2012

1.

My Dad was training for a marathon. He had done a half-marathon a few weeks before and he hadn’t done too well, but he said that it was a mistake he made by starting out too fast. But he trained hard after that and I was sure that he would do well. We were planning that I would ride with Dad on my brother’s bike (mine had a flat tire) and wear Dad’s fuel pack (a little bag you could open up to put in water or sports drink, even your cell phone) so if Dad needed to get a drink while he was running he could just say “Water please!” Then I would slow down until we were side by side and then he would open the pack and take out the water he needed. We had it all figured out.

2.

The day of the race finally came! A light rain fell from dark gray clouds. My Dad drove me, my brother and my sister, my mom, and my grandma and grandpa from Belgium to the start of the race. The course went from Kent to Alki Beach in West Seattle, 26.2 miles. Dad went up to the back of a pickup and signed his name and checked in. A few minutes later people were lining up at the start. We got more and more excited. The organizer said into a megaphone, “One minute until the start!” One minute of stretching and hopping and waiting passed and the 198 runners and three dogs were on their way! We watched them disappear into the distance: The course first went two miles out and back so when Dad passed me I would start riding with him.

 3.

After all the runners had gone the people set up an aid station next to the start and poured Gatorade and water into cups on a little table. A few runners that were not running the race (this was a public trail) saw the aid station and got a few drinks. Finally we saw the marathon runners returning. I saw Dad running behind a guy in a green shirt. My family said goodbye and I was on my way.

4.

In the first few miles we had to cross a lot of roads but I didn’t feel like we were losing any time. Then I realized that my pack was loose and my Dad had to stop and tighten the straps. My mom was driving the van to the beach and she said she saw me when I was stopped there. After we passed the roads the path was surrounded with trees. It was really wet and there was a lot of puddles on the ground. I felt cold wind blowing on my arms and legs. I could hear my Dad breathing. One time I passed an aid station, rode up a little hill, turned the corner and I felt thirsty. So I reached down for my bottle to get a drink but since I wasn’t looking where I was going I didn’t see the sharp curve ahead of me. Suddenly I bumped off the path into grass and I fell onto the center bar on the bike. My feet slipped off the pedals and I crashed into a wire fence. Dad saw the situation and came up to me trying to help me get back on my bike. He helped me while I untangled myself and got back into position.

5.

The miles went by and we entered into a little park and went by a river. On the other side of the river was a train track. Suddenly I heard a roaring and a banging sound and a big fast train zoomed by. We went on further and we passed a light rail track. I knew I was close to the Sea-Tac airport. I saw two light rail trains going in opposite directions. We travelled further and were getting pretty tired. We went along parallel a noisy freeway then went a steep hill. It was hard enough that I had to dismount my bike. Dad was going really slow and had to walk a few times. I was glad when we reached the top of the hill. I knew we were over halfway. We passed the guy that we knew was in second place in the run, so Dad was in second place! We went through dirty streets and past old office buildings. Finally we turned onto the road that would take us to the beach. We were riding down the road when I saw Mom holding a video camera. She was on roller blades and she started taking videos of Dad running the last part of the race. I was glad because I knew we were close to the finish.

6.

“Go Dad, go! I see the finish! Every step counts!” I yelled. By now Dad was breathing extremely hard. He was so tired that he had to walk sometimes, but finally we made it to the end. I felt victorious. I saw a small crowd of people by the Alki bathouse and a man said he was going to take a picture of just Dad first, but then when Dad said that I was his helper, he wanted to take a picture of both of us. After that was all done we put the bike away, walked back to the beach and had a delicious lunch at Spuds, then had a wonderful time playing in the sand. I told Dad I wanted to be his helper on the bike again next year. 

Heritage of the Country

We spent last week in the country and I still have the rolling miles of wheat behind my eyelids and the sound of crickets and sprinklers echoing in my mind. And we were in good company. And we had time to think, or not, as we chose.

One of the things I had time to think about: how there are some people who have so much character and life, they live through stories of the next generation. And the time when I didn't think a lot? It's a beautiful non-verbal blank. That's what vacation is for: Just let your eyes follow the contour of the road, the wave of the wind over the grass, the great blue bowl of the sky... the mindless and beautiful motion of the windmills,  the color of the coals under your marshmallow... and listen to the stories.

Story- Uncle Ernie says: "Once my dad forgot his tuning fork when he went to a client's house, so he went outside and honked his horn because he knew the pitch of his horn, then ran inside and tuned the piano to it..."

Score one for the piano tuner!

Uncle Ernie quoted his sister: "Mom, what did you do with the rug beater before you had us?"

Uncle Ernie also quoted his mom: (translated from the German) "All good things have an end except a sausage and that has two."

Uncle Ernie is one of those completely irreplaceable people. He carries generations of anecdotal history with him. (Isn't that the best kind?!) I suppose I can tell stories about my heritage too, but it's more dry facts like my Cherokee great great great grandmother walked the trail of tears or that my teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher was J. S. Bach. Not cool quotes and anecdotes, like the time Uncle Ernie's dad was tuning a piano and a tiger walked into the room. And I know that someone who reads this could finish one of his favorite sayings:

"Dig in like a...."

When you move, you find old pictures.

...And How.

Here is one I took when I was twelve. I remember that when it came back from the developer (way back in the Jurassic age when cameras used film) I took a look and just about died laughing. Now days we look at the back of our cameras and die laughing on the spot. This is the Age of Instant Gratification.
 Location: Phoenix, AZ Look carefully, you probably know him.

And an old friend Charlie Fletcher who passed away in October of 1994. Here's a historical narrative by the man himself. Charles Fletcher Railcar Narrative

And Pepe Craentje is earnestly explaining his favorite ways to eat bacon. He was being really funny, and I'm pretty sure he knew it, too. (Belgium, 2000)

 He was sick with cancer at this time and went to be home with the Lord weeks later.

This makes me really want to rewind life to see these loved ones again in that beautiful summer garden.

 Below is me on an oceanside camping trip with three of Carlotta's relatives, two on the right and one behind the camera. We were all very proud of our tent pitching skills. The expression of the one in the middle reminds me of the first time Carlotta had ice cream. The apple does not fall very far from the tree.  The photography leaves a lot to be desired. (2000)

 (When cultures collide...) One person's face is full of fear, and it's not my brother's. She was told to accompany him, and the fact that she does not even play was the least of her worries. ("GET ME OUT OF HEEEERE!!!")  (1999) Meet the In-Laws.

 Luther Burbank Park: friends enjoying overactive drinking fountains

 Belgium, 1998

 Belgium, 1998

finis - for now

If Only They Sold Patience in Stores

Upon reentering the house after evening lessons a couple of Fridays ago I was greeted enthusiastically by only two children and the smell of dinner cooking on the stove. There is Daddy looking... washed out or something. Daddy gives the evening report: "For Jamin, after math it was an hour of piano practice, for Amber after math it was forty minutes of piano practice and for Lukey... it was an hour and a half of Long Division and for me ...it was five years off my life."


"If only they sold patience in the stores!" Marc said.

Lukey was in recovery mode, finishing his evening playing Legos happily in his room. We are not certain how much division he knows, but we are sure he knows about Legos.

Our kids' dinner conversation was about how we are going to divide the inheritance when we are dead. There was a lot of (premature) arguing until we had to remind them that

1. They would have to assume our debts as well as our assets 
2. We aren't dead yet

Prodigals with wiggly teeth.

Then Jamin wrote out a problem for Luke. His arms were too short to reach it and Marc acted as his scribe. But he gets it!
And now I have some more pictures to catch up with...

 One backward look at the little house we lived in for many years! Looks different without the dark red paint. (And all the stuff we had in there)

 The twins got a morning playing in the sand at the lake when Jamin did 20 miles on his bike with Daddy.

And the twins are surprised with new bicycles...