teacher s guide grades 9-12
table of contents Introduction... p. 2-4 Field Trip Activity: Behind the Music... p. 5-6 Lesson Plans Lesson 1: The Great Inventor... p. 7-13 Lesson 2: Vinyl Geometry... p. 14-20 Lesson 3: The Found Sound Band... p. 21-26 Lesson 4: Algebra for Guitars... p. 27-34 Lesson 5: The Sequence of Rock N Roll... p. 35-39 Interdisciplinary Activities and Project Ideas... p. 40-42 Games and Puzzles Cryptograms... p. 43-45 Logic Puzzles... p. 46-51 Word Searches... p. 52-53 Answer Keys... p. 54-57 Additional Resources Recommended Reading Lists... p. 58-59 Technology Time Line... p. 60-70 Glossary... p. 71-74 Curriculum Standards National... p. 75-80 State: Missouri, Kansas... p. 81-83 2012 Elevation Productions All rights reserved. Except for educational fair use, no portion of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other without prior permission. Multiple copies may be made by or for the teacher for educational use only. www.elevationproductions.com Content created by TurnKey Education, Inc., for Elevation Productions www.turnkeyeducation.net table of contents - 1
Welcome to THE SCIENCE OF ROCK N ROLL Congratulations! Your class has been granted a coveted, all-access, backstage pass to the world of Rock N Roll. On their behind-the-scenes tour at The Science of Rock N Roll, your students will experience the scientific innovations that have made this musical genre so powerful. After all, Rock N Roll is a little bit of everything: it s personal, biological, electronic, creative, mathematic, high-tech, and so much more. Rock N Roll is an outlet for self-expression, artistry, and freedom. It has the power to influence governments, mobilize the masses, and break down barriers like nothing else. And it s science a lot of science! Rock N Roll mixes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with the passion of art and music to create the tunes that make us all rock. The Science of Rock N Roll is a memorable field trip for student groups of all ages. As you move through the interactive galleries in this energizing exhibition, your class will be fully immersed in every aspect of Rock N Roll. Students will explore the history of Rock from the 1950s to today, told decade by decade, and understand how technology impacted this evolution through the various ways music has been made, captured, and enjoyed over the last 140 years. Interactive displays demonstrate how different elements and instruments come into play when composing rock music. Your students will learn how our brains perceive, remember, and react to music. Students will see how music has shaped the tools of rock and how those tools have changed music and influenced society. Your students will be engaged, inspired and eager to learn more long after the music stops. This will be THE field trip of the year! While some call it music and some call it noise, at The Science of Rock N Roll we call it curriculum! Are you looking for a fresh, engaging, relevant way to bring STEAM learning to life in your classroom? Then turn up the volume! The Science of Rock 'N' Roll tells the story of the birth and evolution of Rock music through the lens of science, technology, engineering, art and math. Your students will learn while doing what they love - rocking out to the sound of great music. introduction - 2
at the exhibition Your field trip experience at The Science of Rock N Roll is a totally immersive, highly interactive introduction to the science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics behind Rock music. You begin with The Art of Rock Gallery where you will see photographs and posters explaining what you re about to hear, do and experience. As your students pass through, they will also learn about some of the theories behind the origin of the term Rock N Roll. In the Rock N Roll History Gallery, you will see fascinating historic artifacts, like a 1947 jukebox and real vintage guitars. You will discover the birth and evolution of Rock N Roll through the ages. Starting with the Rockin 1950s, your students will learn about changes in music technology and engineering and the effects they have had both on Rock N Roll and society as a whole. Do your students know about AM radio waves that can be heard at night from thousands miles away or the role television played in the evolution of Rock N Roll? They will soon! Music is the art of organizing sound in such a way that it expresses emotions, thoughts and ideas. But music is also science. How does a person turn noise into catchy licks and bouncin beats? In the Writing and Composition Gallery, your class will learn about the building blocks of any piece of music, from tone to tempo to timbre, as well as what makes a song sound happy or sad. Students will channel their inner composer and songwriter and use the latest technology to write their very own music. Once your students have mastered the art of composition, it s time to take on the tools of Rock in the Rock Instruments Gallery. They can play a few bars on the electric guitar or keyboards and see how it feels to play along with the music that rocks us. They will also learn interesting facts like why a piano is called a zither, what the first true electronic instrument was, and how mathematics come into play when it comes to the strings on a guitar. Inside the Science of Sound Gallery, your class will examine the anatomy of a speaker while checking out the inner workings of an actual mixing station and a fully decked-out DJ booth. This is learning by doing at its very best! The mixing station allows students to produce some of the most famous Rock N Roll songs by remixing the original tracks to create their own version of the song. Your students can manipulate and mix the vocals, drums, guitars, and keys the options are endless when they are the record producer! Just like in the real process of making a Rock song, the next step on your journey through The Science of Rock N Roll is recording. In the Recording Rock Gallery, your students will experience how recording, mixing, and mastering toggle boards work before they step into the karaoke booth for a once-in-a-life time performance! Using professional recording booths the same used by well-known Rock stars students can record themselves as the lead singer on a choice of several famous tracks. Their Backstage Pass allows them to then take home and share their masterpieces. This gallery also features a comprehensive, interactive Format Wars timeline detailing the history of recorded sound from before Edison s phonograph through to today s MP3 technology. Finally, the Careers in Rock Gallery highlights the variety of careers involved in the music industry. When a band goes on tour, dozens if not hundreds of people work hard to make sure that the band, fans, and record labels are happy. They move equipment, pack venues, market the event, manage public relations, and much more. From the Band Manager to the Roadies, everyone works together to ensure a successful tour. By outlining both the responsibilities and the qualifications needed for these exciting jobs, your students may be inspired to pursue their own career in the science and art of Rock N Roll. Use your backstage pass to this electrifying exhibition to teach STEAM learning like a true Rock star! introduction - 3
using the teacher s guide As a companion to your experience at The Science of Rock N Roll, comprehensive Teacher s Guides for Grades 4 8 and Grades 9-12 have been created to complement your classroom instruction and help make the most of your field trip. Each guide contains original, assessable STEAM-related classroom lesson plans along with additional inquiry-based interdisciplinary activities and project ideas to involve your entire school. Following this Introduction, you will find an onsite Field Trip Activity for your students to complete during their field trip to The Science of Rock N Roll. Next, you will find five Classroom Lesson Plans designed to correlate directly with your curriculum standards, complete with ready-to-copy activity worksheets that center on key topics featured in the exhibition. This level of the Teacher s Guide contains dynamic activities and assignments for students in high school, while the other volume is for grades four through eight. The guides are created to be flexible; use them to best meet the needs and capabilities of your class. You know your students better than anyone else. For the first lesson plan, The Great Inventor, your students will read a primary source about the role of technology in the future of music at least, as Thomas Edison saw it almost 100 years ago. In the second lesson plan, Vinyl Geometry, your students will practice critical geometry and mathematical reasoning skills with old-fashioned vinyl records by taking measurements, calculating area, and comparing rpms. The third lesson plan is The Found Sound Band. For this cooperative portfolio and performance-based activity, students become creative engineers tasked with repurposing items into new tools of Rock. In the fourth lesson plan, Algebra for Guitars, your class will learn about the Helmholtz resonance and use a formula to calculate how much water needs to be added to empty bottles in order to recreate the frequencies of the strings on a guitar. The Sequence of Rock N Roll, which is the fifth lesson plan, introduces the Fibonacci number sequence and reveals some of the ways it is found in Rock N Roll music Interdisciplinary Activities and Project Ideas follow the Classroom Lesson Plans. Make your field trip to The Science of Rock N Roll a school-wide event with these inquiry-based activities and suggestions to help teachers of other subjects use The Science of Rock N Roll in their instruction, too. The remainder of the Teacher s Guide contains Rock N Roll-themed Games and Puzzles for both younger and older student as well as an Additional Resources section with Recommended Reading Lists and a Technology Timeline. A Glossary of terms related to some of the music technology you encounter in the Teacher s Guide and at The Science of Rock N Roll rounds out the resources. We know how important it is to be able to justify field trips and document how instructional time is spent outside of your classroom. To that end, the Teacher s Guide is directly correlated to both your state curriculum requirements and national content standards to assist with your planning needs. These education resources can be used before your visit to help prepare students for the teachable moments found throughout the exhibition as well as when you return to school to further explore connections between the educational themes of the exhibition and your classroom instruction. We look forward to seeing you at The Science of Rock N Roll! introduction - 4
Name Class Date behind the music: rock n roll engineers Field Trip Activity Behind every great Rock song is a team of engineers, producers, and inventors. While you may never see them on stage or in a video, they are just as important to Rock N Roll as a lead singer. During your field trip to The Science of Rock N Roll, look for the twenty people listed below and match them with their descriptions. NOTES: (1) Some descriptions may be used more than once and (2) not all Galleries will have names in them. 1. Alan Freed 2. Les Paul 3. Alan Lomax 4. Lee De Forest 5. Bill Hanley 6. Phil Spector 7. Brian Eno 8. Mike Oldfield 9. Shawn Fanning 10. Edgar M. Villchur 11. George Beauchamp 12. Paul Barth 13. Harry Watson 14. Adolph Rickenbacker 15. Leo Fender 16. Jim Marshal 17. Ray Dolby 18. Clément Ader 19. Alan Blumlein 20. Thomas Edison A. When the National Guitar Corporation partnered with him, the company changed its name to the Rickenbacker Electro Stringed Instrument Company. B. This engineer at EMI patented stereo records. With his method, one groove on the record carried two channels of information. C. This radio DJ from Cleveland was the first person to use the phrase Rock N Roll to describe a genre of music. D. This folk musician traveled with a record-cutting machine in the back of his Model-T Ford so he could record artists he encountered while traveling through the South. E. The Father of Festival Sound designed the audio system for Woodstock in 1969. His later innovations included wedge monitors and directional microphones that cut down on feedback. F. As a member of Roxy Music, his role was to manipulate a band s sound using tape recorders and a VCS3 synthesizer from the mixing desk off-stage. His innovative role in rock history continues even today. G. This self-taught engineer demonstrated a two-channel audio system for the Paris Opera by placing a microphone on each side of the stage during an opera performance and using telephone transmitters attached to the microphones as an early demonstration of stereo sound. Field Trip Activity: Behind the Music - 5
Name Class Date H. He invented the acoustic suspension woofer, a breakthrough in speaker design because it incorporated smaller speakers sealed within a single speaker cabinet and produced lower, richer and louder bass tones. I. He was part of the group that designed the first electric guitar, a solid-body guitar dubbed the Frying Band because of the way it looked. J. He became famous for his Marshall Stack a guitar amplifier unit sitting on top of two stacked speaker cabinets. K. Radio reception became commercially viable with his invention of the Audion, an amplifying vacuum tube. L. He specialized in repairing Electro String amplifiers. When he began building his own guitar amplifying and speaker units, he developed the all-in-one Super Amp. M. This guitarist and inventor bought an AMPEX Sel-Sync 8-track recorder for $10,000 in 1956 - nearly $100,000 in today s dollars. N. This composer made an entire album himself, Tubular Bells, by playing each instrument and overdubbing them onto a master tape. O. This record producer was known for his Wall of Sound production method. While individual instruments were difficult to discern, the entire song seemed to leap out of the radio. P. This former sound engineer founded Dolby Laboratories, a leader in noise reduction systems in magnetic tape audio recording. Q. This 19 year-old college student shared his new program, Napster, with 30 online friends. A few months later, it had 150,000 registered users. R. He invented the phonograph. Field Trip Activity: Behind the Music - 6
Technology and Society, History of Science, Acoustics, Primary Source LESSON 1: the great inventor Teacher instruction page and background information In this lesson, your students will read a primary source about the role of technology in the future of music at least, as Thomas Edison saw it almost 100 years ago. Although most people would say Rock N Roll began in the 1950s, the science of it began decades before. In fact, it kicks off in the previous century with Thomas Edison s invention of the phonograph in 1877. Edison never intended the phonograph to be used for music but others, like Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson, quickly saw its application. Edison s phonograph with wax cylinders evolved into gramophones with flat discs, like the Victrola. Before long people were listening to their favorite songs on record players. Edison s cylinders, early gramophones, and record players are all found in the interactive Format Wars timeline featured in the Recording Rock Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll. The phonograph was just one of the many ways Edison s technology applied to music. He addresses this topic in the excerpt below from a 1917 magazine interview. By that time, phonographs had already been improved upon and Edison had moved on to inventions for moving pictures. Here, however, he took time share his thoughts on the part that physics and mechanical instruments will play in the music of the future. Teacher Tips and Variations: Remind students to read through all the questions at the end before they read the excerpt. Point out that some of Edison s topics of discussion, such as trying to find the best seat in the house at a show, sound as though they could have been written today. Ask students to find the adjectives the interviewer uses to describe Edison to initiate a discussion about the role of opinion or bias in journalism. For younger students, have the class take turns reading the passage aloud and answering the questions together, or highlighting the answers within the text as they read. Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 7
Name Class Date The Great Inventor A primary source is a first-hand account of an historical event or time, recorded in the very own words of an eyewitness. Your history book, which is written by scholars about historical events or times, is a secondary source. In this lesson, you will read a primary source about the role of technology in the future of music at least, as Thomas Edison saw it almost 100 years ago. Although most people would say Rock N Roll began in the 1950s, the science of it began decades before. In fact, it kicks off in the previous century with Thomas Edison s invention of the phonograph in 1877. Edison s phonograph with wax cylinders evolved into gramophones with flat discs, like the Victrola. Before long people were listening to their favorite songs on record players. Edison s cylinders, early gramophones, and record players are all found in the interactive Format Wars timeline featured in the Recording Rock Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll. The phonograph was just one of the many ways Edison s technology applied to music. He addresses this topic in the excerpt below from a 1917 magazine interview. By that time, phonographs had already been improved upon and Edison had moved on to inventions for moving pictures. Here, however, he took time share his thoughts on the part that physics and mechanical instruments will play in the music of the future. Words to Know: gramophones, phonograph Thomas A. Edison, 1922. Library of Congress Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 8
Name Class Date Read the following interview with Thomas Edison about the role of technology in music. Then answer the questions that follow, using direct quotes from Edison when possible. New Aspects of the Art of Music Asked to give his opinions upon the part that physics and mechanical instruments will play in the music of the future, Mr. Edison broke into his well-known and contagious smile and said: A great deal an enormous part. The present instruments of the orchestra are very crude. Take the violin for instance. Don t tell me that even the best violin cannot be improved. One of the worst things in all music is the E string on the violin. A worn E string gives me great pain. Not one in fifty is good. The funny thing about it is that a violinist will go on playing on a poor E string and not notice it. Miss Kathleen Parlow [Canadian violinist, 1890-1963] came to play for me some time ago. I told her that her E string was a bad one, and she would not believe me. I then put it under a microscope and found that is was worn square. What was the result? It produced the wrong overtones and the result was simply excruciating to my ears. I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary listener does not hear. While I am extremely fond of opera I have been in the Metropolitan Opera House [founded in 1880, New York City] only twice in years. Very few people realize what position in the auditorium really means. If one sits on one side of the opera house he may get quite a different effect from that obtained when sitting on another side. The people who insist upon sitting in the front rows of the orchestra have their musical impressions seriously distorted. It is odd that they do not realize this. If the hearer were sitting right beside the tympani player he would hear the tympani [kettle drums] above all other instruments. The same is true of other sections of the orchestra; so that one does not begin to get the blend of the sound that the composer aspired to produce until one is some distance from the stage. To my mind the most desirable position in on the center aisle in the last row of seats, as far away from the stage as one can get. Don t pity the gallery god. He has the best of it at the opera. He hears the music far better than the wealthier auditors [listeners] down near the stage. No sensible person in an art gallery tries to get his nose right up against the canvas in order to enjoy a great painting. How people sitting in the front seats at the opera can stand the performance I don t know. It makes me sick. It is only a badly jumbled mess of instrumental sounds. The great inventor winked his intelligent eyes and smiled as he said: You know people have to put up with so many strange things in music. For instance, no violinist is able to play octaves [playing two notes at the same time, an octave apart] exactly in tune. I have tested many with scientific apparatus, and know just what I am talking about. Consequently, when we hear octaves played upon the violin we have to put up with many excruciating noises. But we have become accustomed to it, and have led ourselves to think it is all right because we have never heard the real thing. That, of course, is psychological. It is physically possible to play octaves on the violin correctly, but it is not humanly possible. Many of the effects produced are perfectly horrible. The violinist in running his fingers down a string to a new note must locate a spot on the string of one-thousandth of an inch. Think of that! I wish that composers never wrote octaves for the violin. It has been possible for me to make some very interesting tests in this connection with very delicate scientific apparatus, and I find that the average fine violinist is likely to play fifteen or more vibrations, lower or higher, out of the way, in playing octaves. Source: New Aspects on the Art of Music. Edison Diamond Points, May 1917, pp. 12-14: from an interview with Mr. Edison appearing in the April Issue of The Etude. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/may171.html Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 9
Name Class Date 1. What part does Edison think physics and mechanical instruments will play in the music of the future? 2. What does Edison think is one of the worst things in all of music? 3. How does Edison know when an E-string has gone bad? What shape is it supposed to be? 4. Why does it matter where in an auditorium a listener sits? 5. Do you think Edison s theory about seats in an auditorium is true for a modern-day Rock concert? Why or why not? Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 10
Name Class Date 5. Do you think Edison s theory about seats in an auditorium is true for a modern-day Rock concert? Why or why not? 6. Draw a sketch to show where Edison thinks the best seats are to enjoy the opera. Think of a seat map for a venue that you may have seen when ordering tickets online for a concert. 7. Based on context clues, what do you think a gallery god is? Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 11
Name Class Date 8. How does Edison describe what the listeners who sit right in front of the stage at the opera will hear? 9. How does Edison know that no violinist can play octaves accurately? 10. According to Edison, why do octaves sound OK to us, even if they are not accurate? 11. Why is it so hard for a violinist to find the right placements for his or her fingers when playing octaves? Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 12
Name Class Date 12. When an average violinist does try to play octaves, how far off are they likely to be? 13. Do you think it matters if a particular musical tone is scientifically accurate, if the listener is still pleased with what he or she hears? A typical Edison wax cylinder wore out after a few hundred plays Lesson Plans: The Great Inventor - 13
Geometry of a Circle, Circumference, Area, rpm, Concentric Circles, Unit Conversion LESSON 2: vinyl geometry Teacher instruction page and background information After flat, round records replaced cylinders on phonographs, records were the only way people could listen to their favorite songs at home, besides the radio, for over 70 years. Most of those early records were 10 inches wide. Up until the 1940s, the main ingredient used to make records was shellac, which comes from the female lac bug. This bug lived on the Malay Peninsula. During World War II, Japan took control of that area and cut off the supply of shellac. American record makers had to come up with something to replace the shellac. While experimenting with different kinds of plastic, one company, Columbia Records, invented vinyl records in 1944. The first vinyl record, introduced in 1948, was 12 inches wide and went around on the turntable 33 1/3 times per minute, which meant it had an rpm (revolution per minute) of 33 1/3. Other record sizes soon followed. RCA made a 7 inch record with an rpm of 45. It spun around the turntable on the record player 45 times per minute. The longer-playing, 12-inch records were usually used for good music, like Jazz, Musicals, and Classical music. In the 1950s, jukeboxes began using 7-inch records instead of 10-inch records, and the 45 rpm records started to become popular for Rock N Roll music. By 1955, most record players at home could play records at three different speeds: 45 rpm for the 7-inch records, 78 rpm for the 10-records, and 33 1/3 rpm for the 12-inch records. During all those changes in record size over the years, one thing stayed the same it s circular shape! In this activity, you will teach critical geometry and mathematical reasoning skills using three old-fashioned vinyl records. How? By measuring diameter, radius and circumference, then calculating area and comparing the results. Your students will be working in groups of three. The materials and mathematical formulas they need are included on their worksheets. Materials per group: 3 copies of the student worksheets Piece of string at least 40 inches long Ruler with inches and centimeters 3 vinyl records - 45 rpm (7 inch) - 33 1/3 rpm (12 inch) - 78 rpm (10 inch) Calculator or scratch paper Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 14
Teacher Tips and Variations: Remind students to read through the entire assignment before getting started. Students will work in groups of three. Each group of three will need a set of the materials from the list above. Look for old records at thrift stores and yard sales. They will probably get scratched during the activity, so don t use any of value. Expand the lesson by having students compare the measurements of an audio CD, which has a diameter of 5.5 in and an rpm of approximately 480 rpm on the outer edge. Allow students to use a calculator if needed. Early RCA 45s: When RCA introduced the 45 rpm single in March 1949, releases were color-coded by genre for shopping convenience. Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 15
Name Class Date Vinyl Geometry After flat, round records replaced cylinders on phonographs, records were the only way people could listen to their favorite songs at home, besides the radio, for over 70 years. Most of those early records were 10 inches wide. Up until the 1940s, the main ingredient used to make records was shellac, which comes from the female lac bug. This bug lived on the Malay Peninsula. During World War II, Japan took control of that area and cut off the supply of shellac. American record makers had to come up with something to replace the shellac. While experimenting with different kinds of plastic, one company, Columbia Records, invented vinyl records in 1944. The first vinyl record, introduced in 1948, was 12 inches wide and went around on the turntable 33 1/3 times per minute, which meant it had an rpm (revolution per minute) of 33 1/3. Other record sizes soon followed. RCA made a 7 inch record with an rpm of 45. It spun around the turntable on the record player 45 times per minute. The longer-playing, 12-inch records were usually used for good music, like Jazz, Musicals, and Classical music. In the 1950s, jukeboxes began using 7-inch records instead of 10-inch records, and the 45 rpm records started to become popular for Rock N Roll music. By 1955, most record players at home could play records at three different speeds: 45 rpm for the 7-inch records, 78 rpm for the 10-records, and 33 1/3 rpm for the 12-inch records. During all those changes in record size over the years, one thing stayed the same it s circular shape! In this activity, you will use three old-fashioned vinyl records to practice measuring and calculating the circumference of a circle. You will be working in groups of three. The materials and mathematical formulas you need are listed below. Words to Know: concentric, shellac Materials: 2 friends Piece of string at least 40 inches long Ruler with inches and centimeters 3 vinyl records - 45 rpm (7 inch) - 33 1/3 rpm (12 inch) - 78 rpm (10 inch) Calculator or scratch paper Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 16
Name Class Date Formulas, variables, and conversions: r = d/2 r = radius π = 3.14 d = 2r d = diameter 1 in = 2.54 cm C = πd C = circumference 1 mile = 63,360 inches C = 2 πr π = pi 1 hour = 60 minutes A = πr 2 A = area PART 1: DIAMETER AND RADIUS Calculate the radius of each record. Convert both measurements to the metric system using centimeters, calculated to two decimal places. Record size Diameter Radius rpm inches cm inches cm 45 7 33 1/3 12 78 10 PART 2: CIRCUMFERENCE Using the values for diameter and radius calculated in Part 1, calculate the circumference of each record using the three different methods listed here. Assign one method to each member of your group and share your answers. Convert the circumferences to the metric system using centimeters, calculated to two decimal places. Use the formula: C = πd Use the formula: C = 2 πr Wrap a piece of string all the way around the perimeter of each record and use a ruler to measure the length of the string in both inches and centimeters. Record size C = πd C = 2 πr String rpm inches cm inches cm inches cm 45 33 1/3 78 Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 17
Name Class Date How do the three methods for finding the circumference compare to each other? PART 3: AREA Choose one of your group s three records to use for this part of the activity, either the 45, 33 1/3, or 78. Each member of your group should use a different record, so that combined you will be calculating the areas of all three circles. You are going to calculate the area of the record that contains the music without including the part of the record that includes the label and the center hole. Together, the circle made by the whole record and the circle made by the label are called concentric circles. 1. Use the radius measurement you found for the record in Part 1 to find the area of a circle the same size as the record. This area will be called A record. Record circle size rpm Radius in Area in 2 2. Measure the diameter of the circle formed by the label sticker (and including the center hole) in the middle of the record. This area will be called A label. Label circle size Diameter Radius Area rpm in in in 2 3. To find out the area of the record that holds the music, which we will call A music, subtract A label from A record : A record A label = A music A record - A label A music in 2 Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 18
Name Class Date 4. If the formula for the area of a circle is A = πr2 and we know that r = d/2, then rewrite the formula for area using diameter instead of radius. PART 4: COMPARE True or false? 1. The larger a record s diameter is, the larger its circumference. true false 2. The higher a record s rpm speed is, the larger its circumference. true false 3. The larger a record s circumference is, the smaller the area. true false 4. These records are ranked by geometric size, smallest to largest: 45 rpm record, 33 1/3 rpm record, 78 rpm record. true false 5. In your calculations, the area of the record that holds the recorded music, not counting the area of the label sticker, was called A music. true false Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 19
Name Class Date PART 5: FROM RPM TO MPH For this part of the activity, use the smallest of the three records, the 7-inch record. You already know that a point on the outer edge of this record makes a complete circle 45 times per minute. You also know the length of its circumference in inches, as calculated above, which tells you how far a point on the outer edge of that record travels each of those 45 times around the turntable. Using the conversion rates provided at the beginning of the lesson, calculate the equivalent of 45 rpm in miles per hour. Show your work below, using additional paper if necessary, and round your mph calculation to the nearest whole number. 45 rpm = mph Flexi discs were thin sheets of vinyl that could be easily included in the page of a magazine or book. They weren t very durable and wore out after a few plays. Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 20
Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Inventions, Physics of Sound, Music Composition LESSON 3: the found sound band Teacher instruction page and background information A combination of accidental science, lack of money, and pure luck are behind several big moments in the history of Rock N Roll. One of the first Rock N Roll records ever made was the result of a car ride on a bumpy road! The song Rocket 88, by the group Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, is often called the first Rock N Roll record because of its crackling, fuzzy guitar sound. That sound came from an amplifier hitting the roof of the car and smashing a speaker cone during a rough ride to the studio in 1951. With no money or time to fix it, the group made do with what they had. The Science of Sound Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll explains how DJs and turntablists advanced Rock using old technology repurposed in a new ways. In the 1970s, because of a lack of equipment, taking small pieces of songs from other people s albums (called sampling ) became an important part of early Hip Hop music. In poor areas of New York City, it was hard to find traditional instruments like guitars, keyboards, and drum kits. For Hip Hop pioneers like Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaata, old vinyl records, two turntables, and a microphone became the instruments themselves and not just a way to listen to someone else s music. Those who could afford it replaced old fashioned, analog, record players with new, high-tech, digital technology. Discarded as useless and outdated, that equipment was then scavenged and given a new life as tools of Rock in their own right. Eventually, some of these low-tech musicians Grandmaster Flash, Run D.M.C, and the Beastie Boys made their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Keep an ear out for some songs by the Beastie Boys featured in The Science of Rock N Roll!) Today, you can watch musicians on street corners perfecting their drumming skills on overturned, five-gallon buckets. Similarly, percussion-based performances have been seen around the world in the musical theater production STOMP, where performers play instruments like trash cans, match boxes, brooms, and empty oil drums. Talk about making the most of what you have! What can your students do with what they have? Let s find out. It s their turn to innovate some low-tech Rock N Roll with limited resources and a lot of ingenuity! In this activity, your class will invent their own instruments for a Rock band by repurposing and reconditioning everyday items into tools of Rock. As a premise for this activity, tell your students that in these days of recycling and reusing, not to mention budget cuts, the school has decided that it would like to start a Rock band, but there is no money for it. It s up to the students to find an alternative solution. At the conclusion of the project, each group will demonstrate their new-found instrument to the class, which will then vote on the most innovative one. For assessment, each group will also submit a portfolio to you that details their design and construction process. The student activity pages will guide the groups through their design process and provide a checklist for their final portfolio. Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 21
Teacher Tips and Variations: If you are unfamiliar with the techniques used in STOMP, watch video clips from their website www.stomponline.com or search for samples on You Tube. Refer to other found sound instruments your students may have created in the past like bongo drums made from empty cans or pan lids as cymbals both to reintroduce the concept and encourage them to expand their thinking. Introduce your class to the Maker Faire movement, which even has a section devoted to musical instruments on its website (http://makeprojects.com/c/musical_instruments). Invite your school s electronics and engineering teachers to participate. As written, the lesson plan requires each group to create one instrument. If your students are working in large groups you can increase the number of instruments and require at least one percussion instrument and one melodic instrument. Challenge students by dictating that their instrument must be electronic. Adjust the lesson for younger students by only requiring acoustic instruments. Invite the school s music, orchestra, or band teacher to participate by helping the class compose and perform an original song with their new band! Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 22
Name Class Date The Found Sound Band A combination of accidental science, creative financing, and pure luck are behind several key moments in the history of Rock N Roll. In fact, one of the first Rock N Roll records to hit the scene was the result of a car ride on a bumpy road! The 1951 song Rocket 88, by the group Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, is often called the first Rock N Roll record because of its crackling, fuzzy guitar sound. That unique sound came from an amplifier that hit the roof of the car, smashing a speaker cone, during a rough ride to the studio. With no money or time for repairs, the group made do with what they had. The Science of Sound Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll explains how DJs and turntablists advanced Rock using old technology repurposed in a new ways. In the 1970s, because of a lack of equipment, taking small pieces of songs from other people s albums (called sampling ) became a signature sound of early Hip Hop music. In poverty-stricken areas of New York City, there was little access to traditional musical instruments like guitars, keyboards, and drum kits. For pioneers like Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaata, old vinyl records, two turntables, and a microphone became the instruments themselves and not just a way to listen to someone else s music. Those who could afford it replaced old fashioned, analog, record players with new, high-tech, digital technology. Discarded as useless and outdated, that equipment was then scavenged and given a new life as tools of Rock in their own right. Eventually, some of these low-tech musicians Grandmaster Flash, Run D.M.C, and the Beastie Boys made their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Keep an ear out for some songs by the Beastie Boys featured in The Science of Rock N Roll!) Today, you can watch musicians on street corners perfecting their drumming skills on overturned, five-gallon buckets. Similarly, percussion-based performances have been seen around the world in the musical theater production STOMP, where performers play instruments like trash cans, match boxes, brooms, and empty oil drums. Talk about making the most of what you have! What can you do with what you have? Let s find out! It s your turn to innovate some low-tech Rock N Roll with limited resources and a lot of ingenuity! In these days of recycling and reusing, not to mention budget cuts, your school wants to form a Rock band, but there is no money for it. It s up to your class to invent instruments by turning everyday items your group finds at home or in school into your own tools of Rock. Words to Know: acoustic, amplifier, analog, digital, melodic, percussive, sampling, turntable, turntablist Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 23
Name Class Date Begin with the guidelines below. The worksheets that follow will guide you through the engineering and design phase for your new found sound instrument. At the conclusion of the project, you will host a Rock concert featuring each group playing their instrument for the class. You will then vote on the most innovative one. Bragging rights go to the winner! Or maybe a YouTube video posted on your school website! You will also submit a portfolio to your teacher that details the design and construction process of your instrument. Your new instruments may be acoustic or electronic. You can make a percussion instrument or one that plays a melody. Existing, real musical instruments are not allowed. However, versions of them may be built with repurposed and reconditioned materials available to you from home or school. Your instrument must be made of at least two separate parts put together, found at home or in school don t forget to check the garage, attic, and recycling bins! The next page will serve as a checklist to guide your group through the design process for your found sound instrument. A copy of it should also be the first page in the portfolio your group will submit to your teacher at the completion of the project. Your portfolio should include; - The cover page with charts and checklist (included below) - List of all the materials used - Step-by-step instructions on how to build it - A labelled diagram of the instrument - Completed Repurposing Chart (included below) - Description of how to play the instrument - Explanation of how it produces its sound The boombox was another important piece of technology in the spread of Hip Hop. Their popularity peaked in the 1980s before fading in favor of personal players and car audio systems. Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 24
Name Class Date OUR FOUND SOUND BAND The members of our group are: OUR FOUND SOUND INSTRUMENTS The name of our instrument is: Our instrument is: (circle one) Acoustic Electric Our instrument is: (circle one) Percussive Melodic The traditional tool of Rock our instrument resembles most is: The three main, repurposed components of the instrument are: OUR FOUND SOUND PORTFOLIO DONE! This coversheet and checklist List of all materials used Step-by-step instructions Labelled diagram Repurposing Chart Description of how to play the instrument Explanation of how it produces sound Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 25
Name Class Date REPURPOSING CHART Use this chart to show how you reclaimed everyday items and transformed them into the three main components of your instrument. Item Original Purpose Changes Made New Use Turntables and vinyl records were instrumental in the birth of Hip Hop and the use of sampling. Lesson Plans: The Found Sound Band - 26
Algebra, Geometry, Physics LESSON 4: algebra for guitars Teacher instruction page and background information How is an acoustic guitar like an empty bottle? Simple! It s called Helmholtz resonance, of course! At the guitar kiosk in the Rock Instruments Gallery, you will see and hear the differences between electric and acoustic guitars. The electric guitar, which does not have a hole under the strings, uses electricity and a device called a pickup to turn the vibrating strings into Rock N Roll. But the acoustic guitar and empty bottle both have air spaces inside of resonating cavities where vibrating sound waves can be amplified to create music. In the 19 th century, a man named Hermann von Helmholtz came up with a mathematical formula to find the frequency of the sound waves resonating inside of a hollow cavity, as measured in Hertz (Hz). In this experiment, you will rearrange Helmholtz s resonance frequency formula to solve for one of its variables the volume of an empty bottle (your resonant cavity). On a guitar, the comparable resonant cavity is the empty space inside its hollow body. An acoustic guitar has three major parts: the hollow body, the neck, and the head. The soundboard the wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar s body uses the Helmholtz resonance principle to amplify the sounds produced by vibrating strings. The guitar player plucks or strums the strings with one hand while changing the length of the strings with the other hand, so that they produce vibrations of different frequencies. Sound waves are created that, in turn, cause the air above the soundhole to vibrate. Who would have thought that Algebra could be used to create music? Your class will calculate how much water needs to be added to six empty bottles in order to adjust the size of the air cavity inside to recreate the pitches, or frequencies, made by the individual strings on a six-string acoustic guitar. Thanks to the formula created by Helmholtz, if you know the frequency (along with a few other variables and measurements) you can figure out what size that air space needs to be when you blow across the bottle to create sound. The measurements of the neck of the bottles will be very important, as the air within this space acts like a spring, allowing the sound waves you generate by blowing across the opening to both push into and out of the empty air space inside the bottle. In a guitar, this opening is the hole in the soundboard under the strings. Although it may be a much shorter port than the neck on a bottle, the principle works the same way. The frequencies, formulas, and several other key values are provided for your students. There are six separate parts in this lesson. Remind your class to read through the entire activity first before starting their work. After you have read through the first page together as a class and discussed the concept of amplification in an acoustic guitar, play each of the six open strings on the guitar to demonstrate their sounds. Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 27
Materials: Six-string, tuned, acoustic guitar 6 glass or plastic bottles, one per group Water Metric ruler Calculator Graduated cylinders Chromatic tuner (optional) Pencil and scratch paper Teacher Tips and Variations: If you do not have easy access to a guitar, ask if a student volunteer has a six-string acoustic guitar they would be willing to bring in to class. Make sure it is tuned! The lesson plan is written with the class divided into six groups (group size depends upon the total number of students) with one string frequency assigned to each group If possible, all six bottles should be identical. However, bottles of different sizes can be used. If so, give the smaller bottles to the groups calculating the higher frequencies, and the larger bottles to those working on the lower frequencies. Glass bottles work best, but plastic can be used if you have safety concerns. Formulas and measurements provided below are assuming the bottles are round and have round openings. Make sure students notice that some letters are used to represent different values, depending on whether they are lower or upper case. For example, a lower case v in Part 1, Step 2 represents the speed of sound in air. Later in the lesson plan, a capital V represents volume. To find the value of C in the Helmholtz frequency formula, the speed of sound in air is given as 340 m/s, assuming an average room temperature. If you would like to make sure the speed of sound in air is more precisely tuned to your actual classroom temperature, use the calculator found here: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-speedsound.htm. Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 28
Name Class Date Algebra for Guitars How is an acoustic guitar like an empty bottle? Simple! It s called Helmholtz resonance, of course! At the guitar kiosk in the Rock Instruments Gallery, you will see and hear the differences between electric and acoustic guitars. The electric guitar, which does not have a hole under the strings, uses electricity and a device called a pickup to turn the vibrating strings into Rock N Roll. But the acoustic guitar and empty bottle both have air spaces inside of resonating cavities where vibrating sound waves can be amplified to create music. In the 19 th century, a man named Hermann von Helmholtz came up with a mathematical formula to find the frequency of the sound waves resonating inside of a hollow cavity, as measured in Hertz (Hz). In this experiment, you will rearrange Helmholtz s resonance frequency formula to solve for one of its variables the volume of an empty bottle (your resonant cavity). On a guitar, the comparable resonant cavity is the empty space inside its hollow body. An acoustic guitar has three major parts: the hollow body, the neck, and the head. The soundboard the wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar s body uses the Helmholtz resonance principle to amplify the sounds produced by vibrating strings. The guitar player plucks or strums the strings with one hand while changing the length of the strings with the other hand, so that they produce vibrations of different frequencies. Sound waves are created that, in turn, cause the air above the soundhole to vibrate. Who would have thought that Algebra could be used to create music? Your class will calculate how much water needs to be added to six empty bottles in order to adjust the size of the air cavity inside to recreate the pitches, or frequencies, made by the individual strings on a six-string acoustic guitar. Thanks to the formula created by Helmholtz, if you know the frequency (along with a few other variables and measurements) you can figure out what size that air space needs to be when you blow across the bottle to create sound. The measurements of the neck of your bottle will be very important, as the air within this space acts like a spring, allowing the sound waves you generated by blowing across the opening to both push into and out of the empty air space inside the bottle. In a guitar, this opening is the hole in the soundboard under the strings. Although it may be a much shorter port than the neck on your bottle, the principle works the same way. The frequencies, formulas, and several other key values are provided for you. There are six separate parts in this lesson. Read through the entire activity first before you begin your work. Measurements should be made using the metric system and, when necessary, round all numbers to two decimal places. At the conclusion of the project, try to compose and perform a song with your new instruments! Words to Know: acoustic, cavity, frequency, Hertz, pitch, resonance Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 29
Name Class Date Materials: A glass or plastic bottle Water Metric ruler Calculator Graduated cylinders Pencil and scratch paper This is Helmholtz s frequency formula, which you will use to calculate the volume of air inside each bottle: ƒ = Frequency of the resonance in Hz (Hertz) C = A constant value, incorporating the speed of sound in m/s (meters per second) A = Area of the opening of the bottle L e = Effective length of the opening to the bottle V air = Volume of air in the bottle (also known as the resonator cavity) PART 1: THE CONSTANTS Step 1: Frequency This chart lists the name of each string on a six-string guitar from lowest to highest, its location on the guitar, and the frequency (ƒ) of the sound it makes when strummed. Highlight the row that contains the information for your assigned string. Pitch: Musical Frequencies on a Six-String Guitar. Guitar String/Bottle Position Frequency (ƒ) E 6 th (bottom) 82.407 Hz A 5 th 110.00 Hz D 4 th 146.83 Hz G 3 rd 196.00 Hz B 2 nd 246.94 Hz E 1 st (top) 329.63 Hz Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 30
Name Class Date Remembering that the lower the frequency is, the lower the pitch of the note: 1a. Predict which bottle and guitar string will make the lowest sound. 1b. Predict which bottle and guitar string will make the highest sound. 2. Which guitar string s frequency will your group replicate with a bottle? Step 2: Value of C Because the value of C in the Helmholtz frequency formula is a constant, calculate that part of the formula first. The speed of sound in air is dependent on the temperature of the air. The number provided below is the speed of air at an average room temperature (v). V = 340 m/s π = 3.14 Now you can solve for C using this formula: PART 2: THE VARIABLES This part of the assignment will guide you through identifying the remaining two variables needed in the Helmholtz frequency formula in order to find the volume of air for your bottle: the area of the opening of the bottle (A) and the effective length of the opening to the bottle (L e ). Step 1: Area of the Bottle Opening This calculation is essentially the surface area of a cylinder (the neck of the bottle,) without the area of a top or bottom because the neck is an open cylinder. Start by measuring the length of the bottle s neck (l neck ) and the radius (r) of the round opening (in millimeters or centimeters, depending on the size of your bottles) and record the numbers here. Don t forget to include the units. You will also need the value of pi (π) which was given in Part 1, Step 2, above, 3.14. l neck = Length of bottle s neck = r = Radius of the opening (1/2 the diameter) = Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 31
Name Class Date The area of the bottle opening is equal to the length of the neck (l neck ) multiplied by twice the radius (r) and the value of pi (π). Solve for A. Step 2: Effective Length of the Bottle Opening When the air in the bottle s neck pushes in and out, it grabs a little bit of air from right inside the bottle and just outside the opening taking that extra air with it as it moves, effectively extending the length of the neck. This additional volume needs to be accounted for when determining the value of the effective length of the neck for the formula. Fortunately, there is a formula for calculating effective length! To calculate the effective length of the bottle s opening (L e ), use the same measurements you made for the area of the bottle opening, above. The effective length of the opening (L e ) is equal to the actual length of the neck (l neck ) added to the product of the radius (r) multiplied by a constant, 1.5. Solve for L e. PART 3: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER With the constants from Part 1 and your variables from Part 2, you can now find out how much air your particular bottle should contain (V air ) in order to recreate the pitch of your specific guitar string, when you blow across the opening of the bottle. First, collect your constants and variables in this chart. f = Frequency of the guitar string (Part 1, Step 1) = C = Constant value incorporating the speed of sound (Part 1, Step 2) = A = Area of the bottle opening (Part 2, Step ) = L e = Effective length of the bottle opening (Part 2, Step 2) = Substitute those values into the Helmholtz frequency formula. Solving for V air will give you the volume of air that needs to be inside your particular bottle in order to match the guitar string s specific frequency when you blow across the opening of the bottle. Don t forget that, because you already know the frequency, you will need to rearrange the formula to solve for V air. Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 32
Name Class Date PART 4: HOW MUCH WATER? You have figured out how much air needs to be inside your bottle so that the pitch of the tone it makes when you blow across the opening matches the frequency of your specific guitar string. Your next step is to pour enough water into your bottle so that the calculated, specific amount of air is inside. Step 1: Total Volume If your bottle still has its original label listing the volume, this is an easy step! You can also check the bottom to see if it is marked there. You may have to convert the volume amount to the metric system to match the rest of your calculations. If you need to calculate the volume (V bottle ), however, and assuming your bottles are cylinder-shaped, measure the height (h) and radius (r) of the main part of the bottle in millimeters or centimeters, depending on the size of your bottles) and record the numbers here. Don t forget to include the units. You will also need the value of pi (π) which was given in Part 1, above: 3.14. h = Height of the bottle = r = Radius of the bottle (1/2 the diameter) = The volume of a cylinder is equal to the value of pi (π) multiplied by the radius (r) squared and the height (h). Step 2: Just Add Water! The volume of water you need is equal to the total volume of the bottle minus the volume of air you calculated in Part 3. Use the graduated cylinders cups to measure and pour that precise amount of water into your bottle. The remaining air space inside the bottle should allow for your desired frequency. Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 33
Name Class Date PART 5: MAKE MUSIC! Practice blowing across the opening of the bottle until it produces a clear tone. If it doesn t work at first, try adjusting the angle or distance from your mouth. Compare the sounds made by each bottle to that made by their corresponding guitar strings. Ask your teacher for a chromatic tuner if it is available and use it to check the frequency of your bottles tones. What can you do to adjust the sound if the bottles pitches are sharp (too high) or flat (too low)? PART 6: MORE TO EXPLORE 1. You can also make music with water in glass bottles by tapping on the glass. Design an experiment to demonstrate the difference between how those sounds are made versus the tones produced by blowing into the bottles. 2. In spite of what you have just demonstrated in this activity, an argument can be made that an acoustic guitar is really only like a Helmholtz Resonator, in the true definition of one. Mr. Helmholtz used perfectly round spheres made of brass for his resonator cavities. How would that compare to a guitar? 3. The bottles with resonator cavities you used to mimic the frequencies of the guitar string are also described as closed-end air columns. What other closed-end air column instruments do you know? Hermann von Helmholtz, 1893. Library of Congress Lesson Plans: Algebra For Guitars - 34
Math, Patterns & Sequences, Music LESSON 5: the sequence of rock n roll Teacher instruction page and background information As you learned in the Rock N Roll History Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll, the roots of Rock music reach far back into the past. But did you know they actually begin in the 13 th century? At that time in medieval Europe, early piano-like keyboard instruments appeared and an Italian mathematician made history when he wrote about a number pattern called the Fibonacci Sequence. If you don t remember seeing an Italian number series at The Science of Rock N Roll, you will most definitely remember the assortment of keyboards in the Rock Instruments Gallery. Musicians have a lot of choices when it comes to playing keyboard instruments. Besides the piano, there are also organs, synthesizers, and tape-replay keyboards like the Mellotron. Think about what they all have in common. It s the pattern of white and black keys on each of their keyboards. That pattern is what brings us back to Leonardo de Pisa, the Italian mathematician better known as Fibonacci. In 1202, - yes, 1202! - he used the sequence of numbers named for him to solve a word problem about reproducing rabbits in his book Liber Abaci. Turns out that his number sequence can be used for a lot of things besides counting rabbits! In this activity, your students will see why the Fibonacci Sequence fascinates 13 th century mathematicians and 21 st century Rock stars alike as they practice calculating it and learning where its patterns appear in Rock N Roll music! Teacher Tips and Variations: Make sure students have the correct answers to Part 1 before continuing Part 2. If they can t figure it out individually or with partners, complete Part 1 as a class. Make it a contest to see who can figure out the series first, and then ask that student to explain it to the rest of the class. Language arts teachers can incorporate the use of the Fibonacci Sequence in poetry units. Art teachers will be familiar with how the proportions of the Golden Rectangle, based on Fibonacci numbers, are used in paintings. Science teachers will have many examples of how the Fibonacci Sequence appears in nature. Advanced math students can look for more complicated recursion patterns in the Sequence. For example, the product of any four consecutive Fibonacci numbers is equal to the area of a Pythagorean triangle. Additional connections between music and the Fibonacci Sequence incorporate the Golden Ratio, Golden Rectangle, and the concept of Phi. For example, the climactic moment in many popular songs comes about 61.5% of the way through the song, and the Golden Ratio of 0.61538 approximates Phi. Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock N Roll - 35
Name Class Date The Sequence of Rock N Roll As you learned in the Rock N Roll History Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll, the roots of Rock music reach far back into the past. But did you know they actually begin in the 13 th century? At that time in medieval Europe, early piano-like keyboard instruments appeared and an Italian mathematician made history when he wrote about a number pattern called the Fibonacci Sequence. If you don t remember seeing an Italian number series at The Science of Rock N Roll, you will most definitely remember the assortment of keyboards in the Rock Instruments Gallery. Musicians have a lot of choices when it comes to playing keyboard instruments. Besides the piano, there are also organs, synthesizers, and tape-replay keyboards like the Mellotron. Think about what they all have in common. It s the pattern of white and black keys on each of their keyboards. That pattern is what brings us back to Leonardo de Pisa, the Italian mathematician better known as Fibonacci. In 1202, - yes, 1202! - he used the sequence of numbers named for him to solve a word problem about reproducing rabbits in his book Liber Abaci. Turns out that his number sequence can be used for a lot of things besides counting rabbits! In this activity, you will see why the Fibonacci Sequence fascinates both 13 th century mathematicians and 21 st century Rock stars alike as you practice calculating it and learning where its patterns appear in Rock N Roll music! Words to Know: octave, recursion, root tone, sequence, whole tone PART 1: THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE 1. Study this number pattern below. What comes next? Fill in the next ten numbers in the series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,,,,,,,,,, 2. What rule did you use to find the numbers the next ten numbers? 3. How far could this number series continue? Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock N Roll - 36
Name Class Date PART 2: PATTERNS WITH PATTERNS Now that you understand the basic pattern of the Fibonacci Sequence, look for more patterns repeating within the original pattern (which is a mathematical phenomenon known as recursion ). Hint: You may want to extend the Fibonacci Sequence, above, in order to help you see the patterns. 1. Find a pattern of odd and even numbers. 2. Find a pattern in numbers divisible by the constant 13. 3. Find a pattern in the last digits of the numbers. PART 3: THE MUSIC Q: Where at The Science of Rock N Roll did you see the Fibonacci Sequence? A: Everywhere! 1. Keyboards: You saw several keyboards in the Rock Instruments Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll. One octave on a keyboard, from its first note to the first note of the next octave, has 13 keys. In those 13 keys, there are eight white keys and five black keys, which are divided into groups of two and three. List each number, lowest to highest, from this keyboard description. What do you find? Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock N Roll - 37
Name Class Date 2. Octaves and Scales: You learned about the musical scale we use for Western music, including Rock N Roll, in the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll. An octave has eight notes, starting with its first note and counting up to the first note of the next octave ( octave comes from the Latin word for eight ). The first note of an octave s scale is called its root tone. Counting two notes up from the root tone brings you to the whole tone, which is the third note. The whole tone and the fifth note in a scale form the basis of its chords. Furthermore, the dominant tone of the scale is the fifth note, which also happens to be the eighth note of all thirteen notes in the octave. List each unique number, from lowest to highest, from this discussion on scales and octaves. What do you find? Grand Piano Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock N Roll - 38
Name Class Date PART 4: THE WORDS Many Classical composers found ways to use the patterns of the Fibonacci sequence in their masterpieces. Much research has been conducted to show connections of this number pattern to specific pieces of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussey, and Bartók, among others. But what about Rock N Roll? How much do you think today s Rock stars know about Fibonacci? Hint: It s quite a bit! 1. Read the opening lyrics of the song Lateralus by the band Tool. Count the number of syllables in each line and write the number on the space provided. Black, then, white are, all I see, in my infancy, red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me, lets me see. There is, so, much, more and beckons me, to look through to these, infinite possibilities. As below so above and beyond I imagine, drawn outside the lines of reason. Push the envelope. Watch it bend. 2. What do you notice about the syllable count? 3. Experiment with the lyrics of your favorite song. Do they already fall into a pattern of Fibonacci numbers? If not, try rewriting or reorganizing them to fit a pattern like the one used by Tool, above. Does it change the sound and tone of the song? How? Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock N Roll - 39
interdisciplinary activities and project ideas Make your field trip to The Science of Rock N Roll a school-wide event! The inquiry-based interdisciplinary activities and project ideas described below will help teachers of other subjects use The Science of Rock N Roll in their instruction. Share these suggestions with your colleagues so they can teach in the key of Rock, too! GEOGRAPHY Is Rock N Roll a world-wide endeavor or a uniquely American invention? Make copies of the Technology Timeline found in the Additional Resources section of this Teacher s Guide and ask your students to list each of the different countries mentioned. (If a country is not specified, it is in the US.) Then, provide a world map for students to identify and label those countries. Ask students to look for patterns or trends, and encourage them to think of explanations for those patterns within a historical context. For example, some German innovations are tied directly to their mobilization efforts leading up to WWII while Japanese companies only begin to appear after their recovery from WWII. Repeat the process with a map of the United States and have students identify the states mentioned in the timeline. What patterns or trends appear on the US map? This 2-inch magnetic tape was made by AMPEX, the first American manufacturer of tape recorders. The reel-to-reel tape recorder technology, however, was first developed as the Magnetophone in Germany during the 1930s. Interdisciplinary Activites and Project Ideas - 40
STATISTICS Direct students to design and develop an online survey about the kinds of technology people currently own for listening to music, based on what they learned in the Rock N Roll History Gallery and from the Format Wars timeline in the Recording Rock Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll. Questions should inquire about the formats that people presently use to listen to their music as well as the devices that they currently possess or have in their home: digital recordings for mobile phones and MP3 players, CDs and CD players, cassette tapes and tape player, 8-track tapes and player, and records and record player. Participants ages and genders should also be included. Once the responses are collected in a database, ask the class to look for trends, find possible cause and effect relationships, and draw conclusions by age group and gender as they create graphs and charts to analyze their data. The first Sony Walkman, 1979 CIVICS While sampling music and the technology used to do it are usually associated with the growth of Hip Hop in the 1980s, using pieces of other sounds in a new song was not a new idea. John Lennon played a Mellotron (the first sampler that stored sounds on tape to playback later) in Strawberry Fields Forever. Sampling is also not limited to Hip Hop; it can be found in almost any genre of music you hear on the radio today. You can direct your students to www.whosampled.com to find out who their favorite artists have sampled. In fact, until the copyright lawsuits at the turn of the 21st century, sampling introduced Rock N Roll to whole new audiences when melodies and lyrics from older Rock songs were woven into new songs. These copyright lawsuits have been a hot topic in the news recently, as musicians and record companies attempt to sue other musicians and companies over copyright infringements, plagiarism, and lost revenue. Do these legal issues stifle the creative process? Is it just about the money? Can you own a sound? Is there a statute of limitations? How much does a sample of a song need to be changed to be considered new? Use these questions to initiate student research on copyright laws and how they are interpreted for music. ANATOMY In the Science of Sound Gallery at The Science of Rock N Roll, your students learned about the intersection of art and anatomy from the Brain on Rock exhibit. Many studies have shown the positive and therapeutic effects of music. It is often used to treat depression, strokes, learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, migraines, and pain management. The right music can motivate you, calm you, help your memory, or improve your spatial-temporal reasoning. However, the physical processes inside the brain that make all this happen are not well understood yet. Provide students with a map of the brain and help them locate and identify the anatomical features listed below that are involved with hearing and processing music. Organ of Corti Primary auditory cortex Broca s and Wernicke s areas Auditory nerve Temporal lobe Superior temporal gyrus Brainstem Amygdale Ventral tegmental area Midbrain Nucleus accumbens Interdisciplinary Activites and Project Ideas - 41
Next, have the students work in groups to research the function of each these areas of the brain and create a chart that lists their hypotheses for the role each one plays in processing music. CAREERS When a band goes on tour, dozens if not hundreds of people work hard to make sure that the band, fans, and record labels are happy. They move equipment, pack venues, market the event, manage public relations and much more. From the Band Manager to the Roadies, everyone works together to ensure a successful tour. Using the Rock N Roll careers they learned about in the Careers in Rock Gallery during the field trip to The Science of Rock N Roll (and listed below), ask your students to brainstorm the specific science, technology, engineering, arts, and math classes that would be useful for pursuing these jobs. Band Manager Tour Manager Publicist Road Crew Lighting Designer Recording Engineer Costume Designer Stylists Next, each student should pick the career that appeals to them the most, find a college or university that offers a degree in that area, and list the courses required to earn it. Programs and majors could include accounting, marketing, public relations, electrical engineering, music business management, fashion design, event planning, communications, performing arts, audio engineering, music production, costume design, cosmetology, or theater production. Can you think of others? Interdisciplinary Activites and Project Ideas - 42