Brentwood explores sound generation

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Brentwood School’s Grade 4-6 musical students got the unique experience of making the connection of how music, science and technology are linked.
“This will help the students make cross curriculum connections and they will be able to discuss what they did with others,” said teacher Carolyn Steeves. “I think this is great!”
Facilitators from the National Music Centre based in Calgary came to the school on Sept. 18 and presented four workshops, and students rotated through each one.
In the guitar science unit, students looked at a familiar instrument and its separate parts, noting how the strings’ construction and tension on the string interact with the body of the guitar to create sound. Differences in the types of guitar music were also explored.
In the building a theremin unit, students built an electronic device that produces sound without the player touching the device. Clips, speakers, amplifiers, conductive play-doe and circuits all connect to give students and understanding of how circuits work.
Air power workshops students try out wind instruments and learn about resonance, frequency of sound waves, timbre and pitch. The different sound travelling down cones or cylinders and the way vibration happens is all learned.
Chris Austman of the National Music Centre handed out hand held tech units and student saw how iPods, voice, objects and electronic instruments work. Techno sound sampling and looping is used in things like beat boxes and syntho-music that is often heard in nightclubs. Students learned how pitch, repetition and rhythm organize sound into music.