Special Events

Image Description

Through a grant from the PBS program THE MUSIC INSTINCT: Science & Song, KEET-TV and the Humboldt Arts Council/Morris Graves Museum of Art are offering middle school-aged kids an after-school program on the science of sound and music. The goal of the program is to promote a deeper understanding of the relationships between music and science, and to encourage further student exploration of both.

THE MUSIC INSTINCT After-School Program

Monday, March 22 through Friday, March 26

3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Morris Graves Museum of Art

686 F Street, Eureka

The program is free, but we are asking kids to register with Rebecca Cacciari at the Morris Graves Museum of Art at 442-0278, ext.201.

Here's the lineup:

Monday, March 22: We've Got Rhythm with AkaBella

We’ve Got Rhythm will explore the ways in which humans create and respond to rhythm. The lesson begins with a fun game that challenges students to maintain a steady rhythm. Students will then brainstorm ways in which rhythm is present in their body and the world around them and learn about synchronizing to music and reflect upon whether this is a uniquely human skill. The lesson ends with students experimenting with rhythm and creating their own syncopated and non-syncopated rhythms using their hands, feet, simple rhythm instruments and/or an online interactive featuring animal sounds.

Tuesday, March 23: Music and Movement with Marla Joy

Music and Movement will be based on three major principles: 1) Dance is a fundamental form of human expression that likely evolved together with music as a way of generating rhythm. 2) Dance requires specialized mental skills. One brain area houses the spatial orientation of the body to move through space, and one area of the brain serves to synchronized the actions to music 3) Unconscious entertainment. Our instinct for dance causes us to absent-mindedly tap our feet to a beat. It bypasses high level auditory area and communicates on a more subconscious level.

Wednesday, March 24: Music: It's How Your Brain Is Wired with Andy Barnett

Music: It's How Your Brain Is Wired explores the concept that the human brain is set up for music making just like a computer is programmed to do it's work. Speech, a sense of time, emotions, and connections to others all operate in different parts of the brain. Making and listening to music connects all these parts of your brain, and sets your body singing and dancing. This workshop explores how through music we can literally feel these brain connections in our bodies, and experience our power as musical creators. Three topics will be our guide: 1) accuracy 2) clarity 3) attitude. That is, playing the right sound so as to be understood with the special personal touch that makes music so powerful. The instructor will also include topics from his book "Compose Yourself! Awakening to the Rhythms of Life" where students will explore how music stands as a ready guide to a richer and more harmonious life.

Thursday, March 25: Creating Soundscape with Jackie Dandeneau

Creating Soundscape focuses on listening, creating sound and ensemble singing. Using the sounds found in the environment around us, both natural and manmade, participants will learn to deepen their ability to listen, while exploring the possibilities of their own voice. Participants will delve into the multiple layers of everyday sound; explorations of imitation will lead to the extension and interpretation of sound both as an individual and as a group. Working in the realm of soundscape, vocalization, and vocal improvisation, participants will learn to express their visual stimuli such as pictures, walls and angles, through their voices. They will come to understand the creation of mood and effect and how much we can communicate through the voice alone without relying on words and facial expressions. Taking the musician beyond the staff and the beginner closer to their music, we embrace the innate musician in all and work toward an ensemble sound unique in its scope. This workshop is greatly influenced by the work of R. Murray Schafer, his compositions and his book The Sound Environment.

Friday, March 26: Music & Movies: Sound Effects in Cinema with Sean Powers

Music & Movies: Sound Effects In Cinema explores sound emotions and the use of soundtracks to create drama in cinema and live theatre.

Join KEET for THE MUSIC INSTINCT at Family Arts Day at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. Music Instinct after-school program instructors will present the science of sound at Family Arts Day on April 10 form 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
 
To learn more about THE MUSIC INSTINCT, check out their website:
 
MUSIC INSTINCT’s Website includes:
 
Extra interview footage
A blog featuring entries from author and featured guest on the show, Daniel Levitin and Concetta M. Tomaino music therapist
3 Lesson Plans covering grades K-12 incorporating hands on web interactives
 
 
“Experimental Music” (Grades: 5-8) In this lesson, students will learn about the elements of music and will design and conduct their own scientific experiments on how people respond to music, using examples from THE MUSIC INSTINCT as a guide. They will learn to determine a research question that can be tested in an experiment, will write a hypothesis, and will collect data using classmates, peers, or the community as their subjects.
“We’ve Got Rhythm” (Grades 5-8) In this lesson, students will explore the ways in which humans create and respond to rhythm, using examples from THE MUSIC INSTINCT as a guide.
“Good Vibrations!” (Grades 5-8) This lesson offers an introduction to the physical nature of sound—its origin in vibration, its transmission though various mediums, and its range of frequencies including those above and below our own audible spectrum.
 
Web Interactives:
Chord Structure: Learn about basic chord structure
Frequency Explorer: Learn about frequency and how it manifests in sounds the sounds around us
Rhythm Explorer: Learn about how rhythm can manifest itself in the environment
 
 
Major funding for THE MUSIC INSTINCT is provided by the National Science Foundation, Mary Rodgers Guettel, NAMM FOUNDATION, National Endowment for the Arts, Rita and Fritz Markus, The Vital Projects Fund, the Irving Harris Foundation, Sono and Victor Elmaleh, Thea Petschek Iervolino and public television viewers.