teacher ’s guide - scienceofrock.com · lesson 1: listening to pictures ..... p. 7-13 lesson 2:...

teacher’s guidegrades 4-8

table of contents - 1

table of contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. p. 2-4

Field Trip Activity: Behind the Music ............................................................................................................... p. 5-6

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1: Listening to Pictures ..................................................................................................................... p. 7-13

Lesson 2: Vinyl Geometry ............................................................................................................................... p. 14-18

Lesson 3: The Found Sound Band ............................................................................................................... p. 19-24

Lesson 4: Seeing Sound ................................................................................................................................ p. 25-30

Lesson 5: The Sequence of Rock ‘N’ Roll ................................................................................................... p. 31-35

Interdisciplinary Activities and Project Ideas ................................................................................................. p. 36-39

Games and Puzzles

Cryptograms ...................................................................................................................................................... p. 40-42

Logic Puzzles ..................................................................................................................................................... p. 43-48

Word Searches .................................................................................................................................................. p. 49-50

Answer Keys ........................................................................................................................................................... p. 51-54

Additional Resources

Recommended Reading Lists ......................................................................................................................... p. 55-56

Technology Time Line ....................................................................................................................................... p. 57-67

Glossary ................................................................................................................................................................... p. 68-71

Curriculum Standards

National ............................................................................................................................................................... p. 72-77

© 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.

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Content created by TurnKey Education, Inc., for Elevation Productions

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introduction - 2

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 - 3

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 - 4

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 to 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 grades four through eight, while the other volume is for high school students. 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.

The first lesson plan, Listening to Pictures, is a primary source activity using photographs to compare the evolution of technology. Your students will answer questions about how the ways we listen to and purchase music have changed from the late 1800s to today. In the second lesson plan, Vinyl Geometry, you will use old-fashioned records to teach your class how to measure and calculate the circumferences of different size circles. 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 next lesson plan, Seeing Sound, your students will learn about the frequencies produced by the instruments in a Rock band and the stereo speakers designed to spread their sound. The Sequence of Rock ‘N’ Roll, 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 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!

Field Trip Activity: Behind the Music - 5

Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

behind the music: rock ‘n’ roll engineersField 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 - 6

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.

Lesson Plans: Listening to Pictures - 7

LESSON 1: listening to picturesTeacher instruction page and background information

In this lesson, your students will look at two images that are primary sources: one is a photograph from 1897 and the other is from 1939. They will then answer questions about how the ways we listen to and purchase music have changed from the late 1800s to today.

Although most people 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 meant for the phonograph to be used to play music but other inventors, like Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson, thought it was a great idea!

Edison’s phonographs with wax cylinders, similar to the one in the first photograph below, were soon replaced by gramophones with flat discs, like the Victrola. Before long, people were listening to their favorite songs on record players, such as the ones shown in the second picture below. 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 first picture, from 1897, is a photograph of a family gathered around their Edison phonograph, listening to music, under a portrait of Edison himself. For a brief period of time, Edison made “talking dolls” with small phonographs inside, which may even be the doll held by the little girl in this vintage photo!

The second picture, from 1939, is a photograph of record players and listening booths inside the Magnamusic record shop in New York City. Elsewhere around the shop, you would have seen floor-to-ceiling shelves of vinyl records behind the counter, just waiting for you to give them a listen. After you study the two pictures, answer the questions and fill in the chart that follows.

Teacher Tips and Variations:

• Remindstudentstoreadthroughallthequestionsattheendbeforetheystudythepictures.

• Foryoungerstudents,projecttheimagestodiscussasaclass,orcreateseveralhigh-resolutionprint-outsofeach one for the students to work with in groups.

• Theaddressfortherecordshopinthesecondpictureis152W.57thSt.,NewYorkCity.Continuethe“thenandnow” comparison with 1939 by using Google maps to show students what is located at that address today.

• Usethephotographsascreativewritingprompts.Studentscanwriteshortstoriesaboutwhathappened immediately before and after the photos were taken.

Technology and Society, History of Science, Primary Source


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Listening to Pictures

A “primary source” is a first-hand account of an historical event or time, recorded in the very own words of an eyewitness, like a diary, or captured visually at that moment in time, like a picture. Your history book, which is written by scholars about historical events or times, is a “secondary source.” In this lesson, you will look at two images that are primary sources to see what they have to tell you. One is a photograph from 1897 and the other is from 1939. You will then answer questions about how the ways we listen to and purchase music have changed over from the late 1800s to today.

Although most people 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 meant for the phonograph to be used to play music but other inventors, like Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson, thought it was a great idea!

Edison’s phonographs with wax cylinders, similar to the one in the photograph below, were soon replaced by gramophones with flat discs, like the Victrola. Before long, people were listening to their favorite songs on record players, such as the ones shown in the second picture below. 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 first picture, from 1897, is a photograph of a man, two women, and two children gathered around an Edison phonograph, listening to music, under a portrait of Edison himself. For a brief period of time, Edison made “talking dolls” with small phonographs inside, which may even be the doll held by the little girl or the one under the tree!

The second picture, from 1939, is a photograph of record players and listening booths inside the Magnamusic record shop in New York City. Elsewhere around the shop, you would have seen floor-to-ceiling shelves of vinyl records behind the counter, just waiting for you to give them a listen in one of the listening booths. After you study the two pictures, answer the questions that follow.

Words to Know: gramophones, phonograph


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 1897.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

PHOTOGRAPH 1: 1897

1. What is the source of the music in this photo?

2. For what purpose was this photo most likely taken? Why?

3. At what time of year was this photo taken? How do you know?

4. How many people are in the photo? What do you think their relationship is?

5. How do you think the little girl holding the doll is feeling?


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

PHOTOGRAPH 2: 1939

6. What is the source of the music in this photo?

7. For what purpose do you think this photo was taken?

8. Are there any people in the shop? What is featured most prominently in the photo?

9. What are the only decorations in the shop?

10. Besides the change in technology, how else does this photo seem more modern than the first one?


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

TODAY

11. What device do you usually use to listen to music?

12. Where or how do you usually see that device advertised?

13. How do you purchase the music you want to listen to? How do you sample it first?

14. What do your family and friends gather around for entertainment? Describe a recent time you did this.

15. Describe or draw an idea for a photograph that could appear as an advertisement in a magazine today for your favorite way of listening to music with family and friends.

Lesson Plans: Vinyl Geometry - 14

LESSON 2: vinyl geometryTeacher 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 use three old-fashioned vinyl records to teach how to measure and calculate the circumference of a circle. Your students will be working in groups of three. The materials and mathematical formulas they need are included on their worksheets.

Materials per group:

• 3copiesofthestudentworksheets

• Pieceofstringatleast40incheslong

• Rulerwithinchesandcentimeters

• 3vinylrecords - 45 rpm (7 inch) - 33 1/3 rpm (12 inch) - 78 rpm (10 inch)

• Calculatororscratchpaper

Geometry of a Circle, Circumference, Unit Conversion



• Remindstudentstoreadthroughtheentireassignmentbeforegettingstarted.

• Studentswillworkingroupsofthree.Eachgroupofthreewillneedasetofthematerialsfromthelistabove.

• Lookforoldrecordsatthriftstoresandyardsales.Theywillprobablygetscratchedduringtheactivity,sodon’tuse any of value.

• ExpandthelessonbyhavingstudentscomparethemeasurementsofanaudioCD,whichhasadiameterof5.5inches. • Allowstudentstouseacalculatorifneeded.

• Reviewthe“VinylGeometry”lessoninThe Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll Teacher’s Guide for Grades 9 – 12 for use with students ready to explore additional activities incorporating area and rpms.

Early RCA 45s: When RCA introduced the 45 rpm single in March 1949, releases were color-coded by genre for shopping convenience.


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, jukebox, rpm, shellac

Materials:

• 2friends

• Pieceofstringatleast40incheslong

• Rulerwithinchesandcentimeters

• 3vinylrecords - 45 rpm (7 inch) - 33 1/3 rpm (12 inch) - 78 rpm (10 inch)

• Calculatororscratchpaper


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

C = 2 πr π = pi

PART 1: DIAMETER AND RADIUSCalculate the radius of each record.

PART 2: MEASURE PERIMETERWrap 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. Assign one record size to each member of your group and share your results.

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches

7

12

10

inches

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches cm

Record size String

Record size Diameter Radius


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

PART 3: CALCULATE CIRCUMFERENCEUsing the values for diameter and radius calculated in Part 1, calculate the circumference of each record using the two methods listed here. Assign one record size to each member of your group and share your results. Then convert the circumferences measured in inches to the metric system, using centimeters and rounding to two decimal places.

• Usetheformula:C=πd

• Usetheformula:C=2πr

How do the three methods for finding the circumference, from Part 2 and here in Part 3, compare to each other?

PART 4: COMPARETrue 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. These records are ranked by geometric size, smallest to largest: 45 rpm record, 33 1/3 rpm record, 78 rpm record. True False

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches inches cm

Record size C = π d C = 2 π r Metric

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: The Found Sound Band - 19

LESSON 3:the found sound bandTeacher 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.

Musicians who could afford it replaced their old-fashioned, analog, record players with new, “high-tech,” digital technology. Thrown out as useless and outdated, that equipment was given new life as tools of Rock in their own right. Eventually, some of these “low-tech” musicians, like 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 talented musicians on street corners drumming on empty, upside-down, plastic buckets. On a bigger scale, percussion-based performances have been seen in theaters around the world in the musical STOMP®, where performers play “instruments” like trash cans, match boxes, brooms, and empty oil drums. Talk about making the most of what you have!

Now it is your students’ turn to make some low-tech Rock ‘N’ Roll! Tell the class that the school wants to form its own Rock band this year in order to make a new school song, but there isn’t enough money to buy any musical instruments. It’s up to the students to invent some by turning everyday items into their own tools of Rock.

Begin the project by dividing the class into groups. Each group is responsible for everything from finding objects to repurpose into instruments to writing the melody and lyrics, based on what they learned about melody, hook, and contour in the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll. At the end of the project, the groups will perform in front of the class, and then vote for the best act. For assessment, each group will also submit a portfolio to you that details their design and construction process. The student activity pages that follow will guide the groups through their design process and provide a checklist for their final portfolio.

Mechanical Engineering, Inventions, Music Composition



• Remindstudentstoreadthroughallinstructionsbeforebeginningtheproject.

• Foryoungerstudents,youmaywanttoassignonlyoneinstrument,insteadofthetwodescribedinthelessonplan.

• IfyouareunfamiliarwiththetechniquesusedinSTOMP®,watchvideoclipsfromtheirwebsitewww.stomponline.comor search for samples on You Tube.

• Althoughstudentscanbringinresourcesfromhomewhentheystarttheproject,limitingconstructiontimeforthegroup to when they are at school will help ensure that students (and not parents) are the main creative force!

• MakeyourFoundSoundBandtheprojectacross-curricularendeavour!EnlistLanguageArtsteacherstohelpstudents write the lyrics by studying poetry and rhyming schemes. Music and band teachers can help with composing the melody. Media and technology specialists can direct a music video for the winning group and post it on the school’s website.

• Refertoother“foundsound”instrumentsyourstudentsmayhavecreatedinthepast—likebongodrumsmadefrom empty cans or pan lids as cymbals—both to reintroduce the concept and to encourage them to expand their thinking.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

The Found Sound Band

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.

Musicians who could afford it replaced their old-fashioned, analog, record players with new, “high-tech,” digital technology. Thrown out as useless and outdated, that equipment was given new life as tools of Rock in their own right. Eventually, some of these “low-tech” musicians, like 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 talented musicians on street corners drumming on empty, upside-down, plastic buckets. On a bigger scale, percussion-based performances have been seen in theaters around the world in the musical STOMP®, where performers play “instruments” like trash cans, match boxes, brooms, and empty oil drums. Talk about making the most of what you have!

Now it is your turn to make some low-tech Rock ‘N’ Roll! Your school wants to form its own Rock band this year and create a new school song, but there isn’t enough money to buy any musical instruments. It’s up to your class to invent instruments by turning everyday items found at school into your own tools of Rock. After the class divides into groups, each one will be responsible for everything from finding objects to use or repurpose as instruments to writing the melody and lyrics, based on what you learned about melody, hook, and contour in the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

Words to Know: amplifier, analog, digital, lyrics, melody, percussion, portfolio, sampling, turntable, turntablist


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Begin with the rules listed below. The worksheets will help you plan and build your new “found sound” instruments. At the end of the project, you will host a Rock concert in class and each group will play their new, rockin’ school song on their instruments. You will all then vote for the best one. Bragging rights go to the winner! Or maybe a YouTube video posted on your school website! Your group will also turn in a portfolio to your teacher that explains how you made your instruments and how they make music.

• Yourgroupwillmaketwoinstruments:onepercussioninstrumentandonethatcanplayamelody.

• Yournewinstrumentsmaybeacousticorelectronic.

• Existing,realmusicalinstrumentsarenotallowed.However,youcanbuildversionsofthemwithmaterials available to you from home or in school.

• Yourinstrumentmustbemadeofatleasttwoseparatepartsputtogether,foundathomeorinschool—don’tforget to check the garage, attic, and recycling bins!

• Thenextpagewillserveasachecklisttoguideyourgroupthroughthedesignprocessforyour“foundsound” instrument. A copy of it should also be the first page in the portfolio your group will give to your teacher at the end of the project.

• Yourportfolioshouldinclude;

- The cover page with charts and checklist (included below) - List of all materials used for both instruments - Step-by-step instructions on how to build both instruments - A labelled diagram of both instruments - Completed “Repurposing Chart” (included below)


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

OURFOUNDSOUNDBAND

Name of our band __________________________________________________________________________________________

Members of our band _______________________________________________________________________________________

OURFOUNDSOUNDINSTRUMENTS

What is the Instrument’s name?

Is it acoustic or electric?

What real instrument does it resembles most?

What is the 1st main part used to make it?

What is the 2nd main part used to make it?

How does it create the musical sound you will use in your song?

OURFOUNDSOUNDPORTFOLIO DONE!

This coversheet and checklist

Attached the list of all materials used

Attached the step-by-step instructions

Attached the labelled diagrams

Repurposing Chart (next page)

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

________________________________ ________________________________

Instrument #1: Percussion Instrument #2: Melody-maker

Percussion Melody-maker


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

REPURPOSING CHART

Use this chart to show how you transformed everyday items into tools of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

OUR FOUND SOUND PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT

OUR FOUND SOUND MELODY MAKER

Part Original Purpose Changes Made New Use

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.

Part Original Purpose Changes Made New Use

Lesson Plans: Seeing Sound - 25

LESSON 4: seeing soundTeacher instruction page and background information

Speakers and amplifiers are as important to Rock ‘N’ Roll as guitars and drums. Rock concerts wouldn’t sound very good without them, and some instruments—like the electric guitar—wouldn’t make any sound at all! As you saw in the Science of Sound Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, different speakers have different purposes and sizes. Some of them even have funny names, like “tweeter” and “squawker,” depending on the frequency range they are made to send out.

There are two ways to measure the sounds you hear in your favorite song. These measurements describe both the size and the speed of the sound waves created by the musical tones. Each tone causes the air around it to vibrate. As the vibrations move from one air molecule to the next, it becomes a sound wave.

Is the tone you hear loud or quiet? Loud sounds make big vibrations with tall sound waves. Soft, quiet sounds make smaller vibrations with shorter sound waves. The volume of sound is measured in decibels (dB). The sound of breathing is 10dB, normal conversation is about 60dB; and a live Rock concert is about 120 dB. Is the tone high or low? High sounds make waves with very fast vibrations, while low tones make sound waves with slow vibrations. Scientists call the speed of these waves’ vibrations “frequency;” musicians call it “pitch.” Frequency is measured in a unit called Hertz (Hz). Speakers must be able to faithfully produce sounds through the entire range of human hearing, which begins at roughly 20 Hz and extends to beyond 16,000 Hz.

Because it is extremely difficult for one speaker to do a good job reproducing all those frequencies, stereos have multiple speakers to create better and more realistic sounds. In this activity, your students will learn more about frequencies produced by the instruments in a Rock band and the stereo speakers that spread their sound. Then, the class will work in groups for a demonstration of a speaker in action. Each group will create their own batch of “goo,” a non-Newtonian fluid. When it is their turn, each group will test it on the speaker in front of the class at the frequency tone you assign them. All materials listed below are per group, except for the speaker.

Audio Engineering Physics, Physical Science,


Materials:

• Cornstarch

• Water

• Bowl

• Spoon

• Measuringcups

• Foodcoveringorliquidwatercolor(optional)

• Newspaperstoprotecttheworkareas

• Plasticwrap

• Stereospeaker(withasubwoofer)orstereowhereyoucanturndownthetrebleandturnupthebass


• Averythinmetalbakingsheetheldonthespeakercanalsobeused,insteadoftheplasticwrap.Studentswill need to steady the pan gently on the speaker and experiment with the amount of pressure to use in order to get the best results.

• Donotpourthegoodownthedrainwhenyouarefinished;itwillclogthesink.Itcanbeputdirectlyinthetrash.

• Ifpossible,removethefrontcoverfromthespeakertorevealthecone.

• Tofindthelowtonesthatcreatethebestresults,youcandownloadaudioclipsfromthissitewww.ronelmm.com/tones for your computer or iPod, or search for “subwoofer test MP3.”

• Toneslessthan40Hzworkbest.Assignonetonefrequencytoeachgrouptotestwiththeirgoowhenitistheir turn at the speaker.

• Toaddanartisticelementtotheexperiment,havestudentsadddropsoffoodcoloringorliquidwatercolor onto the goo as it bounces and watch the colors swirl and mix.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Seeing Sound

Speakers and amplifiers are as important to Rock ‘N’ Roll as guitars and drums. Rock concerts wouldn’t sound very good without them, and some instruments—like the electric guitar—wouldn’t make any sound at all! As you saw in the Science of Sound Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, different speakers have different purposes and some of them have funny names, like “tweeter” and “squawker,” based on the frequency range they are made to send out.

There are two ways to measure the sounds you hear in your favorite song. These measurements describe both the size and the speed of the sound waves created by the tones. Each tone causes the air around it to vibrate. As the vibrations move from one air molecule to the next, it becomes a sound wave.

Is the tone you hear loud or quiet? Loud sounds make big vibrations with tall sound waves. Soft, quiet sounds make smaller vibrations with shorter sound waves. The volume of sound is measured in decibels (dB). The sound of breathing is 10dB, normal conversation is about 60dB; and a live Rock concert is about 120 dB.

Is the tone high or low? High sounds make waves with very fast vibrations, while low tones make sound waves with slow vibrations. Scientists call the speed of these waves’ vibrations “frequency;” musicians call it “pitch.” Frequency is measured in a unit called Hertz (Hz). Speakers must be able to faithfully produce sounds through the entire range of human hearing, which begins at roughly 20 Hz and extends to beyond 16,000 Hz.

Because it is extremely difficult for one speaker to do a good job reproducing all those frequencies, stereos have multiple speakers to create better and more realistic sounds. In this activity, you will learn more about frequencies produced by the instruments in a Rock band and the stereo speakers that spread their sound. Then, you will work in groups for a demonstration of a speaker in action. Each group will create their own batch of “goo” and test it on the speaker in front of the class at the frequency, or pitch, assigned by your teacher.

Words to Know: decibel, frequency, Hertz, pitch, squawker, tweeter, woofer

PART 1: SPEAKER FREQUENCYThis first chart lists three common speaker types with their frequency ranges.

Speaker FrequencyRange

Subwoofer Below 300 Hz

Squawker (or mid-range) 300 Hz - 5,000 Hz

Tweeter 2,000 Hz - 20,000 Hz


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

This second chart lists instruments in a Rock band along with their average frequency ranges. In the third column, fill in the kind of speaker (or speakers, if there are more than one) that should be used to best produce that sound and answer the remaining questions that follow.

7. Which speaker relays the lowest notes and produces the slowest sound waves?

8. Which speaker relays the highest notes and produces the fastest sound waves?

9. Which of these three speakers do you think is the smallest? Which has to be the biggest?

PART 2: BOUNCING BASS

You have probably felt the frequency of a song with a strong bass part. The slow, large sound waves of loud, low-frequency (or low-pitched) tones can travel farther and through more obstacles than the waves made by higher pitches or at softer volumes. Some of those frequencies may even be lower than what your ear can detect! This is why you can sometimes hear and feel the thumping music from a car next to you, even if your windows are up. The combination of volume and pitch carry those bass sounds far and wide. It takes a lot of motion to send those bass vibrations on their way. Low frequencies require a lot of movement in the speaker itself to make those big sound waves, so speakers designed for deep notes need larger cones because of the amount of air that must be vibrated in reproducing those sounds. High notes don’t need to move as much and their cones have to vibrate very quickly. This is why many stereo speaker systems often include two or more different speakers inside, each responsible for reproducing sounds in specific frequency ranges.

Instruments

1) Bass drum

2) Snare drum

3) Hi-hat cymbal

4) 4-string bass guitar

5) 6-string guitar

6) Piano

Main Frequencies

50 – 100 Hz

1,000 – 2,000 Hz

3,000 – 5,000 Hz

40 – 260 Hz

80 – 1400 Hz

30 – 4,200 Hz

Speakers


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Follow the procedures below for a demonstration of low frequencies.

Materials:

• Cornstarch • Water • Bowl • Spoon • Measuringcups • Newspapers • Plasticwrap

Procedure:

1. Cover your work area with newspapers. This project can get messy!

2. In the bowl, mix 1 parts of water to 2 parts cornstarch. (This means if you use 1 cup of water, you’ll use 2 cups of cornstarch.)

3. Stir the cornstarch and water until it forms a liquid if you drip it off your fingers, but becomes solid if you punch it. (This is called a “non-Newtonian” fluid, which means it is neither a solid nor a liquid, like quick sand or silly putty.)

4. Add more water if your goo mixture is too thick. Add more cornstarch if your goo mixture is too runny.

5. Ask your teacher for the frequency tone you will test with your goo.

Our frequency tone is:

6. When it is your groups’ turn, spread the plastic wrap over the speaker, which should be lying on a table with the cone facing up. Group members may need to gently hold the edges of the plastic wrap to hold it in place.

7. Slowly pour your goo onto the plastic wrap over speaker.

8. Watch what happens to your goo as the tone is played. Adjust the volume settings to see how it may affect the movement of your goo.

9. Describe what happens to the goo on the speaker.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

9. Which frequency made the goo move the most?

The next time you hear the low tones from the music in the car next to you or from your neighbor practicing to be a Rock star in the garage, remember your “dancing goo!”

Woofer Tweeter

Lesson Plans: The Sequence of Rock ‘N’ Roll - 31

LESSON 5: the sequence of rock ‘n’ rollTeacher 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 13th 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 13th century mathematicians and 21st century Rock stars alike as they practice calculating it and learning where its patterns appear in Rock ‘N’ Roll music!


• MakesurestudentshavethecorrectanswerstoPart1beforecontinuingPart2.Iftheycan’tfigureitoutindividually 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.

• LanguageartsteacherscanincorporatetheuseoftheFibonacciSequenceinpoetryunits.Artteacherswillbefamiliar 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.

• AdditionalconnectionsbetweenmusicandtheFibonacciSequenceincorporatetheGoldenRatio,GoldenRectangle, 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.

Math, Patterns & Sequences, Music


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 13th 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 13th century mathematicians and 21st 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, synthesizer, 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?


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 with 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?


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 are use to make chords. The dominant tone of this scale is the fifth note, which also happens to be the eighth note of all thirteen notes in the octave. List each number, lowest to highest, from this scales and octaves description. What do you find?

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.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

2. What do you notice about the syllable counts of each line?

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?

Grand Piano

Interdisciplinary Activites and Project Ideas - 36

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 color in those countries. Ask students to look for patterns or trends, and encourage them to think of explanations for those patterns. Students may notice:

• NorthAmerica,Europe,andEastAsiaaretheonlyareasmentioned • JapanesecompaniesappearafterrecoveryfromWWII • GermaninnovationsappearastheymobilizedforWWII • MosttechnologicalinnovationscamefromtheUnitedStates

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.

The first Sony Walkman, 1979


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, brain injuries, migraines, and pain management. The right music can motivate you, calm you, or help your memory. However, the 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. Next, have the students work in groups to research the function of one of the items on the list and suggest explanations for the role it plays in how we process music once it reaches the brain.

• OrganofCorti •Auditorycortex • Auditorynerve •Temporallobe • Brainstem •Amygdale • Midbrain •Nucleusaccumbens

STATISTICS

Create a survey for students to poll family members and friends about the kinds of technology they 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. In addition to the questions below, participants’ ages and genders should be included. Once the data is collected, compile the results from all the students. Ask the class to look for trends and draw conclusions by age group and gender as they create graphs and charts to analyze their data.

Which of these formats do you currently use to listen to music? - Digital recordings (for mobile phone, computer, MP3 player) - CD s - Cassette tapes - 8-track tapes - Records

Which of these devices for listening to music do you currently own or are in your home? - MP3 player (iPod) - Mobile phone - Computer - CD player - Cassette tape player - 8-track tape player - Record player

Do you currently own a form of recorded music without the device required to play it? (For example, records but no record player.)


FINE ARTS AND LANGUAGE ARTS

When RCA introduced the 45 rpm single in March 1949, the releases were color-coded by genre, or type of music, for shopping convenience. Use the original RCA color list found below as an example and help your class come to a consensus to identify the five most popular music genres of today. Then, individually, ask them to assign the color of their choice to those five genres and write a paragraph for each one explaining their color selection.

• Black:Popularsongs • Red:TraditionalClassicalmusic • Midnightblue:PopularClassicalmusic • Yellow:Children’sMusic • Green:Country&Western • Cerise(pinkishred):Rhythm&Blues • SkyBlue:Internationalsongs

Do you know anyone who still plays music on 8-track tapes?

Early RCA 45s: When RCA introduced the 45 rpm single in March 1949, releases were color-coded by genre for shopping convenience.


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 courses in high school and college that would be most useful for pursuing these jobs.

• BandManager • TourManager • Publicist • RoadCrew • LightingDesigner • RecordingEngineer • CostumeDesigner • Stylist • Make-UpandHairStylists

Games and Puzzles: Cryptograms - 40

Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

GAMES & PUZZLES

Lower Level Cryptogram: Musical Math

Numbers and calculations are used in all aspects of making, performing, and hearing music. For example, written music is presented in measures and meters—both mathematical terms. Rhythm is indicated by the “time signature,” which looks like a fraction and reveals how many beats there will be per measure.

In the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, you learned that tempo is the number of beats in one minute and pitch is described by vibrations per second—both ratios. In fact, the wave patterns created by different pitches can even predict, mathematically, whether those notes will sound good together.

Rock stars and famous musicians use the hidden power of mathematics to make their music every day. Solve the cryptogram puzzle below to find a quote about the power of music from Bono, the lead singer of U2 (who have several songs featured in The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll). Four letters have been revealed to help you start cracking the code of mathematical symbols that make up the cryptogram. Use the chart below to keep track of the letters as you decipher the message. You won’t need to find all 26 letters of the alphabet in order to decode the message from Bono.

-Bono (aka Paul Hewson)


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Upper Level Cryptogram: Musical Math

Numbers and calculations are used in all aspects of making, performing, and hearing music. For example, written music is presented in measures and meters—both mathematical terms. Rhythm is indicated by the “time signature,” which looks like a fraction and reveals how many beats there will be per measure.

In the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, you learned that tempo is the number of beats in one minute and pitch is described by vibrations per second—both ratios. In fact, the wave patterns created by the different pitches can even predict, mathematically, whether those notes will sound good together.

Solve the cryptogram puzzle below to finish a definition of music from the co-discoverer of calculus, a German mathematician and philosopher named Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716). Three letters have been revealed to help you start cracking the code of numerical symbols that make up the cryptogram. Use this chart to keep track of the letters as you decipher the message.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

-Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz

Games and Puzzles: Logic Puzzles - 43

Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Lower Level Logic Puzzle: Science in the Key of Rock

In the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, you learned how music can be described scientifically using key, tone, pitch, rhythm, tempo, timbre, and melody. For this logic puzzle, you will help the keyboard player for a new band use these building blocks to put three new songs back together after a mishap, involving a spilled cup of coffee. Read the short story and clues below. Use the grid to help you solve the puzzle and figure out which keys, tempos, and instruments go together.

Logic puzzles are a fun way to practice critical thinking skills and key math concepts. The trick to solving a logic puzzle is to narrow down your options and use your deductive reasoning skills. Start eliminating options by following the clues in the logic puzzle that clearly state if something is not true and placing an “X” in the appropriate box of the puzzle grid provided.

These puzzles help you think mathematically by practicing your strategy skills and reflecting on your decisions. Slowly but surely, you will begin narrowing down the possibilities. When you finish all the clues and still haven’t completed the logic puzzle, read through the clues one at a time again. Once you make some basic deductions, you will be able to learn new things and come closer to solving the puzzle.

Story: While drinking coffee one morning, the keyboard player for a new band gets ideas for three great songs to put her band’s first album. She grabs a pen and a napkin and quickly begins making notes about the keys (F-major, G-major, or A-minor), tempos (85 Beats Per Minute, 135 BPM, 186 BPM), and instruments she will play for each song (organ, synthesizer, piano).

As she reaches for another napkin to scribble down more ideas, she spills her coffee all over the table and her notes. Help her collect and organize the notes for the three new songs, based on what she can remember and what she can still read on the napkin through the spilled coffee.

Clues:

• ThemelodyshewillplayontheorgandoesnotsoundgoodinFmajor.

• Shedoesn’twanttoplaythesynthesizerat135BMP,butshewilluseitforthesonginGmajor.

• Thepiano’ssongsoundsbestatthemediumtempo.

• Theonlysongplayedinaminorkeywillhaveatempoof85BMP.


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Instruments

Organ

Synthesizer

Piano

Tempo (BPM) Key

Fill in this chart to record your answers as you solve the puzzle:

85 135 186 F-MAJOR G-MAJOR A-MINOR

ORGAN X

SYNTHESIZER

PIANO

F-MAJOR

G-MAJOR

A-MINOR

INS

TRU

ME

NTS

KE

Y

TEMPO (BPM) KEY


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Upper Level Logic Puzzle: Science in the Key of Rock

In the Writing and Composition Gallery at The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, you how music can be described scientifically using key, tone, pitch, rhythm, tempo, and timbre. For this logic puzzle, you will help the keyboard player for your band use some of these building blocks to put four new songs back together after a mishap involving some spilled coffee. Read the story and clues below to match the key, tempo, keyboard instrument, and place on the album for each of the new songs she has written.

Logic puzzles are a fun way to practice critical thinking skills and key math concepts. The trick to solving a logic puzzle is to narrow down your options and use your deductive reasoning skills. Start eliminating options by following the clues in the logic puzzle that clearly state if something is not true and placing an “X” in the appropriate box of the puzzle grid provided. Slowly but surely, you will begin narrowing down the possibilities. When you finish all the clues and still haven’t completed the logic puzzle, read through the clues one at a time again. Once you make some basic deductions, you will be able to learn new things and come closer to solving the puzzle.

These puzzles help you think mathematically by practicing your strategy skills and reflecting on your decisions. The “Steps for Solving a Logic Puzzle” section will help you solve this advanced logic puzzle. Remember to narrow down your options first. One clue will be marked on the puzzle to get you started and a chart is provided for you to keep track of your deductions!

Steps for Solving a Logic Puzzle:

1. Read through the entire list of clues first before making any marks on your chart. Eliminate options by following the clues, one by one, and looking for definitive statements. If a connection is stated explicitly in the clues, then mark it on the chart. For example, the first clue states that the electric piano’s song is not in a minor key. Find the box on the chart where “electric piano” and the two minor keys intersect and you will find an X in both of those boxes.

2. Mark all the obvious questions stated in the rest of the clues, the same way you did in the step above. For example, Clue #5 states that the Mellotron replay keyboard will be played at 85 BPM. Find the box on the chart where “Mellotron replay” and “85 BPM” intersect. Put a check mark in that square. You can then put an X in the boxes that show no other instrumentwill be played at 85 BPM, and that 85 BPM does not go with any other instrument.

3. Eventually, you will narrow down the fields and some answers will become obvious as other options are eliminated.

4. After all the obvious connections have been made, reread the list of clues, keeping in mind what you know now. For example, Clue #8 begins with “Either the song with a tempo of 115 BPM, which is the first one on the album...” so now you know that the first song on the album goes with the 115 BPM tempo. Since Clue #6 begins with “The Hammond B3 organ won’t be played at 115 BPM…” we know the first song on the album will not be played on the Hammond B3 organ.

5. You may need to read your clues many times. Be diligent! If you get stuck, check your chart to see if any connections have revealed themselves. Look for tricky language in the clues, too. Good luck!


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

The Story:

While drinking coffee one morning, the keyboard player for your band is inspired with some great ideas for four new songs to go on the next album. She grabs a pen and a napkin and quickly begins making notes about the key, tempo (or beats per minute), and instrument that she will play for each song. She also decides where on the album that song will appear.

As she reaches for another napkin to scribble down more ideas, she spills her coffee all over the table and her notes. Help her collect and organize the notes for the new songs, based on what she can remember and what she can still read through the spilled coffee. You need to match up the keyboard instrument, tempo, key, and the position on the album for each song.

Instrument • HammondB3organ • Synthesizer • Electricpiano • Mellotronreplaykeyboard

Tempo (beats per minute) • 85BPM • 115BPM • 135BPM • 186BPM

The Clues:

• Theelectricpiano’ssongisnotinaminorkey. • ThethirdsongonthealbumisplayedinGmajor. • Ofthesongthathasatempoof115BPMandthesongthatisplayedontheelectricpiano,oneisthefirstsongon the album and the other is the sixth. • ThesonginAminorappearsonthealbumbeforethesonginFmajor. • TheMellotronreplaykeyboardwillbeplayedat85BPM. • TheHammondB3organwon’tbeplayedat115BPM,norisitforthesongwritteninGmajor. • Thesongwithatempoof186BPMisnotforthesynthesizerandisnotinFmajor. • Eitherthesongwithatempoof115BPM,whichisthefirstoneonthealbum,ortheoneat135BPMisinAminor. • ThesongfeaturingthesynthesizerappearsonthealbumbeforetheoneplayedontheelectricpianointhekeyofFmajor.

Key • Aminor • Fsharpminor • Fmajor • Gmajor

Position on the album • Firstsong • Thirdsong • Sixthsong • Lastsong


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

INSTRUMENT KEY TEMPO

Ham

mon

d

B3

orga

n

Syn

thes

izer

Ele

ctric

pia

no

Mel

lotro

n

repl

ay

A m

inor

F sh

arp

min

or

F m

ajor

G m

ajor

85 B

PM

115

BP

M

135

BP

M

186

BP

M

PO

SIT

ION

ON

ALB

UM

First

Third

Sixth

Last

TEM

PO

85 BPM

115 BPM

135 BPM

186 BPM

KE

Y

A minor X

F sharp minor

X

F major

G major


Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Fill in this chart to record your answers as you solve the puzzle:

Position on album

First

Third

Sixth

Last

Instrument Key Tempo

Games and Puzzles: Word Search - 49

Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Lower Level Word Search: Guitar Licks

At The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll you get up close and personal with the science behind some of the instruments in a Rock band— like guitars, drums, and keyboards—and can even get your hands on some in the Rock Instruments Gallery, which includes electric and bass guitars. You probably already know that guitars can be acoustic or electric, but did you also know just how many different kinds of guitars there are? In the Word Search below, look for the 15—yes, 15!—types of guitars listed in the word bank.

ACOUSTIC ARCHTOP BAROQUE BASS BATTENTE CLASSICAL

ELECTRIC FLAMENCO MANOUCHE PARLOR RESONATOR

ROMANTIC RUSSIAN STEEL WEISSENBORN

Games and Puzzles: Word Search - 50

Name ___________________________________________________Class _______________________ Date ____________________

Upper Level Word Search: The Beat Goes On

At The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll you get up close and personal with the science behind some of the instruments in a Rock band— like guitars, drums, and keyboards—and can even get take a seat behind a drum kit in the Rock Instruments Gallery. The basic drum kit is probably very familiar to you, but since the drum is the probably the oldest instrument played by humans, there are many different types found all over the world. In the Word Search below, look for 20 kinds of drums, also known as membranophones. Bonus! Find the country of origin for each kind of drum listed in the word bank.

ASHIKO BASS BATA BODHRAN BONGO BUK CAJON CONGA

DJEMBE KHOL MADAL OCTOBANS SLIT SNARE TABLA

TAIKO TAMBOURINE TIMBALES TOMTOM TYMPANI

Answer Key - 51

answer key

FIELD TRIP ACTIVITY1.C, 2.M, 3.D, 4.K, 5.E, 6.O, 7.F, 8.N, 9.Q, 10.H, 11.I, 12.I, 13.I, 14.A, 15.L, 16.J, 17.P, 18.G, 19.B, 20.R

LESSON PLANS

Lesson 1: Listening to Pictures

• Phonograph/waxcylinder • Advertisement;signonthewall,portraitofEdison • Christmas/Holidays/December;decoratedChristmastreeontheright. • Fivepeople;probablysupposedtorepresentafamily,perhapsofseveralgenerations • Shelookssad/unhappy/grumpy/annoyed • Recordplayer • Probablyanadvertisement • No;therecordplayers • Flowersinavaseonthecounter;otherrecordsonthewall • Answerswillvary,maymentionthelackofpeople,doesn’tseemtobeappealingtofamilies,inapublicspace(shop), setting seems austere • Answerswillvary;willprobablyincludeiPod,MP3,orcomputer • Answerswillvary;willprobablyincludeTVoronline • Answerswillvary;willprobablyincludeonlinesamplingandpurchasing • Answerswillvary;willprobablyincludeTV,movies,computer

Lesson 2: Vinyl Geometry

Part 1:

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches

7

12

10

inches

3.5

6.0

5.0

Record size Diameter Radius

Answer Key - 52

Part 3:

The results of the 2 methods from Part 3 should be identical to each other and pretty close to the measurements from Part 2.

Part 4: 1. True; 2. False; 3. True

Lesson 4: Seeing Sound

Part 1: 1) Subwoofer 2) Squawker 3)Squawker&tweeter 4) Subwoofer 5)Subwoofer&squawker 6)Subwoofer&squawker 7) Subwoofer 8) Tweeter 9) Smallest – tweeter. Biggest – subwoofer.

Part 2: Answers will vary based on the frequencies used.

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches

21.98

37.68

31.4

inches

21.98

37.68

31.4

cm

55.83

95.71

79.76

Record size C= πd C= 2πr Metric

rpm

45

33 1/3

78

inches

~22

~38

~31

cm

~56

~96

~79

Record size String

Part 2:

Answer Key - 53

Lesson 5: The Sequence of Rock’N’Roll

Part 1: • 34,55,89,144,233,377,610,987,1597,2584 • Addthe2precedingnumberstogether:1+1=2,1+2=3,2+3=5,3+5=8,5+8=13... • Forever/infinitely

Part 2: • odd,odd,even,odd,odd,even • every5th number ends in a 5 or 0; or divisible by 5

Part 3: • 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,thebeginningoftheSequence • 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,thebeginningoftheSequence

Part: 4: • 1,1,2,3,5,8,5,3,2,1,1,2,3,5,8 • It’sacycleofFibonaccinumbersgoingupanddownandupagainbyone,andrepeating

GAMES & PUZZLES

Cryptograms

Lower Level: “Music can change the world because it can change people.”Upper Level: “…the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting.”

( ∆ ∏ ∑ − ∕ ∙ √ ≥ ∟ ∩ ∫ ≈ ≠

≡ ≤ ∞ + ℮ # = % [ X ∂ )

Answer Key - 54

Logic Puzzles

Lower Level: Organ 85 BPM A minor Synthesizer 186 BMP G major Piano 135 BMP F major

Upper Level: 1st Synthesizer A minor 115 BPM 3rd Mellotron G major 85 BPM 6th Electric piano F major 135 BPM Last Hammond F # minor 186 BPM

Word Searches

Lower Level:

ACOUSTIC: 14, 12 NWARCHTOP: 3, 15 NEBAROQUE: 3, 2 EBASS: 4, 6 NWBATTENTE: 15, 1 SCLASSICAL: 6, 13 NEELECTRIC: 8, 9 WFLAMENCO: 1, 1 SEMANOUCHE: 14, 13 NPARLOR: 6, 3 SWRESONATOR: 1, 8 EROMANTIC: 9, 4 SWRUSSIAN: 15, 9 SSTEEL: 5, 12 WWEISSENBORN: 10, 12 N

Upper Level:

ASHIKO: 12, 1 SW TAIKO: 14, 4 SBASS: 4, 1 SW TAMBOURINE: 20, 12 WBATA: 22, 8 NW TIMBALES: 8, 8 NWBODHRAN: 1, 15 E TOMTOM: 8, 15 SEBONGO: 10, 16 N TYMPANI: 19, 17 NEBUK: 19, 15 NECAJON: 17, 3 ECONGA: 4, 5 NEDJEMBE: 25, 1 SKHOL: 24, 10 NMADAL: 6, 20 WOCTOBANS: 15, 8 NSLIT: 4, 13 WSNARE: 21, 18 NWTABLA: 9, 1 SE

Additional Resources - 55

additional resources

Recommended Reading

From the innovations of those who first created it to the changing technology of how it is produced, books about the science of Rock ‘N’ Roll can fill a library! After your class trip to The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll, you will want to use these lists as a starting point for your own special collection. The books are divided by reading level into Elementary School, Middle School, and High School, which is also appropriate for adults.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Allen, Kathy. The Science of a Rock Concert: Sound in Action (Action Science). Capstone Press, 2010.

Claybourne, Anna. The Science of a Guitar: The Science of Sound. Gareth Stevens, 2009.

Deane-Pratt, Ade. Musical Instruments (How Things Work). PowerKids Press, 2011.

Gardner, Robert. Jazzy Science Projects with Sound and Music (Fantastic Physical Science Experiments). Enslow Elementary, 2006.

George-Warren,Holly&LauraLevine.Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll. Sandpiper, 2004.

Jacobson, Ryan. How MP3 Players Work (Discovering How Things Work). Child’s World, 2011.

Levine,Shar&LeslieJohnstone.Science Experiments with Sound & Music. Sterling, 2000.

Mooney, Melissa Duke. The ABCs of Rock. Tricycle Press, 2010.

Richards, Jon. Sounds and Music (Science Factory). Stargazer Books, 2004.

Riggs, Kate. Rock ‘n’ Roll (The World of Music). Creative Co., 2008.

Schwartz, Jeffrey. The Rock & Roll Alphabet. Mojo Hand, 2011.

Sohn,Emily&DianeBair.Sound: Music to Your Ears (Iscience Readers). Norwood House Press, 2011.

Throp, Claire. Digital Music: A Revolution in Music (Culture in Action). Heinemann Raintree, 2010.

Walker, Sally M. Sound (Early Bird Energy). Lerner Publications, 2005.

Wiseman, Anne Sayre. Making Music. Storey Publishing, 2003.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Gardner, Robert. Light, Sound, and Waves Science Fair Projects: Using Sunglasses, Guitars, CDs, and Other Stuff (Physics! Best

Science Projects). Enslow, 2004.

Gardner, Robert. Sound Projects with a Music Lab You Can Build (Build-A-Lab! Science Experiments). Enslow, 2008.

Guillain, Charlotte. Music (Jobs If You Like It). Raintree Hardbacks, 2012.

Hilvert,John,LindaBruce,&AlanHilvert-Bruce.Music Technology (How Does it Work?). Smart Apple Media, 2007.

Kallen, Stuart A. The History of Rock and Roll (The Music Library). Lucent, 2002.

Krull,Kathleen,StephenAlcorn,&AlessanderBalzer.The Book of Rock Stars: 24 Musical Icons That Shine Through History. Hyperion, 2003.

Nathan, Amy. The Young Musician’s Survival Guide: Tips from Teens and Pros. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Parker, Steve. The Science of Sound: Projects and Experiments with Music and Sound Waves (Tabletop Scientist). Heinemann Raintree, 2005.

Pettigrew, Mark. Music and Sounds (Science World). Stargazer Books, 2004.

Sabbeth, Alex. Rubber-Band Banjos and a Java Jive Bass: Projects and Activities on the Science of Music and Sound. Jossey-Bass, 1997.

Sturm, Jeanne. MP3 Players (Let’s Explore Science). Rourke Publishing, 2010.

Tomecek, Stephen M. Music (Experimenting with Everyday Science). Chelsea House, 2010.

VanHecke, Susan. Raggin’ Jazzin’ Rockin’: A History of American Musical Instrument Makers. Boyds Mill Press, 2011.

Additional Resources - 56

HIGH SCHOOL

Brackett, David. The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Brooks, Tim. Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life). University of

Illinois Press, 2005.

Covach, John. What’s That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History (Second Edition). W.W.Norton&Co.,2009.

Crampton,Luke&DayffdRees.Rock and Roll Year By Year. DK ADULT, 2005.

Davies, Cath. Approaches to Pop Music: Classroom and Teacher’s Guide Combined. Auteur, 2008.

Epting, Chris. Led Zeppelin Crashed Here: The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America Led Zeppelin Crashed Here: The Rock

and Roll Landmarks of North America. Santa Monica Press, 2007.

Horse, Kandia Crazy. Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock N Roll. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004

Hopkin, Bart. Making Musical Instruments with Kids: 67 Easy Projects for Adults Working with Children. See Sharp Press, 2009.

Kot, Greg. Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. Scribner, 2010.

Lauterbach, Preston. The Chitlin’ Circuit: And the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll.W.W.Norton&Co.,2012.

Levitin, Daniel J. This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. Penguin Group, 2007.

McKenzie, Thomas Scott. Power Chord: One Man’s Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes. It Books, 2012.

Morton, Jr., David L. Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology. John Hopkins University Press, 2006.

Powell, John. How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond.

Little,Brown,&Co.,2011.

Sterne, Jonathan. The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Duke University Press, 2003.

Tschmuck, Peter. Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry. Springer, 2012.

Technology Timeline - 57

1857 In France, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville uses a needle made to vibrate with sound waves to etch representations

of the waves onto parchment paper coated with lampblack. In 2008, scans of the waveforms from this device - called a

“photoautograph”- were turned into digital audio files.

1877 Thomas Edison invents the cylinder phonograph when he is able to recover “Mary’s Little Lamb” from a strip of tinfoil wrapped

around a spinning cylinder.

1877 Ernest Siemens of Germany patents the first loudspeaker.

1877 Emile Berliner invents the first microphone. He sells the rights to the Bell Telephone company.

1878 The first music is put on record: cornetist Jules Levy plays “Yankee Doodle.”

1881 Clement Ader, using carbon microphones and armature headphones, accidentally produces a stereo effect when listeners

outside a hall monitor adjacent telephone lines linked to stage mikes at the Paris Opera in France.

1887 Emile Berliner receives a patent on the gramophone, a flat-disc record player that makes the production of multiple

copies practical.

1888 Edison introduces an electric motor-driven phonograph.

1889 Louis Glass invents a coin-operated phonograph and installs it at the “Palais Royal” saloon in San Francisco, CA—the

predecessor of the modern jukebox.

1898 Valdemar Poulsen patents his “Telegraphone,” which records magnetically on steel wire.

1900 Poulsen unveils his invention to the public at the Paris Exposition. Austria’s Emperor Franz Josef records his congratulations.

1900 Eldredge Johnson perfects the first system to mass produce pre-recorded flat disks.

technology timelineThe events in this timeline outline the evolution of technology, science, and engineering as it pertains to making, recording, and listening to music, from the mid-19th century to today. You will be able to see, and even play, some of the important items mentioned here during your field trip to The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll and many of the highlights are also included in the interactive “Format Wars” timeline in the Recording Rock Gallery.

TEACHERS! This wealth of information can also be used in your classroom:

• asaresourceofbiographiesofkeyplayers • togenerateastatisticalanalysisforthedistributionrateofsignificanteventsinthescience,technology, and engineering of Rock ‘N’ Roll throughout the decades • initiateadebateamongstudentsoverwhichtechnologicaldevelopmentismostsignificant


1901 The Victor Talking Machine Company is founded by Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson.

1906 Lee DeForest invents the triode vacuum tube--the first electronic signal amplifier.

1906 March: RCA Victor’s “Victrola” model record player is introduced with variable turntable speed so it could play the wide range

of phonograph records being made at the time.

1907 Enrico Caruso singing “Vesti la guibba” is the first recording to sell more than 1 million copies and Caruso becomes the first

performer with star power created by selling his recordings.

1908 Columbia introduces the first double-sided phonograph records.

1909 Thefirstfoot-operatedbassdrumappears,courtesyofLudwig&LudwigCo.ofChicago,IL.

1910 Enrico Caruso, an Italian tenor opera singer, is heard in the first live radio broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, NYC.

1912 Major Edwin F. Armstrong is issued a patent for a regenerative circuit, making radio reception practical.

1912 Charles “Doc” Herrold begins the first regular public radio broadcasting of voice and music. It can be heard from San Jose,

CA, to San Francisco, CA.

1912 Flat disk recordings become more popular than cylinders for the first time and record companies begin dropping

cylinder production.

1913 The first “talking movie” is demonstrated by Edison using his Kinetophone process, a cylinder player mechanically synchronized

to a film projector.

1915 The Chicago Automatic Machine and Tool Company invents a jukebox that plays records.

1917 The first record of a Jazz song is made by the Original Dixieland Brass Band.

1920 Commercial AM radio broadcasting begins on KDKA from Philadelphia, PA.

1922 The US Department of Commerce decrees that broadcasting licenses will only be given to radio stations that promise not to

play pre-recorded music a result of lobbying from musicians and record companies who felt that free music on the radio was

killing their business.

1924 Chester W. Rice and Edward E. Kellogg patent the modern, moving loudspeaker while working for General Electric. It costs

$250 each (which is about $3,000 today).

1926 Hi-hat cymbals, which consist of two cymbals sitting on top of each other, first appear.

1926 The first weekly music magazine, Melody Maker, is published.

1927 James Lansing forms a company that builds 6- and 8-inch speaker cones for radios at a factory in South Los Angeles, CA.

1928 US phonograph makers agree to standardize phonograph speeds at 78 rpm.


1931 What would be recognized as the first true electric guitar is invented by George Rickenbacker for musicians who needed help

being heard amongst the other instruments in Jazz bands and Blues combos.

1931 George Rickenbacker, George Beauchamp, and Harry Watson found the first guitar amplifier company, Electro String.

1932 October: The first documented performance with an electrically amplified guitar takes place in Wichita, KS, by Gage Brewer.

1934 Electric organs, designed to imitate acoustic pipe organs, first appear.

1935 Laurens Hammond invents the first Hammond organ.

1935 AEG demonstrates the Magnetophon, a reel-to-reel tape recorder using magnetic tape, at the Berlin Radio Exposition

in Germany.

1936 January: Billboard magazine releases its first chart for record sales, the “Hit Parade.”

1937 Beyerdynamic, a German company, designs the first commercial headphones, which will evolve into something resembling a

high-fidelity product by 1950.

1942 The American Federation of Musicians union head James Petrillo bans all members from making records in order to pressure

record companies into offering better royalty deals to musicians. The ban ends in 1944 but the decree is repeated in 1948.

1943 February: Paul Klipsch’s design for the corner horn speaker receives a patent.

1944 CBS sets up a lab to experiment with new materials for making records to replace shellac.

1945 Following the surrender of Germany in WWII, Major John T. Mullin sends two Magnetophone tape decks back to the US in

multiple Army mailbags. Two years later, he demonstrates the new technology to engineers in San Francisco.

1947 AT&T’sBellLabsinventsthetransistor.

1947 Bing Crosby is impressed with the new Magnetophon technology and invests in AMPEX, the first American manufacturer of

tape recorders.

1948 June: Columbia Records—part of CBS—introduces the 12-inch vinyl LP at an event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

It can hold up to 20 minutes of music per side.

1949 RCA introduces the 45 rpm single which quickly replaces the 10-inch 78 rpm disc as the standard format for

Rock ‘N’ Roll music.

1949 The Chamberlin Rhythmate uses loops of tape drawn across a series of playback heads--a predecessor of later, time-keeping,

drum machines.

1949 December: Fats Domino records the track “The Fat Man” for Imperial Records. It is often considered the first Rock ‘N’ Roll record.

1950 Jukeboxes become more sophisticated with the switch from 78 rpm discs to 45 rpm singles.


1950 In France, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry Jacques Poullin compose “Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul” (Symphony for a

Man Alone) using only pre-recorded sound samples. Many credit this recording as the birth of sampling, which becomes

prevalent in the Hip Hop music of the 1980s.

1951 Brenston and His Delta Cats (actually Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm) record the song “Rocket 88,” which is also

considered by many to be the first Rock ‘N’ Roll album.

1951 Leo Fender’s Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company introduces two iconic electric guitars: the Fender Precision

Bass and the Telecaster solid-body electric.

1952 January: Sam Phillips founds Sun Records in Tennessee, which soon begins recording new artists like Elvis Presley and

Johnny Cash.

1952 The first FM radio for the car is introduced by Blaupunkt, a German manufacturer of electronics equipment.

1954 DJ Alan “Moondog” Freed moves his Rock ‘N’ Roll radio show that primarily played music by African-Americans from Cleveland

to New York, spreading the use of the term “Rock ‘N’ Roll” to white audiences.

1954 Leo Fender’s Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company introduces the solid-body Stratocaster electric guitar, a new,

sleeker version of the Fender electric guitar.

1954 Edgar M. Villchur invents the acoustic suspension woofer, a breakthrough in speaker design that allows for small speakers

cabinets to pump out more bass. His company, Acoustic Research, markets the AR-1 to consumers and the home hi-fi

revolution begins.

1954 October: Texas Instruments begins production of the battery-operated transistor radio.

1955 Most record players available for home use at this time operate at 33, 45 and 78 rpms.

1955 The RCA synthesizer is introduced.

1956 Dr. Peter Goldmark, one of the developers of the LP record for Columbia, convinces the Chrysler automobile company to offer

an in-dash turntable for several car models. The “Highway Hi-Fi” plays special, 7-inch, 16 rpm records that are only available

through Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth/DeSoto dealers.

1956 The novelty song “The Flying Saucer” uses segments sampled from the original recordings of 18 different hit songs

from 1955–56.

1957 The Quad ESL, the first consumer electrostatic loudspeaker, is launched.

1957 August: The Rock ‘N’ Roll music TV show American Bandstand moves to a national audience on ABC.

1957 December: U.S. Congress considers legislation that would require song lyrics to be screened by a review committee before

being available for sale.

1958 John C. Koss, a Jazz musician, introduces proper stereo headphones.


1958 Stereo records are introduced.

1958 July: Esso, a gasoline company, issues a report claiming that listening to Rock ‘N’ Roll while driving costs motorists money

because the rhythm makes the driver jiggle the gas pedal, which is bad for gas mileage.

1958 The USSR makes the underground music distribution system known as roentigenizdat illegal. Unable to purchase Western

Rock ‘N’ Roll records legally, Soviet music rebels had been distributing music on used x-ray film.

1958 Atlantic Records installs an 8-track recorder in its recording studio.

1958 Cabesse, a French company, begins selling the first box-enclosed loudspeakers.

1959 The Wurlitzer Sideman, a breakthrough in drum machines, uses tape loops of pre-recorded rhythms.

1961 Stereo radio broadcasting begins in the US.

1962 The distortion pedal for electric guitars is introduced.

1963 The Beach Boys contract Sunn Electronics to build the first large full-range sound system for use in a Rock concert

environment.

1963 William Lear, who also came up with the Lear jet, invents the 8-track tape.

1964 January: The Rock ‘N’ Roll music TV show Top of the Pops debuts on the BBC in the UK.

1964 February: The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is seen by 73 million people, which means that 60% of all the

TVs turned on that night are tuned to Ed Sullivan and the Beatles.

1964 The Norelco Carry-Corder is the first portable cassette tape machine intended for individual consumers.

1964 The Kinks record “You Really Got Me,” one of the first songs to be built around what is later called “power chords”—a chord

technique that uses only two notes instead of the typical three.

1965 The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, a group from Austin, Texas, are the first to declare themselves “psychedelic.”

1965 The Mellotron, the first attempt at storing real-world sounds for later playback and manipulation on a keyboard, is invented by

the three Bradley brothers of Birmingham, England.

1965 The first commercially available modern synthesizer is introduced by Dr. Bob Moog.

1965 September: Based on a continuous loop tape cartridge used by radio stations, William Lear (the inventor of the Lear jet) and

Richard Kraus design the 8-track tape and demonstrate the technology for auto executives. Ford is the first to offer 8-track

players as options in select 1966 models.

1966 Dolby Laboratories introduces the Dolby A into professional recording studios, which reduces the irritating hissing sound

inherent to early magnetic tape recordings.


1966 The wah-wah pedal for electric guitars is introduced.

1967 The US Federal Communications Commission imposes a non-duplication rule, meaning that FM simulcasts of AM broadcasts

are no longer allowed. As a result, station owners begin to allow Rock music on their FM frequencies.

1967 The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published, featuring John Lennon on its cover.

1967 Sea-based radio stations are declared illegal in the UK by the Martine Broadcasting Offences Act. Because commercial radio

did not exist in the UK, music fans had been tuning in to off-shore, pirate radio stations that played Rock ‘N’ Roll on boats

anchored just outside the country’s territorial limits.

1967 June: The Beatles perform “All You Need Is Love” on the BBC program Our World. It is the first-ever global television link using

new satellite technology and the program is seen by 400 million people in 26 countries.

1967 June: The first truly massive music event, the Monterey International Pop Festival, takes place June 16-19, with a very primitive

sound system.

1967 The Monkees are the first Rock band to use a synthesizer on record, on a song called “Star Collector” from their album, Pisces,

Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.

1968 Long-playing album sales surpass those of 45s on both sides of the Atlantic.

1968 Nearly a hundred different companies are manufacturing portable cassette tape machines.

1969 A company called Becker introduces the first in-car unit to provide all sound in stereo.

1969 When Hair appears on Broadway, one of the selling features is the production’s high-powered audio system.

1969 Great technical advances in sound reinforcement are made by Bill Hanley, the “Father of Festival Sound,” when he designs the

audio system for the Woodstock Festival.

1969 Philips, a Dutch electronics company, releases the first portable integrated radio/cassette/stereo, a predecessor of the boombox.

1970 January: Dr. Bob Moog introduces the Mini-Moog synthesizer, a small, portable, reasonably-priced all-in-one keyboard

synthesizer that can do virtually everything the giant machines of the 1950s could do.

1971 Karaoke is invented.

1972 Oberheim, an American electronic company founded in 1969, issues the first keyboard sequencer that allows certain electronic

keyboards to “talk” to each other, thereby making it possible for one operator to control many keyboards at once.

1972 The electronic drum machine ComputeRhythm is programmed using punch cards.

1973 Mike Oldfield constructs the entire Tubular Bells album himself by playing each instrument and overdubbing it onto a master

tape--a ground-breaking accomplishment of its time.


1973 An end-of-summer party held in the Bronx, NY, with DJ Kool Herc, also known as Clive Campbell, is often seen as the birth of

Hip Hop music.

1974 March: The Grateful Dead introduces their “Wall of Sound” system at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It is one of the very

first large-scale, sound reinforcement constructions to incorporate separate systems for each vocal, each guitar, piano and drums.

1974 DuPont’s introduction of chromium dioxide tapes improves the quality of cassette tapes and cassette machines.

1976 May: The Who is officially declared “the loudest band in the world” by the Guinness Book of World Records when levels reach

126 dB measured at a distance of 100 feet from the speakers.

1976 The first commercial electronic drum, Pollard Syndrum, is produced.

1977 Andrea Pavel files a patent for a portable personal stereo audio cassette player called the Stereobelt that he invented in 1972.

He would later face decades of legal battles against other manufacturers’ similar devices, like the Sony Walkman.

1978 3M’s metal particle tapes improve the quality of sound from cassette tapes and cassette machines.

1978 The number of 24 -track recording studios in the United States doubles.

1979 July: The Sony Walkman, developed by the Sony Company in Japan, goes on sale.

1979 The Sugarhill Gang is among the first to have a successful Rap record with “Rapper’s Delight.”

1979 The first fully digitally-recorded album, Bop ‘Til You Drop by Ry Cooder, is made using a 32-track studio in Los Angeles built by 3M.

1979 The Philips company demonstrates a CD player for the international press in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

1979 An Australian company introduces the first digital audio sampler, originally intended as just an editing tool.

1980 The LM-1 Drum Computer is the first electronic-drum machine to use programmable samples of live drums. At a cost of

$5,000, it is restricted to high-end studios.

1980 The Roland TR-808 drum machine is introduced. Its relatively low price ($1,000) makes it very popular with Dance and Hip

Hop artists

1981 The Rolan Jupiter 8, a portable keyboard synthesizer, is able to play eight notes simultaneously.

1981 MIDI, Music Instrument Digital Interface, allows keyboards, samplers, sequencers and drum machines to talk to each other

using a common language, making it possible for a single musician to quickly construct and perform unbelievably complex

musical arrangements.

1981 August: MTV goes in the air with a total library of about 250 videos, 30 of which were by Rod Stewart.

1982 October: Sony unveils the first consumer compact disc player, the CDP-101, in Japan.


1983 March: The Sony CDP-101 DVD player and 16 CD titles are unveiled in the US.

1983 The Yamaha DX-7, which sells for about $2,000, is the first commercially successful digital synthesizer using a technology

called FM synthesis. Developed in Japan, it allows for more complex waveforms and therefore different sounding tones.

1983 Thanks to the popularity of the Walkman and similar devices, pre-recorded cassettes briefly become the best-selling music

format, even surpassing vinyl records.

1984 Apple introduces the Macintosh computer.

1984 Bruce Springsteen makes his Born in the USA album at a converted cassette tape facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, that was

owned by Sony. It is the first CD manufactured in the US.

1984 The US Supreme Court rules that personal video recorders are legal and that consumers can tape TV shows for later viewing

for their own personal use. This ruling will become the justification for making personal copies of music using cassettes and,

later, recordable CDs and MP3 players.

1984 Sony introduces the Discman, the first portable compact disc-based personal music device and the first after-market CD player

that can be installed in the dashboard of a car.

1985 BigAudioDynamite’ssong“E=MC²”isthefirstworld-wideRockhitsongtofeatureanewstyleofsampleddialogue.

1985 Ensoniq, an American electronics manufacturer, introduces a keyboard synthesizer with a built-in sampler that can hold up to

40 seconds of material.

1985 The first factory-installed CD players are found in Mercedes-Benz cars.

1985 Bose and GM’s Delco division team up to create the first premium, pre-installed, factory stereo for Cadillac, Buick,

and Oldsmobile.

1986 The term “Walkman” enters the Oxford English Dictionary.

1986 CD players outsell turntables (vinyl record players).

1987 The Beatles material finally appears in CD format.

1988 Compact discs outsell vinyl records for the first time.

1988 The first CD recorder (or “burner”) appears at a cost of $20,000 and requires another $80,000 worth of gear to operate.

1989 February: The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduces its “Explicit Lyrics—Parental Warning” sticker.

1989 Sound Tools, a software program used for digital recording, editing and sound manipulation is introduced in 1989. It will

be re-launched as Pro Tools in 1991 and will become the de facto industry standard in recording studios around the world.

1990 October: Vanilla Ice’s To the Extreme becomes the first number one album available on CD and cassette—but not vinyl.


1990 November: Roger Callilau and Tim Berners-Lee propose an “information superhighway”--the World Wide Web.

1991 Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute introduces a new algorithm that can shrink a digital music file by 90% called ISO-MPEG

Audio Layer 3. We call it MP3.

1991 Microsoft launches the Windows 3.0 operating system with multimedia extensions just a few months after the Sound Blaster

card brings digital audio sound capabilities to PCs.

1992 Fans are discovered trading digital files from Depeche Mode’s still-unreleased album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, in chat

rooms on Prodigy, one of the first consumer-friendly internet portals.

1993 The Internet Underground Music Archive, a repository of free digital music files, is established.

1993 June: The first known concert webcast, by a group called Severe Tire Damage, takes place from the patio of Xerox’s Palo Alto

Research Center in California.

1994 Record labels begin releasing “mixed-mode” CDs--compact discs that include bonus multimedia content meant to be played

on computers.

1994 The first internet radio broadcast comes from WXYC, the radio station from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1994 November: The Rolling Stones become the first major act to webcast a performance when they offer computer users about

20 minutes of audio and video from a show at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.

1995 April: The RealAudio player debuts and is soon downloaded hundreds of millions of times. This program helps people

understand that we can use the internet to hear sounds (including music) from faraway places using computers.

1995 August: RealNetworks pioneers streaming audio over the internet with the broadcast of a New York Yankees-Seattle Mariners

baseball game.

1995 DJ Babu coins the term “turntablism” which soon goes mainstream thanks to the growing influence of DJ culture.

Performers create new sounds using turntables and a DJ mixer.

1996 Palm Pilot, the predecessor of today’s smartphones, is introduced.

1997 April: Winamp, a free media player, is released. Designed by 19 year-old Justin Frankel, its ease of use makes it very popular

for creating and playing digital music files and helps spread the use of MP3s.

1997 Auto-tune debuts. It begins as a software program for Exxon to interpret seismic data for oil exploration, but this digital signal

processing technology is discovered to have the ability to alter the pitch in vocal and instrumental performances.

1998 May: The first MP3 player is released. Saehan Information Systems of South Korea produces the “MPMan” which is

flash-memory based and comes in two models: 32MB ($400) and 64MB ($600). It will be a commercial failure.

1998 September: The first mass-produced MP3 player called the Rio PMP300 is introduced by Diamond Multimedia. The 32MB

model sells for $200 and can store about two dozen songs. The 64MB costs about $250 and can hold about 50 tracks.


1998 November: A company called “MP3.com” is set up to sell digital music files. It becomes popular with fans of Punk, Electronica,

Hip Hop and other genres marginalized by the main stream music establishment.

1999 June: Shawn Fanning, a 19 year-old at Northeastern University in Boston, offers his online friends a new program he called

“Napster.” He distributes it to 30 people but by the fall, Napster has 150,000 registered users trading 3.5 million files.

1999 The first MP3 player to be equipped with a hard drive (and thus more memory) is the Hango/Remote Solutions Personal

Jukebox PJB-100. It has an incredible capacity of 6GB.

2000 The first music festival in China, the Midi Music Festival, is held in Beijing.

2000 The Music Genome Project founds Pandora, an automated music recommendation service, in Oakland, CA.

2000 April: The group Metallica files suit against Napster for aiding and abetting the theft of their music.

2001 Napster is found guilty of breaching copyright law. The recording industry forces it to shut down with a court order in July,

but new file-sharing systems are established worldwide.

2001 January: Tim McGraw is the first musician ever played on satellite radio.

2001 January: Apple releases iTunes as a digital jukebox. It is Mac-only and does not sell music downloads.

2001 July: BitTorrent is available and soon becomes the most widely-used protocol for distributing large amounts of data—including

music—over the internet.

2001 October: Apple releases the iPod.

2002 Satellite radio technology is inducted into the Space Foundation Space Technology Hall of Fame.

2002 The iPod opens to Windows users.

2003 April: Apple introduces the iTunes music store, an on-line music service with just 200,000

songs in the library.

2003 June: Apple sells the one-millionth iPod.

2003 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sues more than 260 people, including children, for sharing music on

the internet.

2003 MySpace is launched and becomes a place where bands can post their music for free and reach a worldwide audience.

2004 June: BMW is the first automobile manufacturer to offer iPod integration.

2005 January: Quanegy of Opelika, Alabama, the last manufacturer of reel-to-reel recording tape for professional recording

studios, closes down.


2005 April: The first YouTube video clip is uploaded, a clip about the San Diego Zoo.

2005 August: The Recording Industry Association of America sues Jammie Thomas of Brainerd, Minnesota, for illegal file-trading of

24 songs. Amidst all the trials and appeals, one judgment fines her $80,000 per song, for a total of $1,920,000.

2005 November: YouTube is officially launched.

2006 January: iTunes sells its one billionth song.

2006 Radiohead’s Thom Yorke records the album The Eraser almost entirely on a laptop. The album is nominated for a Grammy the

next year.

2007 All four major record labels (Universal, EMI, Warner and Sony) sell music in the unprotected MP3 format on Amazon’s

digital-music store.

2008 April: Apple becomes the largest music retailer in the US, followed by Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

2008 By the fall, 90% of all automobiles sold in the US offer iPod connectivity.

2009 Digital sales account for 98% of all singles sold in the USA and Britain.

2009 iTunes sells nothing but DRM-free music files, meaning they are free of digital locks that prevented unauthorized copying.

2010 iTunes officially becomes the biggest vendor of music in the world.

Glossary - 68

music played without any electric amplification

device that makes sound louder; it sends an electronic signal from an instrument to the speakers

so that the music can be played loudly and be heard over a large area

large, portable, cassette-playing stereo with two built-in speakers; in the 1980s it was integral to

spreading Hip Hop music and culture around New York City via cassettes

instrumental part of a song where the rhythm is emphasized

influx of British Rock’n’Roll music into the US in the 1960s, led by the Beatles

African-American musical groups across the south after WWII

person who creates a piece of music

the shape of the melody and whether it goes up or down

unit used to measure the volume of a tone, dB

one of the most popular forms of early Rock’n’Roll, emphasized multi-part vocal harmonies

a song, or part of a song, that gets stuck in your head

number of vibrations in a tone’s sound wave, per second, measured in Hertz

metal bar on a guitar that shows the player where to place their fingers

Emile Berliner’s adaptation of Edison’s phonograph; it used flat discs instead of cylinders to

record sounds

a version of the phonograph invented at Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory, often used as

coin-operated machines in the phonograph parlors of the late 1800s

in Rock, usually a secondary melody that runs parallel and complimentary to the main melody to

add body and depth to the sound; used in both vocal and instrumental arrangements

how an acoustic guitar makes sound: the air inside the hollow body of the guitar coupled with

the hole underneath the strings act as a spring that pushes the sound out from the instrument

musical scale usually used for Rock music, which features seven pitches per octave , or eight

sequential note; the major heptatonic scale used these notes: C D E F G A B C

unit used to measure frequency, Hz

or “hi-fi,” a term that became popular in the 1950s as speaker manufacturers sought to convince

the public that they needed to purchase new gear in order to appreciate recent recordings

acoustic

amplifier

boombox

breakbeats

British Invasion

chitlin’ circuit

composer

contour

decibel

doo wop

earworm

frequency

fret

gramophone

graphophone

harmony

Helmholtz resonance

heptatonic scale

hertz

high-fidelity

glossary

Glossary - 69

layer of the atmosphere that thickens during the night turning portions of the sky into a giant

mirror capable of reflecting electromagnetic waves back down to earth instead of letting them

escape into space

pattern and placement of notes used to make a scale

the words to a song

a device that was the first attempt at storing real-world sounds for later playback and

manipulation on a keyboard

the main musical theme of the song, including a phrase of music that is often repeated called

the hook

drum

Music Instrument Digital Interface; introduced in 1981, it allows keyboards, samplers,

sequencers, and drum machines to talk to each other using a common language

or monaural; recording technology that used a single acoustic horn or microphone

relating to percussion, or the striking of two things together to make a sound

device invented by Thomas Edison in 1877 that reproduced sound recordings

magnet wrapped in fine copper wire; when the metal strings of an electric guitar vibrate above

the magnet, the resulting flux in the magnetic field creates a current that is sent to the amplifier

and comes out as sound

frequency of the sound waves created by the source of a tone

short-lived record format that gained popularity in the 1970s; produced in four channels instead

of two and required special equipment for playback

sea-based pirate radio station that broadcast Rock’n’Roll music from a boat anchored just outside

the UK’s territorial limits, declared illegal in 1967 by the Martine Broadcasting Offences Act

when the ionosphere reflects electromagnetic waves from radio stations back down to earth

making it possible for the stations to be heard hundreds and even thousands of miles away

interactive table where the player manipulates actual objects to produce musical sounds

the vibration frequency of a rotating or moving object or one object vibrating at the same natural

frequency of a second object forces that second object into vibrational motion

when a sound is prolonged in an acoustical space with reflective surfaces by bouncing off those

surfaces and recombining with the original sound, slightly delayed

ionosphere

key

lyrics

Mellotron

melody

membranophone

MIDI

monophonic

percussive

phonograph

pickup

pitch

quadrophonic records

Radio Caroline

radio propagation

reactable

resonance

reverberation

Glossary - 70

beat, pulse or groove of a song; a pattern that is identifiable by beats

underground music distribution system in the former USSR, made illegal in 1958; Western

Rock’n’Roll music was distributed on used x-ray film

first note of an octave’s scale

recording process in which one sound is copied, taken out of its original context, and used to

create a new piece of music

grouping of pitches organized with assigned intervals

early form of music video that could be played in special jukeboxes with a 16 mm film

component; reached its peak in the 1960s

series or arrangement of one thing following after another, often in a pattern

main ingredient in the manufacture of records until the 1940s, derived from a resin secreted by

the female lac bug found on the Malay Peninsula

early form of Rock’n’Roll and Britain’s answer to American Folk music, although it also contained

elements of Jazz and Blues

mid-range speaker designed for frequencies from about 300 Hz to 5,000 Hz

wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar’s body

two-channel listening experience

speaker that produces the deepest notes, usually below 300 Hz

keyboard device that generate waveforms that can be manipulated in an infinite number ways to

either imitate other instruments or to produce a variety of new sounds

speed of the rhythm or beat; in Rock, Pop and Dance music, tempo is usually measured in terms

of beats per minute (BPM)

theatre phone invented by Clément Ader that distributed two-channel performances to

subscribers over telephone lines, a system was popular in Europe and the UK from the late

1800s until the late 1920s

sonic properties that distinguish the sound of one instrument from another

the fraction written at the start of the song that tells the musician how many beats are in a mea-

sure and what type of note in that bar gets the beat

rhythm

roentigenizdat

root tone

sampling

scale

Scopitone

sequence

shellac

skiffle

squawker

soundboard

stereophonic sound

subwoofer

synthesizer

tempo

Théâtrophone

timbre

time signature

Glossary - 71

Jamaican art form which involves talking in rhyme over the rhythm (usually reggae) of the

instrumental portions of song; rapping is a descendant of toasting, which was spread through

immigration

solitary, discrete, and distinctive musical sound, also called a note

the circular, rotating platform of a phonograph or record player, where the record is placed

DJ who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus, and mixer to manipulate sound, as

opposed to just playing records.

small speaker that creates high frequencies, between 2,000 Hz and 20,000 Hz

online way of transferring music files introduced in the 1970s and a harbinger of the file-trading

that marked the first decade of the 21st century

phonographs made by the Victor company with the turntable and amplifying horn contained

within a cabinet that looked like a piece of furniture

synthesizer capable of turning speech into music-like sounds, derived from a speech coder

originally used for encrypting telecommunications towards the end of WWII

the third note, or two notes up from the root tone, in an octave, which is also used with the fifth

note as the basis of chords for that scale

speaker in charge of low frequencies; depending on the design, the woofer may also handle

some mid-range or low frequencies

toasting

tone

turntable

turntabilst

tweeter

Usenet

Victrola

vocoder

whole tone

woofer

Curriculum Standards - 72

curriculum standards

National Content Standards

The activities in this Teacher’s Guide and the experience your class will have during their field trip to The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll meet the curriculum requirements established by national content groups across subject areas and grade levels.

The list that follows identifies the relevancy of The Science of Rock ‘N’ Roll in grades 4 – 8 to the national-level Science Education Standards, Standards for Technological Literacy, Educational Technology Standards, Engineering Standards, Mathematics Standards, Standards for Music Education, History Standards, Council for the Social Studies Themes, and Standards for the English Language Arts.

National Science Education Standards

GRADES K-4A. Science as Inquiry

•Abilitiesnecessarytodoscientificinquiry

•Understandingaboutscientificinquiry:1,2,4

B. Physical Science

•Propertiesofmaterialsandobjects:3

•Positionandmotionofobjects:4

E. Science and Technology

•Abilitiesoftechnologicaldesign

•Understandingaboutscienceandtechnology:4,5

G. History of Nature and Science

•Scienceasahumanendeavor:1,2,4

GRADES 5-8A. Science as Inquiry

• Abilitiesnecessarytodoscientificinquiry

• Understandingaboutscientificinquiry:1,3,4

B. Physical Science

• Transferofenergy:1

C. Life Science

• Structureandfunctioninlivingsystems:5

E. Science and Technology

• Abilitiesoftechnologicaldesign

• Understandingaboutscienceandtechnology:1,2,3


F. Science in social and personal perspectives

• Scienceandtechnologyinsociety:3,4,5

G. History of Nature and Science

• Scienceasahumanendeavor:1

National Standards for Technological Literacy

GRADES 3-5The Nature of Technology: 1E, 2I, 3C

Technology and Society: 4C, 6B, 6C

Design: 8C, 8D, 9D, 10D

Abilities for a Technological World: 11E, 11F, 12D, 12G, 13C, 13D

The Designed World: 17G

GRADES 6-8The Nature of Technology: 1G, 1H, 1I, 3E, 3F

Technology and Society: 4G, 6D, 6E, 6F

Design: 8E, 9G, 10G

Abilities for a Technological World: 11K, 11H, 11L, 13F, 13G

The Designed World: 17K

National Educational Technology Standards1. Creativity and Innovation

a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes

b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.

c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.

2. Communication and Collaboration

d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

National Engineering StandardsA. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering

B. An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to interpret data

D. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams

H. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering in global and social contexts

J. A knowledge of contemporary issues


National Mathematics Standards

GRADES 3-5

Algebra

Understand patterns, relations, and functions

• describe,extend,andmakegeneralizationsaboutgeometricandnumericpatterns;

• representandanalyzepatternsandfunctions,usingwords,tables,andgraphs.

Represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols

• representtheideaofavariableasanunknownquantityusingaletterorasymbol

• expressmathematicalrelationshipsusingequations.

Geometry

Analyze characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and develop mathematical

arguments about geometric relationships

• makeandtestconjecturesaboutgeometricpropertiesandrelationshipsanddeveloplogicalargumentsto

justify conclusions.

Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems

• usegeometricmodelstosolveproblemsinotherareasofmathematics,suchasnumberandmeasurement;

• recognizegeometricideasandrelationshipsandapplythemtootherdisciplinesandtoproblemsthatarisein

the classroom or in everyday life.

Measurement

Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement

• understandsuchattributesaslength,area,weight,volume,andsizeofangleandselecttheappropriatetype

of unit for measuring each attribute;

• understandtheneedformeasuringwithstandardunitsandbecomefamiliarwithstandardunitsinthecustomary

and metric systems;

• carryoutsimpleunitconversions,suchasfromcentimeterstometers,withinasystemofmeasurement;

Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.

• developstrategiesforestimatingtheperimeters,areas,andvolumesofirregularshapes;

• selectandapplyappropriatestandardunitsandtoolstomeasurelength,area,volume,weight,time,temperature,

and the size of angles;

Data Analysis and Probability

Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them

• collectdatausingobservations,surveys,andexperiments;

• representdatausingtablesandgraphssuchaslineplots,bargraphs,andlinegraphs;

Select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data

• comparedifferentrepresentationsofthesamedataandevaluatehowwelleachrepresentationshowsimportant

aspects of the data.


Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data

• proposeandjustifyconclusionsandpredictionsthatarebasedondataanddesignstudiestofurtherinvestigate

the conclusions or predictions.

GRADES 6-8

Algebra

Understand patterns, relations, and functions

• represent,analyze,andgeneralizeavarietyofpatternswithtables,graphs,words,and,whenpossible,

symbolic rules;

• relateandcomparedifferentformsofrepresentationforarelationship;

Represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols

• developaninitialconceptualunderstandingofdifferentusesofvariables;

• usesymbolicalgebratorepresentsituationsandtosolveproblems,especiallythosethatinvolvelinear

relationships;

Geometry

Analyze characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and develop mathematical

arguments about geometric relationships

• createandcritiqueinductiveanddeductiveargumentsconcerninggeometricideasandrelationships,such

as congruence, similarity, and the Pythagorean relationship.

Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems

• usetwo-dimensionalrepresentationsofthree-dimensionalobjectstovisualizeandsolveproblemssuchasthose

involving surface area and volume;

• recognizeandapplygeometricideasandrelationshipsinareasoutsidethemathematicsclassroom,suchasart,

science, and everyday life.

Measurement

Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement

• understandbothmetricandcustomarysystemsofmeasurement;

• understandrelationshipsamongunitsandconvertfromoneunittoanotherwithinthesamesystem;

• understand,select,anduseunitsofappropriatesizeandtypetomeasureangles,perimeter,area,surfacearea,

and volume.

Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.

• selectandapplytechniquesandtoolstoaccuratelyfindlength,area,volume,andanglemeasurestoappropriate

levels of precision;

• developanduseformulastodeterminethecircumferenceofcirclesandtheareaoftriangles,parallelograms,

trapezoids, and circles and develop strategies to find the area of more-complex shapes;

Data Analysis and Probability

Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them

• formulatequestions,designstudies,andcollectdataaboutacharacteristicsharedbytwopopulationsor

different characteristics within one population;

• select,create,anduseappropriategraphicalrepresentationsofdata,includinghistograms,boxplots,andscatterplots.


Select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data

• discussandunderstandthecorrespondencebetweendatasetsandtheirgraphicalrepresentations,especially

histograms, stem-and-leaf plots, box plots, and scatterplots.

Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data

• useobservationsaboutdifferencesbetweentwoormoresamplestomakeconjecturesaboutthepopulations

from which the samples were taken;

National Standards for Music Education2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.

6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

National History Standards

GRADES K-4Historical Thinking

1. Chronological Thinking

E. Interpret data presented in time lines.

2. Historical Comprehension

G. Draw upon the visual data presented in photographs, paintings, cartoons, and architectural drawings.

3. Historical Analysis and Interpretation

I. Explain causes in analyzing historical actions.

4. Historical Research Capabilities

B. Obtain historical data.

Topic 1: Living and Working Together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago

1A: The student understands family life now and in the recent past; family life in various places long ago.

Topic 4: The History of Peoples of Many Cultures Around the World

7A: The student understands the cultures and historical developments of selected societies in such places as

Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

8A: The student understands the development of technological innovations, the major scientists and inventors

associated with them and their social and economic effects.

8C: The student understands changes in communication and their effects.


GRADES 5-12Historical Thinking

1. Chronological Thinking

E. Interpret data presented in time lines and create time lines.

2. Historical Comprehension

B. Reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage.

D. Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.

3. Historical Analysis and Interpretation

C. Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and multiple causation, including the importance of the individual, the

influence of ideas.

4. Historical Research Capabilities

B. Obtain historical data from a variety of sources.

United States History Content

Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

3B: Explain how principles of scientific management and technological innovations, including assembly lines,

rapid transit, household appliances, and radio, continued to transform production, work, and daily life.

Era 9: Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

1B: The student understands how the social changes of the postwar period affected various Americans.

1C: The student understands how postwar science augmented the nation’s economic strength, transformed

daily life, and influenced the world economy.

Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)

2D: The student understands contemporary American culture.

World History Content

Era 9: The 20th Century Since 1945

2E: The student understands major worldwide scientific and technological trends of the second half of the

20th century.

National Council for the Social Studies ThemesTheme 1: Culture

Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change

Theme 4: Individual, Development and Identity

Theme 8: Science, Technology, and Society

Standards for the English Language Arts7. Evaluating Data: Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by

posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts,

artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video)

to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

teacher ’s guide - scienceofrock.com · lesson 1: listening to pictures ..... p. 7-13 lesson 2:...

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