tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74288781798107126652024-03-13T20:46:15.828-07:00The Science SongbookSongs to make learning science fun!Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-11043666183487048122019-01-18T18:06:00.000-08:002019-01-18T18:09:39.453-08:00He's So MetalThere are many new bits of news since I last posted to this blog. I have a number of new songs to share. And there has been progress on other fronts.<br />
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But today, I just want to share a project that my daughter made for extra credit in her Honors Chemistry class. She did it largely by herself, using GarageBand on her iPhone, with just a little input (and background vocals) from me. (And also rejected some of my advice, which is fine. Her project.)<br />
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So, I'd like to share with you this song she wrote about the qualities that separate metals from non-metals, called "He's so Metal." (You will notice a bit of homage paid to Zappa...)<br />
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I love the clever wordplay of using "eye on Nick Bonds" to work in "ionic bonds," and her uniquely teenage sense of innuendo.<br />
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I doubt this song would make much sense to someone who didn't know the qualities of metals, and it isn't designed to teach them independently, but to someone who is studying the subject, this would be a fun way of cementing some of the key qualities and the corresponding vocabulary.<br />
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Lyrics:<br />
I've got my eye on Nick Bonds (ionic bonds) for quite a while<br />
He's a little bit dense, but I like his style.<br />
Malleable, shape him any way I want...<br />
And he's ductile, I can string him along<br />
He's so metal...<br />
He's conductive, if you know what I mean...<br />
The chemistry between us is unreal...<br />
We can make the sparks fly...<br />
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I don't want a guy that's dull and brittle<br />
I don't want a guy that's full of gas.<br />
I want a guy that's full of Luster.<br />
I want a guy with lots of class.<br />
He's so metal...<br />
He's a pretty solid guy...<br />
Unless I'm too hot for him...<br />
Then he'll just melt into my arms...<br />
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So I was walking up the staircase, and I saw a bunch of metalloids.<br />
What the heck, man, just pick a side already, amirite?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-5557332777793799282014-08-08T22:49:00.002-07:002014-08-08T22:53:27.073-07:00Planet Rock!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I had the good fortune to run into Shanil Virani at a party earlier this summer, and I was able to talk to him about some of the educational songs I had written. Dr. Virani is the director of the <a href="http://www.jmu.edu/planetarium/" target="_blank">John C. Wells Planetarium</a> at <a href="http://www.jmu.edu/" target="_blank">JMU</a>. He told me about the Space Explorers Camp they run each summer, and suggested that there were some facts and concepts that students at the previous year's camp had difficulty grasping or retaining. He was excited about the thought of using music as part of the instruction for the camp.</div>
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One of the problem areas was remembering the order of the planets in our solar system from the innermost to the outermost, and knowing basic facts about them, such as their relative sizes and basic composition.</div>
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I set out to write a song that would teach it in a memorable way, and sent him a few early drafts, but I still didn't know where it would lead.</div>
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So, I was pleased to get a call on the second day of camp, asking if I could come in later in the week and teach the song to the kids. The only problem was that I hadn't finished the song yet! I tinkered with a number of ideas, and this was the end result:</div>
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As you can see, there's a kinesthetic aspect to the song, which goes a long way towards reinforcing concepts of the planets' relative sizes, helps give students a way to interact with the song, and serves as an additional mnemonic device. I'm grateful for the assistance of some of the counselors in refining the kinesthetic movements before I taught it to the kids. And a few of the motions were decided on by kids during the session. This aspect was inspired by the work of <a href="http://lodgemccammon.com/" target="_blank">Dr. Lodge McCammon</a>, who also writes some wonderful songs.<br />
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The song continued to be refined in the next few days. When I taught it to the kids, I mentioned "Pluto and Charon." It was suggested, then, that I replace Charon with Ceres, which, like Pluto, has the status of a dwarf planet, since it is massive enough to shape itself into a sphere, but not massive enough to clear its orbit. When we recorded the video, there was a bit of each, but the official line in the song is now "Pluto and Ceres."<br />
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I also was unhappy with the grammar of "the reason they are planets is..." I had tried several lines here, and it wasn't until I slept on it that I came up with "They qualify as planets with their orbit and their mass." So, the older lyric is in the video above, but the newer lyric is the one I used for the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/planet-rock-single/id904432149" target="_blank">recording on iTunes</a> and the various other outlets where one can buy the track.<br />
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Scientific side note: There are three qualifications a body in our solar system must meet to be a planet in the eyes of the IAU by the current standard. The first is that it must orbit The Sun. The second is that it must be massive enough to pull itself into a spherical shape. The third (and newest qualification) is that it must "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_the_neighbourhood" target="_blank">clear its neighborhood</a>." The work of Stern and Levison suggests that this third qualification is also a function of mass and orbit, and thus I feel comfortable making the statement that "They qualify as planets with their orbit and their mass."<br />
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Dr. Virani was also pleased that I mentioned that "those are the planets in order, <i>at least the way they're currently defined</i>." The current definition was arrived at in 2006, but for many years we were taught that Pluto was the 9th planet, and it's entirely possible that at some point in the future, the definition will change again.<br />
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I will be making a few more videos for this song, including a lyric video and some videos to help explain the lyrics and to teach the movements, to be used in the classroom.<br />
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One last thought about this song: I was initially planning to have my daughter sing it, but she got strep throat just as I needed to record it. But as a result, I made very sure that the song was in a singable range for elementary and middle school kids. That makes it awfully high for me, but I'm willing to suffer a little for music and education!Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-55624936076187474342013-10-01T20:43:00.002-07:002013-10-01T20:43:59.274-07:00Distance, Midpoint and Slope Formulas in SongI have been very recalcitrant in keeping this blog updated, and it's been many months since I wrote another educational song. I had reasons, some good, some bad.<br />
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But another request from my sister kicked me into high gear last week, and this was the result:</div>
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I'm rather happy with this one, despite the fact that it fails one of my tests for an ideal educational song, that there be at least a modicum of humor.<br />
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Furthermore, I would understand if Geometry teachers chose not to use or share a song like this. It's important to know how these formulas are derived, and what they mean. Just memorizing them may help you to do better on a test, but not help you understand the subject. When I took Geometry, I never memorized them, I would just re-derive the formulas.<br />
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But some students may benefit from a reminder. I was proud that I got the entire formula for each into the verses and that the song is catchy and compact... And that my elementary school aged daughters can already both sing it from memory.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-81860496312075482512012-04-06T12:18:00.001-07:002012-04-06T12:18:33.319-07:00Periodic Symbols Song goes viralMy songwriting energies have been directed much more to my ear training students this semester, so I haven't written any new science songs. But the ones I have written continue to attract more attention.<br />
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I'm honored that the producers of the <a href="http://www.periodicvideos.com/" target="_blank">Periodic Table of Videos</a> chose to use one of my songs as a basis for a recent video of their own:<br />
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Thanks to the publicity they gave to this song, many more people have heard it. The original video, which had about 5,000 views a few weeks ago (after being on YouTube for months) now has over 30,000. This came in two surges. The first was from the video above. The second surge in popularity included mentions on <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/114447/The-symbols-of-the-periodic-table-set-to-music" target="_blank">Metafilter</a>, <a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2012/04/02/periodic-table-symbols-in-order-song/" target="_blank">Neatorama</a>, and <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/periodic-table-symbols-song-takes-science-song-next-161518572.html" target="_blank">Yahoo News Canada</a>, as well as a small flurry of referrals on twitter.<br />
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So, with all this interest in my science songs, I'm planning to use my summer months to record an album that I could actually sell. What shall I add to it? What should I write next?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-56245748104054658862012-03-04T09:27:00.001-08:002012-03-04T09:27:19.359-08:00Follow me on TwitterI am normally more inclined to be an early adopter, but it took me a long time to see the value of Twitter, especially when I already had other social media accounts. I had even asked some active Twitter users why it was worthwhile, and hadn't heard anything to tempt me.<br />
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Last Tuesday, however, one of my students sat down with me, and in a few short minutes he demonstrated to me how effectively one could use Twitter to reach an audience with similar interests. I recognized then that I needed to create an account for my science songbook project.<br />
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So, as you can see in the upper right corner of the blog, I now have an account. Please follow me, help shape my musical/educational agenda, and get informed about new things that I post!<br />
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<a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ScienceSongbook">Follow @ScienceSongbook</a><br />
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Thanks,<br />
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David
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</script>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-36572943934667881622012-02-20T12:02:00.000-08:002012-02-20T12:09:17.864-08:00100K Views!Sometime this afternoon, assuming that the Internet doesn't abruptly shut down, my Periodic Table Song is going to hit one hundred thousand views! I'm glad that so many people have discovered it, and I hope teachers and students continue to find it useful. For what it's worth, I have now posted a revised version that includes the "placeholder names" and shows each element's position in the table. (As I had with the karaoke version.)<br />
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I haven't figured out what to do about the two new elements that should be approved in a few months, though... it may require an addendum rather than a rewrite. In the meantime, they are mentioned in the video (but not the song) of the revised version:<br />
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For the original 100,000 views version, see <a href="http://sciencesongbook.blogspot.com/2011/09/memorizing-periodic-table-of-elements.html" target="_blank">Memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements</a>, which also has a link to my Periodic Table Symbols Song. (I find the latter an invaluable help in remembering what comes next.)Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-65432703893653435882012-02-18T21:59:00.000-08:002012-02-18T21:59:07.676-08:00I Want to Sing About Science!It's been awhile since I posted any new science songs. But they've been on my mind again and with good reason.<br />
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Back in the fall, I had written a song called "I want to sing about science." It was inspired by a conversation with Greg Crowther, who manages the website <a href="http://singaboutscience.org/" target="_blank">Sing About Science... and Math</a>. I had just finished recording Greg's song "<a href="http://sciencesongbook.blogspot.com/2011/09/scientific-state-of-mind.html" target="_blank">Scientific State of Mind</a>" for the <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/" target="_blank">2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival</a> Song Contest. We spent about an hour on the phone talking about science and music and what we wanted out of educational songs. He told me he wished there were more songs about actual great discoveries and how they were made, presented in a way that made people want to make discoveries themselves, too. Songs that would be about the process of science, rather than just the data we've derived by using it.<br />
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As we hung up the phone, I resolved to rise to the challenge. I thought I'd see if I could write a "theme song" for his site, using these ideas. We had also just talked about how hard it would be to fit heliocentrism into a song, so that was where I started. Within a day or two, I had the basic ideas of the song, and I finally sent him a rough draft. I think he was pleased, but he also came back to me with some really helpful criticism, and suggestions for improvement. I took these into account, and it made a big difference in the quality of the song.<br />
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Though my usual practice with these songs has been to write and record them in a single evening, I took several weeks to "finish" the song, and paid more attention to the recording quality this time. When I presented Greg with the final result, he not only featured it on his blog, but suggested that I enter it into the aforementioned contest as well. With his blessing, I did so.<br />
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Months passed, but in early December, I was notified that my song was a <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/component/content/article/56-2012-contests/313-2012-song-contest-finalists" target="_blank">finalist in the contest</a>! I was pleased, and shared the news with my friends, not knowing what to expect next. Both of the other songs in the category were also really good.<br />
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I had plenty of things to distract me in the meantime, as I sang in a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors with Opera Roanoke and prepared for my role in "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/arts/music/opera-lafayettes-le-roi-et-le-fermier-at-rose-theater.html" target="_blank">Le Roi et Le Fermier</a>" with <a href="http://www.operalafayette.org/" target="_blank">Opera Lafayette</a> that was presented in the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and then for two performances at the Opera Royale in Versailles. It was a magical journey, and I brought my family along with me to France, staying in Paris for several days after the last performance.<br />
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It was on one of my last days in Paris that I received the email that my song had been named one of the winners of the contest!<br />
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I'm looking forward to attending the festival in April. Meanwhile, here is the song... I hope you enjoy it!<br />
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Lyrics after the jump...
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Lyrics:<br /><br />I want to sing about science!<br />Cause it's a method I can use to work things out.<br />And it's a process for reducing any doubt.<br />I want to sing about science!<br />I want to sing about science!<br />It's how I know that something isn't just a guess,<br />Cause using science I can put it to the test.<br />I want to sing about science!<br /><br />Alec Fleming found a mold<br />That was killing some bacteria in his lab<br />So he tested how that mold could do its killin'.<br />And he found what it excretes<br />Most bacteria could simply not withstand.<br />And he finally named that "mould juice" Penicillin.<br />Thanks to his discoveries,<br />We have a drug that cures disease!<br /><br />CHORUS<br /><br />I want to sing about things that I can do<br />To verify that the things I think are true,<br />And maybe I can make great discoveries, too!<br />Using science.<br /><br />When Copernicus was born,<br />Everybody* thought the sun went round the earth.<br />But that didn't fit with all his observations.<br />He kept studying the stars,<br />And recorded how they moved across the sky<br />And it led to an amazing revelation.<br />And when his work was done<br />He proved the earth went round the sun.<br /><br />CHORUS<br /><br />And learn about science... (like astronomy)<br />And celebrate science... (or biology)<br />I want to sing about science!<br />
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*[well, most people, anyway...]Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-3340915554066175932011-11-05T13:26:00.000-07:002011-11-05T13:41:15.208-07:00Demonstrating or just showing off?I'm not entirely sure whether I did this video to demonstrate the value of the two elements songs I wrote, or just to show off that I can do it. Either way, here it is as a record that even a lowly musician who hasn't taken a science course in at least 20 years can use a pair of mnemonic songs to recreate a periodic table from memory. (And have some fun in the process.) Of course, the songs I used were my own, which I posted about last month. <br />
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To record the video, I just stayed after class one day and put my iPhone on a music stand. Since I teach in a school of music, the staff lines on the blackboard made it that much easier to draw the framework. After that, I just started the camera and went to work. In any case, you can see that the main time limiting factor in filling in the table is how long it takes to draw the letters.<br />
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All this leaves us with a question. Is it worthwhile to memorize the table, when we can easily pull one up anytime we need one? Perhaps not. But it is a fun exercise, a chance to practice one's memory skills, and a reason to spend a nice little chunk of time with the elements and how they relate to each other. It can also help to reinforce the connection between symbols and names.<br />
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And heck, sometimes it's just fun to show off!Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-84026080902852040172011-10-29T19:54:00.000-07:002011-10-29T19:54:40.523-07:00More Ear Training SongsI've been slow to post recently, but I've been trying to keep up with my teaching duties and my muse.<br />
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Lately, the latter has been urging me towards songs that help teach or reinforce concepts in ear training. This involves math and proportion, and thus is perhaps not entirely out of place on this site. I've already posted others of my music education songs.<br />
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So, here are a few of my more recent endeavors in that regard. The first came to me as I was studying an old ear training text, which asserted that one of the first things one ought to teach students was to hear intervals with their inversions. There are several good arguments for this, including the fact that if you can quickly identify the inversion of a larger interval, you essentially halve the number of intervals you need to be able to hear to transcribe them.<br />
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As I read through the list of intervals, I started singing them in my head. And I started with the minor third, which often implies to me, if heard out of context, the interval between "mi" and "so." And then I followed it with the leap from "so" up to "mi," and it immediately asserted itself as a song. It only took a few minutes to map out how the rest of the song should go. Sometimes what is obvious is also what is best:<br />
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I didn't imagine another song would come so soon on it's heels, but my ear training class reached the part of the course where they have to hear the V7 chord in harmonic progressions. For some students, picking out that added 7 is difficult, especially if they haven't already mastered hearing progressions of plain triads. And I had been kicking around a "hook" in my head without being sure how it would fit into a song: "Sol-ti-re-fa, it's a Dominant 7, and brings us home to I." As we started the new section, I played this snippet in class, and one student suggested that I make a deceptive cadence instead. (That's when V or V7 leads to vi instead of I.) That triggered a burst of creative energy, and this song was born, which delves into much more than the V7 chord, but hammers home that sol-ti-re-fa are the notes in a V7.<br />
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Note for the curious: "so" and "sol" are interchangeable in my lexicon. I actually prefer the former nomenclature, but many of my students use the latter. I used the latter in this song because we've come up with several mnemonic jokes that rely on the latter pronunciation. ie "How do you know it's a diminished 7 chord?" "It is sol-less." (A diminished 7 chord often sounds spooky.) And for the Dominant 7 chord, "sol-ti-re-fa" sounds a bit like it could be a fictional snack food.<br />
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There are still other ear training songs (and science songs) to share here, but I'll save them for another post.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-57005662436081525092011-09-29T17:18:00.000-07:002011-09-29T17:18:00.256-07:00Erosion: A love song for soilThis was the third (and so far, final) song in the "soil cycle."<br />
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I intended this to be cheesier than it turned out. Judging from a few comments I received, I really needed to be a bit more over the top. It's on my agenda to redo this song at some point with drums and a string section, and really make it as sappy as possible. (And if I could find a great videographer to make an equally cheesy music video to accompany it, all the better!)<br />
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I was pleased with this one as an educational song. I like how it parodies a love song as it explains the ideas of erosion and conservation, and once again names the components of soil. And I still like the way the music and lyrics worked together. Nothing in this song felt forced.<br />
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Lyrics after the jump:<br />
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But erosion... erosion... It carries them away.<br />
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Humus forms when living things die and then decay<br />
But erosion... erosion... It carries it away.<br />
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Erosion takes away the soil we need to help things grow...<br />
Soil's so good... If I could, I would never let it go.<br />
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So conservation is what we can do to help our soil to stay<br />
'Cause erosion... erosion... It carries it away.<br />
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©2010 David Newman
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-42456711681096372662011-09-28T13:37:00.000-07:002011-09-28T13:37:19.776-07:00Scientific State of MindAlmost all of the videos I've posted to my YouTube channels are ones I wrote and recorded myself, occasionally with help from my wife and kids.<br />
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This summer, however, I got an email from Greg Crowther, who is a scientist and songwriter who also maintains the website/database/blog <a href="http://www.singaboutscience.org/">Sing About Science</a>. (Greg and I had communicated earlier in the year, and we were already familiar with each other's work.) He had a song which he wanted to record for a songwriting competition... could I help out?<br />
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I was busy, and away from home, and wouldn't be near my instruments for weeks, so naturally I said yes! (I love a challenge.) I realized that the only way I'd be able to do it justice would be to create an acapella arrangement of it. And though I was able to rerecord some of the vocals when I got home, most of it was just recorded through my macbook's built in mic into Garageband.<br />
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He had sent me the lyrics and the melody, which I liked right away. I could already envision the harmonic underpinning to the tune. As I began to put together the arrangement, we realized it needed an intro and a bridge, which I added, with some additional thematic elements that tied the opening of the song to the ending.<br />
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I'm mostly pleased with the result, although Garageband's autotune leaves much to be desired. (And it's a necessary effect for this style.)<br />
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You can read more about the creation of the song from Greg's point of view on his <a href="http://singaboutscience.org/blog/">blog</a>.<br />
<br />
Here is a video of Scientific State of Mind:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TcxYTrpkR0Y" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Lyrics after the jump:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The earth goes 'round the sun, but can you prove it?<br />
This desk has chewing gum; what will remove it?<br />
<br />
I don't know, but I have a guess,<br />
And I'll test my hypothesis....<br />
<br />
Life can be confusing; science makes it clearer.<br />
When you're seeking answers, science brings them nearer.<br />
You don't need a lab coat or big goggles all the time;<br />
Just get into the data and into a scientific state of mind.<br />
<br />
My bike may start to rust; can I prevent that?<br />
Our bones need phosphorus; how do we get that?<br />
<br />
I don't know, but I have a guess,<br />
And I'll test my hypothesis....<br />
<br />
Life can be confusing; science makes it clearer,<br />
Like looking through a telescope or looking in a mirror.<br />
You have lots of questions and we don't know what you'll find,<br />
So get into the data and into a scientific state of mind.<br />
<br />
I have a mobile phone; does it cause cancer?<br />
Is this a chicken bone ... or something fancier?<br />
<br />
I don't know, but I have a guess,<br />
And I'll test my hypothesis....<br />
<br />
Life can be confusing; science makes it clearer.<br />
When you're seeking answers, science brings them nearer.<br />
You don't need a lab coat or big goggles all the time;<br />
Just get into the data and into a scientific state of mind.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-63522105108031737572011-09-27T11:29:00.000-07:002011-09-27T11:30:36.986-07:00How to hear augmented six chordsIn my "real" job, I teach, among other things, a subject called "ear training." Ear training, as I think I explained in a previous post, is meant to develop the skill of looking at music and knowing what it sounds like without having to play it on an instrument, with the complementary skill of being able to hear music and then write it down in various forms.<br />
<br />
Though it is not science per se, I thought I'd take this opportunity to bring two of my YouTube channels together and share another side of my teaching through song. (I maintain a separate channel for my supplementary learning videos for my ear training class.)<br />
<br />
Last spring, I wrote several songs for this class. Some were just silly. But I was really proud of my "International Chords Song," which was written to help understand and remember how to hear what we call German, French, and Neapolitan 6 chords. Sure enough, my class did better on the harmony section of that test than on any previous test, despite the fact that the material was more challenging.<br />
<br />
So, unless you already have some training in music theory and know what these chords are, this song may make no sense to you, but please enjoy the International Chords Song:<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nyTofH5rk78" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Lyrics after the jump:<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Sometimes I like to hear some German,<br />
Sometimes I like to hear some French,<br />
Sometimes I like to hear a nice diminished seven,<br />
Or some other chords that I won't even mention...<br />
<br />
The German chord resolves "le so" and "fi so",<br />
The French chord is just like it, but with "re" instead of "me"<br />
But though I love these nationalities so,<br />
Neapolitan makes my day;<br />
Neapolitan makes my day.<br />
<br />
©2011 David Newman <br />
<br />
<br />Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-49678796136809294472011-09-26T21:11:00.000-07:002011-09-26T21:11:49.183-07:00Memorizing the Periodic Table of ElementsI want to flash forward for a moment to more recent history:<br />
<br />
One of the songs I wrote in the Spring of 2011 was a rap of the elements. My sister told me that was something the high school students really needed help memorizing. Apparently she was right, as it has been by far my most popular video so far.<br />
<br />
As of this writing, it has over 22,000 views on YouTube, with 143 likes. And quite a few comments from students who said it helped them memorize the table.<br />
<br />
So, not being one to rest on my laurels, I added two more videos to help the memorization process, and hopefully provide a little more enjoyment on the way. The first was just a karaoke version of the elements rap.<br />
<br />
For the second, I tried to see if I could turn the actual symbols of the periodic table into a song. I was rather pleased with the result.<br />
<br />
Here are all three videos:<br />
<br />
<b>Original version:
</b><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xQu2eSeM66o" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Karaoke version:
</b><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kvjmD2-aXLs" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Periodic table SYMBOLS song:
</b><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W2Wwf1UVdFo" width="560"></iframe>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-25612423206262567262011-09-25T14:01:00.000-07:002011-09-25T16:52:14.034-07:00The Topsoil DanceThis was the second song in the "soil cycle."<br />
<br />
Again the amount of information conveyed was intentionally limited. This song addresses the three layers of ground that third graders in Virginia are expected to know: Topsoil, Subsoil, and Bedrock. It describes each, and accentuates the importance of topsoil in providing nutrients for plants to grow.<br />
<br />
Ideally, I would have made a video that showed people doing the actual dance as envisioned... I even tried filming some friends to see if I could make it work. What I've now decided is that making music videos is harder than it looks. I would love it if someone with better videography skills would take it on as a project!<br />
<br />
When I posted this, I still thought of this as just a fun little lark. All the recording was done through the mic of my laptop, and I wasn't terribly concerned with recording quality. I have since envisioned a more elaborate arrangement, and may re-record it.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J6l2dMdAx5M" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Lyrics after the jump:<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<i>We've got a little dance for y'all now; it's called the Topsoil Dance</i><br />
<i>So put your arms in the air... Put your hands up high and show me where that topsoil is...</i><br />
<i>And now you're gonna learn the dance with us... Alright, here we go... </i><br />
<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[hands at the top and then the middle and the bottom, y'all]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Listen up now, I'm goin' to tell ya...]<br />
<br />
They call it topsoil 'cause it's found at the top<br />
It's a natural product of subsoil and bedrock.<br />
It's the best soil for growing plants<br />
So let me see you move your body to the Topsoil Dance.<br />
<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Mmm, sing it with soil, sistah]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Move your hands to show me all those layers, now]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[You got soil, yeah]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[But that's not all that I want you to know..]<br />
<br />
There's also subsoil, it's the next layer down<br />
And below that is the bedrock, deep in the ground<br />
But they are not as good for growing plants,<br />
So let me see you move your body to the Topsoil Dance.<br />
<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[One of these things is not like the others]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Move your hands to show me all those layers, now]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Most of that humus is there in the topsoil]<br />
Topsoil, Subsoil and Bedrock!<br />
[Let me sing the praises, let me sing the praises of topsoil!]<br />
<br />
<br />
©2010 David Newman
<br />
<br />
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<div class="fb-comments" data-href="sciencesongbook.blogspot.com" data-num-posts="5" data-width="500"></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-2752231587444965482011-09-24T22:02:00.000-07:002015-03-07T08:45:10.081-08:00SoilThis was the song that got it all started. No it's not fancy. However, it met several goals that I feel are important elements of a good teaching song.<br />
<br />
First, its main goal was to remind the student of the components of soil. Rock, clay, silt, sand, and humus. It was also meant to remind the student of the purpose of soil. These were things that were on the study guide for my daughter's test, and therefore deemed important knowledge.<br />
<br />
Secondly, it doesn't talk down, and is not overly didactic. It uses a bit of whimsical humor to keep interest, and then slips in the required information.<br />
<br />
Also, it doesn't try to pack too much information into one song. This is a very subjective thing, but the problem one encounters if a song is too densely packed with information is that the options for making things aesthetically pleasing become far fewer, and the information can also get lost in the clutter. One should not expect too much of a song, after all.<br />
<br />
There are other things I could say about this video, but I'll let you judge for yourself. By a certain standard, this is the song that started it all:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fAbsHR7b33w" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Lyrics after the jump:<br />
<a name='more'></a>When you think of soil,<br />
You might think "dirty"<br />
But flowers are purty,<br />
And they grow in soil.<br />
<br />
When you think of soil<br />
You might think "grimy"<br />
But trees are climby,<br />
And they grow in soil.<br />
<br />
Soil provides the nutrients plants need to live and grow.<br />
It's made of rock, clay, silt, and sand and humus, don't you know.<br />
<br />
Well if you touch soil,<br />
You might think "scummy"<br />
But beets are yummy<br />
And they grow in soil.<br />
<br />
And flowers are purty,<br />
And they grow in soil.<br />
<br />
And trees are climby,<br />
And they grow in soil.<br />
<br />
©2010 David Newman
<br />
<br />
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Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12969953687944997921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428878179810712665.post-14288055189587164162011-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:002011-09-27T22:33:47.805-07:00Historical OverviewWelcome to The Science Songbook, the blog where I feature songs I've written about science, and perhaps a few other subjects. I presume I'll add a bit of philosophy in as well, as music and education are both central to my life, and I have much to say about each and their intersection.<br />
<br />
I make my living as a classical singer and university professor. I teach private voice lessons and a class in ear training (which involves learning to look at notated music and hear it in your head, as well as the reverse: hearing music and being able to write it down.)<br />
<br />
However, before I discovered my vocal talents, I was very interested in songwriting. I wrote my first song when I was 7 years old, and by the time I had applied for college, I had written about 50 songs. Sadly, they ranged in quality from utterly atrocious to mildly palatable. I continued to write in college, but eventually got fully sucked away into the world of opera and oratorio.<br />
<br />
I started writing songs again after I got married, perhaps inspired by the fact that my wife's parents had been rock musicians in the 60's and 70's with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Beautiful_Day_%28album%29">gold record</a> to their credit. Years spent performing and teaching music had honed my skills to a much higher degree, and I found I was writing much better material. Most of it was still centered on the typical subjects of love and anguish.<br />
<br />
When my kids were small, my wife and I became strong advocates for early childhood education, and we began performing occasional shows for the preschool crowd, mostly featuring folk songs that get kids moving. As we were affiliated early on with a mobile literacy program called the Gus Bus, we called ourselves the "book bus band." ("Gus bus band" was already taken.) I began writing songs for the preschool crowd to supplement our sets, and we were featured on a local telethon singing two of our originals, including one written specifically for that show.<br />
<br />
Last year, my eldest daughter asked me to help her review some material for a test on Soil. As I looked at the study sheet, I thought "Hey, I bet I could write some of this material into a song." I sat down for a half hour with the guitar, and came up with the first song in what I contemplated calling "dirty songs for kids" but later decided would be better represented as "the soil cycle." I recorded it that evening in approximately one take, directly into the microphone of my macbook. I added a little extra vocal harmony, and it was satisfactorily saved for posterity. My daughter loved it, but I thought I should share it a bit more widely. Perhaps other people would find it useful.<br />
<br />
The question was, how to share it? I had several websites I maintained, but none were really appropriate for this sort of music. But I recalled recently seeing some songs posted to YouTube with lyrics. That, I thought, I could probably do. So I did a little experimentation with iMovie, and discovered it was rather easy to produce a video of the song with just the lyrics. This had the dual benefit of being quick and easy to produce, and of making it easier to sing along.<br />
<br />
I posted it to YouTube on the old "bookbusband" account I had reserved. (I now regret not choosing a new name at that point!) And then I posted a link to FaceBook. And about 42 of my friends went and listened. And a lot of them liked it!<br />
<br />
I was so jazzed that they liked it that I wrote another song the next day, and again recorded it in one evening and had a video out that night. The next day, I actually had a day off, and spent the better part of the day writing and recording the third song in the cycle. And I wrote and recorded a fourth song the next day.<br />
<br />
At which point I burnt out completely. I turned my attention to other things, including recording a local Christmas CD, for which I also wrote or arranged several pieces, and focusing on my professional duties as a singer and teacher.<br />
<br />
By the Spring of 2011, my videos were getting a little more attention, and someone took my suggestion to make a request. (I love a challenge.) This quickly resulted in a new song, and I produced another four videos in rapid succession. By now, I knew more people were paying attention, so I put a little more care into the recording of the songs. I pulled some very long nights getting these songs finished.<br />
<br />
Again, I burnt out for awhile. (It's hard to do all this while working full time!)<br />
<br />
My interest was again piqued this summer when I was contacted by Greg Crowther, a scientist and songwriter, to see if I could help record a song he wrote for a contest. I was away for the summer, and had no instruments or equipment with me, so naturally, it was a challenge I couldn't refuse! I decided that I would have to make an acapella arrangement of the song. I added an intro and a bridge, and built up a somewhat elaborate arrangement using only my macbook (using garageband) and the built in microphone. (I did rerecord most of the parts using a better mic when I got home.)<br />
<br />
I've slowed down my pace a bit now, which perhaps means I won't burn out so quickly. I've also realized that this is something I care passionately about, and therefore something I need to make room for in my life. (A story better saved for another post.) So I am starting this blog, and beginning a journey of taking these songs and my involvement with them seriously.<br />
<br />
I will be posting songs individually here, with some commentary. If you'd just like to skip ahead and listen to most of what I've produced at one go, you'll find them on this YouTube channel:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://youtube.com/bookbusband">http://youtube.com/bookbusband</a><br />
<br />
I hope you enjoy!
<br />
<br />
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