School Events
As part of his Senior Media Fellowship, David is involved in events in schools. These can be found on the past school events page along with a summary of activities that have been used. A brief description of the activities that have been used is given here so that the range of material that David uses can be understood.
Staging an event at your school can be a reality. Please get in contact with David to discuss details.
- Acoustic Basics
- Acoustic Amplification
- Electronic Amplification
- Making Music with Technology
- Sending a Hidden Message
- Signals
- Voice Manipulation with Technology
- Voice Matters (for voice users)
- Voice Matters (for primary schools)
- Voice Training with Technology
Acoustic Basics:
Sound transmission from molecule to molecule is explored in an interactive game with groups. The tin and string telephone is used to help understand the transmission of sound from source to listener. Messages can be sent and the effects of noise and listening conditions can be discussed.
Acoustic Amplification:
A sound source involves the vibration of air molecules, and sufficient impact on enough molecules is needed to make the sound audible (e.g. musical instruments such as the violin or guitar). Message tape is introduced which requires a "body" in order to be audible, and we think about suitable bodies, experiment with likely objects, then try the tape to work out its message, and then note the effects of playing the tape slowly, fast and backwards.
Electronic Amplification:
A volume control is a device that changes a voltage as it is moved, called a "potentiometer". The various types are notes and voltage variation is measured as the potentiometer is moved. For a rotary device, the angle of movement can be estimated and noted with the measured voltage. A graph could be plotted. The effect can be demonstrated with a oscillator, oscilloscope and loudspeaker.
Making Music with Technology:
The creation of sounds electronically using additive, subtractive and sampling techniques is explored and the advantages and disadvantages of each method is reviewed. The control of sound when making music is considered and the MIDI Creator system is used to allow experimentation with switches and voltage changing devices.
Sending a Hidden Message:
Knowledge of the time and frequency domain nature of signals allows audio messages to be hidden for transmission and recovered at the receiving end using time or frequency domain techniques. Messages are recorded, with proper attention to recording quality - even in a laboratory environment, and then hidden before sending to a colleague who has to recover the message.
Signals:
The nature of signals in the time and frequency domains is explored, including simple and complex waveforms, amplitude, period, fundamental frequency, harmonics, phase and spectra. A variety of signals are created using additive synthesis and waveform manipulation, including square, sawtooth and triangular waveforms, which can be plotted, zoomed in and out and listened to over headphones.
Voice Manipulation with Technology:
The voice is a musical instrument and there are devices which enable the voice to be processed during performance. A range of these devices is explored and the performance possibilities are discussed. Multipart vocal textures can be created as a choir from just one human voice input. The voice can be used to control electronic sound synthesis, so the sound heard is not the vocal output itself but an electronic sound that is being manipulated by the user's voice.
Voice Matters:
For voice users (with Francis Newton). Find your voice and develop healthy voice skills for everyday voice use. Activities include: how the voice works, warming up, posture, breathing, finding your Adam's apple, how the larynx works, resonance, enlarged vowel space, vocal projection, computer displays of voice, electrolaryngograph, cooling down, food and drink for the voice, good and bad habits for healthy voice use. (www.voicematters.org.uk)
Voice Matters:
For primary schools (with Frances Brock and Julia Haigh). David has been involved with the Music for Life scheme in North Yorkshire, run by Sowerby Music. The scheme organises live music in primary schools in the region, and David is part of the vocal trio Voice Matters (2 sopranos and a tenor - SST) who spend three days a year with Music for Life giving a concert, leading workshops and a concert for the whole school and parents at the end of the day. Activities include: listening, vocal posture, speaking, singing, action games and rhythm games.
Voice Training with Technology:
Computers are being used in singing lessons to provide real-time visual feedback. This can be observed during singing lessons to help students understand the acoustic results of new techniques. David is working on software for voice training, WinSingad, and it is used in science sessions to increase awareness of acoustics and signals in general as well as the voice.