12/10/2007 - "Play It By Ear"
Austin Children's Museum Exhibits the Art and Science of Tinkering with Sound in Play It By Ear
Austin, Texas (December 10, 2007) — Listen … can you hear it? Bam, whiz and pow! On January 19, 2008, the feature exhibit Play It By Ear opens at Austin Children’s Museum (ACM). Visitors can touch, experiment and interact with works of sound art, create their own works of sound art and explore the science of hearing. Engaging children through the fascinating world of sounds, this exhibit demonstrates the scientific properties of sound production and reception through art and hands-on activities.
“Play It By Ear is aligned with both our organization’s focus on creative problem solving, and the unique cultural vibe of our local community,” said Mike Nellis, Executive Director at Austin Children’s Museum. Of the 11 interactive sound sculptures featured in the exhibit, three will be created by Austin artists and tinkerers. Within Play It By Ear, families can find a keyboard that activates dancing Slinkys, a giant music box that lets you create your own melody, a huge drum where you feel sound as a vibration through the seat of your pants, and more. “The creativity of the art works highlights sound as a medium for self-expression that requires an understanding of the scientific properties of sound,” said Becky Jones, Director of Education at ACM.
To deepen visitors’ understanding of how sound is received and processed by their ears, ACM’s Education and Exhibits teams developed supplementary interactive science components. Visitors can take a playful, hands-on approach to discovering how their ears work to keep them oriented in the surround sound world in which they live. They will find a larger than life size model of the human ear, will be able to try out different “ears” and talk with a friend using an assumed voice. At each station, children and adults will make things happen to notice and discuss the results together.
Gallery programs and a summer concert series will be planned to expand opportunities to learn about and enjoy sound and music. Play It By Ear will be featured at ACM through September 14, 2008.
Play It By Ear Exhibit Components
Ball Machine #13: Create a unique acoustical experience when you launch wooden balls down a system of tracks to strike objects like alarm bells and old tools.
Audio Visual: Visual Audio: Slinkys® suspended from speakers make sound waves visible. Watch the Slinkys wiggle and oscillate in response to sounds you play on a keyboard linked to the speakers.
The Giant Music Box: Compose new tunes on this large scale music box when you change washer patterns on a magnetic drum. See the drum roll and activate hammers that strike brass bars to produce tuned notes.
Tinker Tones: Children experiment and create their own works of sound art using objects like small bells, wind chimes, xylophone parts and Tinker Toy ™ connectors.
Vibrating Drum: Sit on this large drum and feel the vibrations of the beat you create.
Washer Works: Slide washers to the top of metal bars of different lengths and listen for differences in sound as the washers wobble and jangle their way back down.
Thing-o-Phone: Be a wooden spoon maestro by striking tones from a collection of table-mounted resonant objects.
Xylobell: Bring out the musical potential of industrial materials like PVC and aluminum tubes and a hollow oxygen tank.
Exhibit Components Developed Locally
Interactive Sculpture (title tbd) by Vern Graner: Interact with ultrasonic sonar technology to create digital sound and light effects. Experiment with how the sounds and light vary with your movement and distance from each sensor.
Project Constellation by De la máquina: Use a touch screen display to control the sound of three large brass gongs hung from the darkened ceiling in the Austin Kiddie Limits gallery. De la máquina builds unusual objects to explore physical computing, interface design, and technology for the performing arts.
Soundscape Panels by Peter Struble: Play a tune on the Pluck-Ola or Thunk-a-Phone in this kiosk on display outside the Museum.
Now Hear This: Learn how the human ear works. View a 5x life size display of the ear and explore interactive mechanical devices that model the main functions of the ear.
My What Big Ears You Have!: Compare and contrast how your ears collect sound when you position your head between a pair of “much-larger-than-ear” objects.
Which Way is Which?: Try on new sets of “ears” made with a configuration of funnels and tubes that creates a startling directional listening experience. Did that sound come from the right or the left?
There and Back at the Speed of Sound: Can you move at 770 mph? Your voice can. Listen to your own voice echo when sound is sent down the 100 ft. cardboard tube.
Who’s Calling Please?: Have fun making calls with a phone system that electronically alters the sound of your voice to sound like a robot and more.
Listening to a Room: In this field, sound levels will be measured and given a color coding. Watch closely as sound becomes visible! Produced in collaboration with National Instruments.
Play It By Ear was created by the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Supplementary sound sculptures were created by Austin artists and science components were produced by Austin Children’s Museum. Local presentation is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT ACM
The mission of Austin Children's Museum is to create innovative learning experiences for children and families that equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. Located at the Dell Discovery Center downtown at the corner of 2nd Street and Colorado, the Austin Children's Museum is one of the city’s popular cultural attractions with 200,000 visitors annually. The Austin Children's Museum is a non-profit 501c3 organization and all donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information on the exhibits, programs and outreach activities of the Austin Children’s Museum, visit www.austinkids.org or call 512-472-2499.
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Museum staff available for interviews.