The Experimental Orchestra Mini-Residency

Length

45"

Target Audience

Education: Grade(s) Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Teacher(s)/Educator(s), Parent, Adult Learners, Homeschool/Family , Learning PodPublic Library: Library Patrons

Minimum participants:

1

Maximum participants:

30 (1 classroom) for workshops; 4 classrooms can join the performance

Primary Disciplines

Fine Arts, Language Arts/English, Literacy, Performing Arts, Problem Solving, Science, STEM

Program Delivery Mode

Booking Information

Receive this program and 9 more for one low price when you purchase the CILC Virtual Expeditions package. Learn more

For more information contact CILC by email info@cilc.org or by phone (507) 388-3672

Provider's Cancellation Policy

If for any reason the recipient wishes to reschedule up to 24 hours before the program, Bash the Trash will make every effort to accommodate the rescheduling.

If for reason the recipient wishes to cancel a program, there is no fee up to 24 hours before the program. Cancellation within 24 hours of program, with no rescheduling possible, entails payment of the full fee.

However, in the case of a weather or pandemic-related cancellation within 24 hours of program, please contact us and we'll work it out.

About This Provider

HASTINGS ON HUDSON, NY
United States

Bash the Trash programs are about music, science, culture, arts and the environment! Centered around the concept of sustainability, we’ve been building and performing with found-object instruments for over 30 years, making connections to plastic pollution and climate change. 

Over time our programs have evolved into a wide range of musical and cultural experiences that go beyond homemade instruments. Our diverse crew of presenters offer a series of programs based on their individual artistic skills and cultural backgrounds, making connections with students through their amazing experiences. We’re eager to interact with audiences through the arts, Q&A and conversation to create true cultural and artistic exchanges. 

Hands-on instrument-building or art-making is possible in most programs using simple reused/repurposed materials. Bash the Trash offers workshop/performances and multiple-session residencies as well as fun and useful professional development for educators, all closely aligned to national and local standards. Plus Bash the Trash programs are great for special days like Earth Day, National Recycling Day and World Water Day! 

Program Details

Format

The Experimental Orchestra is Bash the Trash's mini-residency that combines sound science, sustainability, and literacy. The program is intended for a point to point connection - a single live teaching artist connecting to a single classroom.

The program starts with a 45" mini-performance by a Bash the Trash (BTT) teaching artist. During this performance students will be introduced to a range of subjects that they will need in order to build successful musical instruments. Over the course of a fast, fun and educational show, students will learn the basic of sound science which may include (depending on age group) vibrations, resonance, pitch, frequency, sound waves, etc. Exploring different instrument families show pitch and volume strategies for strings, percussion - and (in non-Covid) times - winds. Each cool and weird instrument built from trash also teaches lessons on sustainability, plastic pollution and climate change. At the end of the show the teacher artist introduces the materials list for students to collect for the second session.

In the second session students build a range of unusual instrument using materials that they have collected from home. Teachers can augment these materials with duct/masking tape, shaking materials like paper clips etc. The teaching artist begins the program projected for the whole class to set some parameters. Then with a laptop and a rolling cart, the teacher bring the virtual artist to visit each student in the class, looking at materials, making suggestions and making connections to science concepts. At the end of the session the teaching artist will lead the students in some simple performance techniques to prepare for the "sharing".

In the final session the teaching artist will collaborate with the classroom teacher to identify a text - a poem, or a passage - that can serve as inspiration for creating a quick music/text composition. Using student suggestions and digital drawing and drafting techniques, students will create a short piece including concepts of rhythm, texture and form; rehearse it and perform it in a relaxed "sharing" for another class in their pod, or in video format.

Objectives

This is an introduction to how science can help us build better musical instruments using the cheapest possible materials, and make connection to literacy through simple composition. This leads us down several program objective threads.

Thread 1: Science of Sound
Students will learn about about the nuances of sound energy transfer:
Energy is given to the instrument (instrument is struck, blown, bowed, etc)
Instrument vibrates
Through resonance, vibrations travel through medium (air) causing compression waves (sound waves) to slosh about

Thread 2: Science of Instruments
Students will learn about each of the four instrument families (or five Sachs/Hornbostel Instrument classifications) and how their unique properties of material construction, design, playing technique, etc. lead to the different "sounds" (timbre) of the families.

Thread 3: Sustainability
Students will learn current concepts of moving to a more sustainable living style, including the 3 R's - Reduce Reuse and Recycle - and why they are in that order; plastic pollution; climate change, etc. Students will also learn what they can do to start to make a difference - even at a young age!

Thread 4: Literacy
For a final exercise, we'll choose a suitable text passage - a poem, a few sentences, a paragraph - and create a simple musical piece based on that text, making a nice classroom curriculum connection.

Standards Alignment

National Standards

Next Gen Science Standards addressed by this program

1st Grade
1-PS4-1, Wave Properties: Waves and Their Applications Technologies for Information Transfer
1-PS4-1 Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
1-PS4-4 Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect

2nd Grade
2-PS1 Matter and its Interactions
2-PS1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
2-PS2 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
Crosscutting Concept: Patterns; Cause and Effect
K-2 ETS1 Engineering Design
K-2-ETS1-2 Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
Crosscutting Concept: Structure and Function

3rd Grade
3-PS2 Motion and Stability
3-PS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
3-PS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
Crosscutting Concept: Patterns; Cause and Effect

4th Grade
4-PS3 Energy
4-PS3-2 Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
4-PS4 Waves
4-PS4-1 Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.
4PS4-3 Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
Crosscutting Concept: Patterns; Cause and Effect

5th Grade
5-PS1 Matter and its Interactions
5-PS1-1 Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
5-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
5-ESS3-2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural
Earth processes on humans.
Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect
5-ESS3, Earth and Human Activity
5-ESS3.C: Human activities in agriculture, industry and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.
Crosscutting Concept: Systems and System Models
3-5-ETS1 Engineering Design
3-5-ETS1-1 Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
Crosscutting Concept: Influence of Science, Engineering and Technology on Society and the Natural World

Middle School
MS-PS4 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
MS-PS4-2 Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials

High School
HS-PS3 Energy
HS-PS3-2 Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative positions of particles (objects).

State Standards

Available upon request