Justin Pate meets ALA

Big Idea: To finish up the sound cycle and have a fun, memorable activity going into spring break for our ALA teens, we brought in our good musician friend Justin Pate.

Dates: Wednesday, March 1st 2006

Groups Participating: ALA bluedots and pico’s (& Cale in small, lost sweatshirt - see pic above)

Materials: Be sure to check out a “rhythms the world” instrument kit from the museum library.

Directions: For Justin’s workshop, we followed the same scheduale with ALA's as Panther's, but we decided to present it upstairs in “Hands On Science” so the public could watch his and our performances as well. We first introduced Justin, and then introduced his technology by distorting each teen’s voice in his I.R. midi voice distorter. Then, after a brief performance of Bobby McFarren’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” to present his looping instruments, we had the teens create their own tune by looping an 8 measure sound they made individualy into a microphone from an instrument of their choice. After we all recorded our sounds, Justin added his own instruments to build it all into an awesome orchistra of sound and music.

Associated Concepts: This not only is a fun, climactic event to end their sound cycle, but by meeting an artist like Justin, it encourages them to see that there are opportunities out there to make a living in science, engineering, or at simply doing what they love.

Best Part: The songs we made as a group, our audiences reaction to the music, and the teens sense of accomplishment in taking part in composing thier song. Its been said that "musicians are magicians", and I cannot help but think of Justin Pate when hearing these words.

Worst Part: Buses ran late so some of parts of each workshop were cut short, but not to the point where the teens did not love what we did.

Improvements: More time for more fun with Justin Pate.