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By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 7-20-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. —Nature hums with music – from the high-pitched chirps of tiny crickets to the low frequency bellows of blue whales – if you stop and listen.
Twenty-five local students will pause to hear nature’s melody at the UBEATS BioMusic Summer Camp July 20-24 at the North Campus of Gateway University Research Park, 5900 Summit Ave. Using nature as a lab, the weeklong day summer camp will teach students in grades 2-5 about BioMusic, the science of musical sounds in all species.
The camp will “help kids approach science through their listening abilities and learn how to conceptually listen for patterns, synchronicity and all those things that music is made of but science is very interested in,” said Dr. Patricia Gray, a professor and senior research scientist with the Music Research Institute in the School of Music at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The UBEATS BioMusic Summer Camp is part of the larger UBEATS Project, sponsored by a $374,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, and involves faculty from UNCG, N.C. State University and public school teaching specialists in science and music.
During the week students will learn about the physics of sound and venture into nature to record the sounds around them, such as insects, birds and yapping dogs, Gray said. Back in the classroom, students will download the recordings and make scientific observations based on the data. Then they’ll become composers, taking the sounds and turning them into musical compositions. The camp will conclude Friday, July 24, with a showcase including a “critter choir” and animal karaoke.
Local teachers will also be part of the action, learning about BioMusic alongside the campers. The educators will learn how to use software to analyze sounds and gain an understanding of how the human brain gets information from the sounds around us, Gray said. The teacher track will prepare educators to incorporate BioMusic curriculum into their classrooms in the fall.
Response during registration to the UBEATS BioMusic camp was strong, Gray said. “We have a huge waiting list. All the teachers’ places were taken up in a day.”
The response points to the intense interest in the discipline, she added. “Everybody who’s involved with BioMusic education initiatives understands that the marriage of science, music and animals is a wonderful way to help kids use their passion for music and their interest in animals to exercise science processing skills,” Gray said.
For more information, visit http://www.uncg.edu/mus/mri/index.html.
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