Youth in the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) will have an opportunity to be among the first students to experience a new program launching this summer.
The experiential program, the Art and Science of Experiencing Music, was developed by Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute math and physics teacher Chandra Boon.
The purpose of the course is for students to delve into the experience of music by designing and building a device that makes sound. Students will incorporate their device into a performance and prepare a research paper. Classroom teaching will look at musical experience from a technical perspective and a neurological perspective, examining the physics of sound.
The program will also feature workshops including tours of Guelph’s Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate and its pipe organ, to gain an understanding of how a physical space affects the perception of sound.
A workshop led by guitar maker Tony Duggan-Smith will introduce students to the haunting device he created, the Apprehension Engine, also referred to as “the spookiest instrument on Earth.”
The STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) course is open to UGDSB students in Grades 10 to 12 who have completed Grade 10 science and math. Students who complete the program will receive a credit in technological design.
The program runs from July 4 to 27 and will be held at Silence, Guelph’s incubator for musicians, sound-makers and listeners. Silence is collaborating with the UGDSB on the program and, in addition to hosting the students, will run various workshops.
For more information contact Boon at Chandra.Boon@ugdsb.on.ca.
