Palatine students find music in everyday objects
A music teacher in Palatine credits the Blue Man Group with bringing her unit on rhythm and syncopated notes to life.
Melanie Madsen, the music teacher at Paddock Elementary School, was inspired by a national competition called “Invent an Instrument,” sponsored by Blue Man Group in partnership with the education organization Scholastic.
Like Blue Man Group itself, which plays music and percussion on handmade instruments, the contest challenges youngsters to make their own rhythm instruments using recycled materials.
They geared the competition toward fifth- through ninth-grade students, asking them not only to make their instruments but to write an original song and perform it on a video they submit.
Blue Man Group officials thought the competition would give students a creative stretch, combining music and the arts with innovation driven by math and science.
Blue Man Group co-founder Matt Goldman says the idea came from audience members who tell them how invigorated they feel and re-connected to their own creativity after watching the show.
“The Blue Man character is very innocent and childlike,” says Goldman of the long-playing production at the Briar Street Theatre in Chicago. “He looks at the world with a fresh perspective.
“Kids are similar in many ways, always surprising us with their innovative ideas,” he adds. “We believe that kids learn best when their creativity and innovation is valued in the classroom.”
The concept clicked with Madsen, who thought it might appeal to her sixth-graders with its hands-on approach to learning to read music.
“Once we started talking about the competition, it just added a spark,” Madsen says.
Every student in her class made an instrument. One boy made a xylophone out of motorcycle parts he found in his dad's garage workshop, while others turned old mailboxes, garbage bins, PVC pipes and buckets into percussion instruments.
One of her favorites was a simple cooking pot, which when filled with water and is shaken, changes pitch.
A smaller group of her students decided to compete in the national competition. Their entries were submitted last month.
A panel of celebrity judges will select the contest winner. The winner will be flown to New York City to meet the Blue Man Group founders and see the Blue Man Group show at the Astor Place Theater.
What's more, a $5,000 scholarship will also go to both the winning student and the winning student's school. Finally, Blue Man Group will create an original composition using the winner's instrument.
No matter what happens with Paddock School's entries, the children feel like winners, Madsen says. They all got Blue Man Group T-shirts for participating.
“It's provided so much inspiration,” Madsen says. “Being involved with the program improved their note reading and they got to see first hand some of those rhythms put to good use.”