Listen: A Sonic Series #4 & #5
July 14 and August 28
Why can you tell a trumpet from a flute, or one guitar from another guitar, even when they are playing the same tune? Or how do we understand other, non-musical, sounds, like beating hearts, squealing brakes, and clicking locks? Find out at the next two in the series of "listening" events that run through September at the Exploratorium. Listen: A Sonic Series continues on Wednesday, July 14 at 7pm with Tuning In and Listen While You Work, on Saturday, August 28 at noon, presented by the Exploratorium and made possible by the National Science Foundation. These events are included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium. The schedule for July and August is as follows:
Tuning In
Listen: The Sonic Series
Wednesday, July 14
McBean Theater, 7pm
Why can you tell a trumpet apart a flute, or one guitar from another guitar, even when they are playing the same tune? Every musical instrument has a unique personality. Whether it's a violin, a steel pan or a series of wineglasses played with wet fingers, you recognize each instrument by its individual sound quality. Experimental musical instrument designer Bart Hopkin and an acclaimed steel pan performer and tuner will share how they listen and shape the personality and sound quality of the musical instruments they play and make.
Listen While You Work
Listen: The Sonic Series
Saturday, August 28
Noon –3pm
Meet people whose jobs depend on analyzing sound, and hear beating hearts, squealing brakes, clicking locks, and a machine shop performance. Explore mechanical noises and their nuances as Ken Dunckel, a safe and vault technician, demonstrates audio amplification, a way to listen to safes and vaults. Artist Annie Gosfield merges music and machinery in a concert-length work. Fine-tune your mechanic’s ear and learn to decode cryptic auto sounds with expert Lisa Miller. Use a stethoscope to hear the rhythms of your body with Ray Yeh, a local expert on internal medicine.