Solfeggio Spoons: Repurposing, Thrifting, and Creating NEW Technology- CEP 811

This week in CEP 811 we learned about repurposing. It came as a shock to me to realize that little technology exists for the sole purpose of education, therefore sometimes we have to scrounge around our basements and thrift stores and make our own technology! Using our creative juices as teachers, we can make our own NEW technology that is Novel, Effective, and Whole! So the first step in my process of creating a technology to use in my choir room was to explore my basement for materials that I could use. The idea I had in mind from the beginning was to use some sort of conductive material to make pitch using piano keys from an Internet source online. So, I brainstormed and searched for different materials in my house. In order for this to be a technology that everyone can create, I realized I had to find something that everyone has in their house. Hence, what do we all have in our houses that could be conductive: Water glasses, bananas (maybe), pencils, or utensil?

Ding ding ding! As I’m searching for materials I come across a bag of metal utensils in the basement I use only once a year, when the extended family comes over for Christmas dinner. I thought, knives could get dangerous with young children, forks same thing, so how about spoons?!

So, off I was to create my NEW technology! The following is a “How To” for making this MakeyMakey project!

Solfeggio Spoons

For this activity you will need the following materials:

1. A MakeyMakey kit purchased from http://www.MakeyMakey.com (approximately a $50.00 purchase)

2. A computer with access to the Internet

3. 5 Metal Spoons

Step 1: Open your MakeyMakey kit and insure that you have every piece that is included in the box:
• MakeyMakey
• 1 Orange USB Cable
• 7 Alligator Clips in Assorted colors
• 6 Connector Wires

Step 2: Find the Orange USB cable. Make sure all windows are closed on your computer first before you connect the cable to your MakeyMakey. Connect your device: The small end of the USB cable goes into your MakeyMakey and the large end goes into the USB port on your computer. If everything is working correctly your MakeyMakey should light up in red.

 

Step 3: Follow the on screen directions on your computer for installing a keyboard that syncs with your MakeyMakey.

Step 4: Connect an alligator clip to the “Earth” part of your MakeyMakey. (When the Solfeggio Spoons are complete you will have to hold the other end to conduct a current through your skin, so the spoons can make sound).

Step 5: Google “Virtual Keyboard” or follow this link here.

Step 6: Connect 5 of your Alligator Clips to your MakeyMakey. I flipped over the MakeyMakey and connected them to the “Click” part on the left hand side as follows:

Red Alligator Clip connects to A to produce the pitch “C” on the piano
Yellow Alligator Clip connects to S to produce the pitch “D” on the piano
Green Alligator Clip connects to D to produce the pitch “E” on the piano
Blue Alligator Clip connects to F to produce the pitch “F” on the piano
Black Alligator Clip connects to G to produce the pitch “G” on the piano

*Note: Make sure your 5 Alligator clips are not touching one another on the metal part or the sounds you make with your spoons with mix and not come out correctly. Be patient. 🙂

Step 7: Connect the other ends of your Alligator clips to metal spoons. I color-coded my Alligator clips in the line of a rainbow so that I could easily remember the 5 notes in order on the piano I’m using (C-D-E-F-G).

Step 8: Holding the Earth connected Alligator clip in your fingers, test out your creation!

*Inspirations for this project came from the list of references at the bottom of this blog. The process I have outlined above, which includes step-by-step pictures and video, can easily be accomplished by professionals or novices by following the directions carefully. If you are having trouble completing this project successfully, please contact me for clarification!*

After creating this project, I brainstormed several ways I could teach my content area of music, in a choir setting, by incorporating my NEW technology. To be honest, without the Solfeggio Spoons I would still be able to teach a lesson (I have a piano in the classroom), BUT what eleven or twelve year old would not want to be taught a skill by getting to play and interact with spoons? Therefore, a mini-lesson I could teach during warm-ups in choir would be this. In this lesson I am having my students build on their aural skills, which as training young musicians, is very important. Instead of “drill and kill” methods of teaching aural skills, I have a neat new toy that can facilitate learning intervals using the Solfeggio system. Therefore, the creativity of this technology would be very effective when teaching young adolescents!

Let me know what you think! Please comment on my blog below.

References

MakeyMakey Quick Start Guide. (2012). Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.makeymakey.com/howto.php

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2008). Teaching Creatively: Teachers as Designers of Technology, Content, and Pedagogy. . Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://vimeo.com/39539571

Virtual Keyboard. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2014, from http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/