In this lesson, students will learn about how these instruments came to life and consider how they can draw on the inventors’ creative processes to make their own musical inventions.
Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “Listen to Five of the World’s Newest, Wildest Instruments” by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim (Please note there is also an option to listen to this article.)
A Lego guitar, an electromagnetic piano and a “war tuba” are among the highlights of the 2021 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, an annual contest for the invention of new musical instruments. What possesses someone to invent a new instrument? This year’s finalists will tell you: Boredom, curiosity and frustration.
In this lesson, you will get the chance to listen to five of these new instruments and read about the inventors’ creative processes. Then, we invite you to put your ingenuity to the test by inventing your own musical instrument.
Warm Up
Have you found refuge in art or creativity during the coronavirus pandemic? Have boredom, curiosity or frustration inspired you to invent something?
Think about something new you have created recently. It could be a piece of art, a new game to keep you and your siblings entertained, a tasty recipe, a TikTok video or anything else.
Then, take a few moments to reflect on your creative process, either in writing or discussion with a partner, using the following prompts as a guide:
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What did you make? What spurred you to make it?
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Where did you get inspiration for your creation?
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What materials, skills and other resources did you need to bring it to life?
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What benefit, if any, has it had for you and others?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read or listen to the article, then answer the following questions:
1. What is the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition? With what criteria do judges select the winners?
2. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim writes in the third paragraph that the “videos submitted by the contestants have allowed viewers to dip into a world teeming with ingenuity.” What does “ingenuity” mean in this sentence? What surrounding words and phrases give you clues to its meaning? Give an example of how one of the instruments featured in the article demonstrates “ingenuity.”
3. The article features five new instruments that won the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition: the segulharpa, the electromagnetic piano, the Lego microtonal guitar, the Evolano and the war tuba. Choose three of those instruments to analyze more closely by responding to the following questions for each:
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What inspired the inventor to create this instrument?
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What materials, skills and resources did the creator need to make this instrument?
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Listen to at least 20 seconds of the instrument in the embedded video. Describe its sound using descriptive adjectives, strong verbs or literary devices, like similes and personification. What effect does the sound have on you as the listener?
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What benefit, if any, does this instrument have for its inventor, other people or music over all?
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In your opinion, does the instrument meet the judging criteria of the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition? Why or why not?
Going Further
Now, imagine you have been invited to enter the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition. What new musical instrument would you create?
To get ideas, you might draw on your own creative process, or those of the inventors you read about. Here are some prompts to get you thinking:
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Study your surroundings. Tolgahan Cogulu was inspired to create his Lego multitonal guitar after watching his son play with Legos. What ideas for a new instrument can you get from everyday objects?
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Start doodling. Ulfur Hansson based his segulharpa on a drawing he made in a computer graphics program. What images come to mind when you picture a new instrument?
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Consider a problem you want to solve. The composer David Shea dreamed of an instrument that would turn any concert grand into an electromagnetic piano — and that was easily portable. What issues do you encounter with instruments that already exist? How could you improve upon them?
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Ask a question. Many of these inventors’ creative impulses were spurred by a question: What if a piano could sing? How does a guitar learn to play microtones? Can a keyboard instrument be taught to swoop like a cello? What questions do you have about the music world? You might brainstorm with the sentence stem: What if a ____ could ____ like a ____?
Once you have your idea, create a sketch of your instrument or write a short paragraph describing it and the sound it would create. If you have more time, respond to the following questions:
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What inspired you to create this instrument?
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What effect would you want the sound to have on listeners?
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What materials, skills, resources and experts would you need to bring this instrument to life?
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What benefit will it have for you, others and the music world?
And if musical instruments aren’t your thing, consider how you can apply this creative process to another invention of your choice.
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March 30, 2021 at 03:00PM
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Lesson of the Day: ‘Listen to Five of the World’s Newest, Wildest Instruments’ - The New York Times
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