Melodic-Mnemonics is a method of teaching science through multi-media and music-video production developed by T.H. Culhane. The idea is to use all the vocabulary words from each chapter in the textbook to compose lyrics, then set them to music, then illustrate them with appropriate imagery. The act of creating the presentation, the repitition involved in the production process, and the melody acting as a carrier wave, creates a powerful mnemonic device.
People feared the world was gonna end
Y2K or 2012
Climate change, disasters round the bend
All our resources going to hell
Complex engineering ruled the day
Super sized in every way
Still the word got out that many things
could be done in a simple way...
Consider it done, today
with no need to hesitate
We have the technology
Consider it done
Consider yourself allied
Consider it DIY
When making things work's your pride
You have all you need inside
Consider it Done
Politics are always in our way.
Economics still holds sway
Yet as long as we're still making things
We've enough to get through each day
Garbage in need not make garbage out
Trash is merely in our minds
Food waste's really sunshine's energy
Rain or Shine to be had for free
So the lesson for you and me
Is the problems that we perceive
All the problems we face today
Can be solved in a simple,
Solved in a simple
Solved in a simple way!
Consider the Birds, He said,
Consider the flowers, instead
There's no need to fear, He said
once we have evolved
Consider this solved, today
With no need to hesitate
There's no need to fight or hate
We have the technology
Consider it Done,
Solved...
Solved
A win-win we've won...
Consider it Done!
A letter I wrote to Jesus as
a song in High School, 33 years ago.
D
Ebm7b5 You've the right to condescend E
Nobody can touch you
C# You're a million miles above
F#m There's no pretend
B9 You're just too good.
Bm9 But I'm yours if you'll take
me E6
D Ebm7b5 Amaj7 Make me
or break me down. Down.
Down.
D
Ebm7b5 You've the right to criticize E
C#
F#m We'd be fools in your eyes
B9 And you're oh so right
Bm9 But I'm willing to take it E6
D Ebm7b5 Amaj7 'cause
I'm going to make you mine. Mine. Mine.
G#m7b5
C#7b9 Worlds appear in my sleep (whispered:
"Heaven!") G#m7b5
C#7b9 Dreams of somewhere else (whispered: "Heaven on
Earth") F#m7b5
B7b9 These still waters run deep (whispered: "Heavens!") F#m7b5
B7b9 Perhaps you think that I'm somebody else?
Amaj7
Bbm7b5
E
E6 Look back into childhood where the only good was relative to
thoughts that were simplistically
naive Amaj7
Bbm7b5
E
E6 Futuristic nightmares hover over the horizon, just the
thought's enough to make one disbelieve Amaj7 Bbm7b5 E6
Amaj7 Bbm7b5 E6 My
faith's in... you. Ah... ah...
ah.
Amaj7
Bbm7b5 People say I've lost my
mind B
Many say to worship you
G#7 and follow in your footstep's C#m7 suicide,
F#7 and they may be right...
F#m7 But Lord that's how you made me...
B7 And I can't live the fake way
F#m7 So I'm yours if you'll take me B7
Take me away please B7b9
E
Eaug E E7 Eaug E Eaug Don't make me wait too long...
Visiting my beloved father this weekend in NY I note the acceleration of his progressive degenerative disease and the impact it is having on his ability to think, remember and function, express himself and recognize people and things. I know so many of my family and friends have gone through or are going through similar hard times and join in the collective sorrow that senescence imposes on our fragile human condition. To cope with my feelings I've written a song that I hope to record soon, expressing the tragedy of slowly losing a loved one to the unfairness of biology and pray that we can find cures to the ills of old age and along the way find the fortitude to always honor our elders and continue to see their greatness during the sunset of their years :
"My dad -- he's dyin' (Dm, G6)
He's goin' away... (Cmaj7, Em)
My daddy's dyin' (Dm, G6)
What more to say... (Cmaj7, Em)
(F) For all my life I've feared these words
I worried and I feared the worst
(Bbmaj7) And now my childhood nightmare's coming true...
(F) Don't tell me I should take this well
(Dm6) And let my feeling's go to hell
(Bb6) 'cause now I'm older and a father too
(Am) 'Cause age don't take the love away
I want my loved ones all to stay
(Em, F) The arrow doesn't only go one way
(Bbmaj7) And just because we all face death
It doesn't make it hurt no less
(Bb7) The pain is still within my breast
And Daddy how I wish that you would (G7) stay...
My Dad -- he's dyin' (Dm, G6)
Does it have to be this way? (Cmaj7, Em)
Excuse me cryin' (Dm, G6)
The sorrow doesn't go away... (Cmaj7, Em)
(F) I always will look up to you
You're still the man I always knew
(Bbmaj7) And no disease can take your soul away
(F) And when they say your mind has gone
(Dm6) Your body just a broken one
(Bb6) I see your spirit shining just the same
(Am)'Cause old age ain't the final word
(Am) To look at life that way's absurd
(Em, F) And shutting down your heart's the coward's way
(Bbmaj7)And just because we all face death
(Bbmaj7)To be there 'til the final breath
(Bb7) Is better than to turn away
The elderly deserve more than our (G7) prayers...
Your body's dyin' (Dm, G6)
and so's your brain...(Cmaj7, Em)
But we'll keep trying (Dm, G6)
Because we love you every way (Cmaj7, Em)
Yeah, Daddy's dyin' (Dm, G6)
But my love ain't goin' away (Cmaj7, Em)
My daddy's dyin (Dm, G6)
But his spirit's here to stay (Cmaj7, Em)
Yeah Daddy's dyin' (Dm, G6)
But our love won't go away (Cmaj7, Em)
My daddy's dyin' (Dm, G6)
But his spirit's here to stay..." Cmaj7, Em)
Making Robots with My Arduino A Music-Video about Robotics Education
set to a Country Western Rock-a-Billy Beat by T.H. Culhane
copyright 2011 T.H. Culhane
Culbrain Records
Em7b5 A7b5 Dm7b5 G7 (Slowly, arpeggiated, no beat) How would you make, (a robot that can make) the world a be-tter place...
(Drums, bass kick in here for 2 bars)
C7
With my Arduino, you know that I know that I can build one myself C7 With a couple of sensors and some motors and some servos and some Bb G7hardware you can buy off the shelf.
C7 With my Arduino, the open source world is open to me C7 I can program in Python, I can program in Java Bb7 G7 and of course I can program in C
C7 With my arduino... (It’s almost a cult thing...)
C7 Putting Lego bricks together makes a Mindstorm of fun F Fm If you got a lotta money a designer kit’s the one C7 But if you’re trying to put together a nifty robot on your own F Fm You wanna make it inexpensive and you want to make it run C7 using cheap microcontrollers that you can hack ;em all you want F Fm using open-source programming software you’ll be the savant G7 in the avant-garde of the G#7 G7 Ro-bot van-guard
C7
With my Arduino, I’m building robots on and under the sea
Using Sea Perch as my base,with this circuit board in place,
Bb G7
I bring autonomy to my ROV
C7
With my Arduino, yeah I can learn to program robots for free C7 I can make a robot do things that are good for you and me Bb7 G7 while learning science math and technology
C7 With my arduino... (It’s kind of a STEM thing...)
Bridge section: Em7b5 A7b5 Dm7b5 G7 (Boy 1:) You can afford (Chorus of Girls background vocal: “It’s open source”) (Boy 1:) This circuit board ( Girl 1:)You won’t get bored (Chorus of Boys working on R2D2 and C3PO background vocal:: Just use the force!) (Team of girls) We’’ll win awards.... G, G#, G7 C7 (All students holding up their micro-controllers): With our Arduinoooooooos! Yeeeeha! (The students do a line dance with a group of robots).
C7 F G7 G# G7
(Vocal follows classic Country chicken pickin’ lick:) C7 F First run a simulation, testing out your new creation, then model it with parts you can afford, G7 Then you enter a competition, take the software code you’ve written, download it to your Arduino C7 board.
C7 Make your robot relevant, like, you could save the elephant, F7 surveillance and security are two G7 of the tasks for which we program, saving people and environments is something we can make C7 our robots do. C7 “Build them with: VEX Robotics, LEGO Mindstorms, Lynxmotion Erector Sets and Fischer F7 Teknic, Parallex Boe Bots G7 C7 Aldebran and Robosoft and Corobot and Pioneer and Traxter and Create from IRobot C7 “There - are - so - many options out there, there are robots lurking everywhere, and all you have F7 to do is be a-ware... G7 Robots are embedded, from the workplace down to Toys are Us, you might find one inside your C7 Teddy bear..”
(Bear says, “yeee-ha!” Getta along there little coder!”)
After country lick part go to walking bass: C E F F# G A Bb B C Voice over: “The Office of Naval Research and the AUVSI, (the “Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International”) are working with Hollywood technology company Motion Picture Marine and a host of University and Institutional partners to create an international STEM education program that is designed to make robotics engineering affordable, accessible, relevant and FUN for all students. The program is called “PORPOISE: Precision Oceanographic Robotics Program On and In the Sea Environment” and it’s geared toward mentoring young people from all walks of life to develop robots and prepare for careers that can tackle the biggest challenges confronting their futures: pollution, oil spills, overfishing, habitat loss, wildlife conservation, coral bleaching, piracy, homeland security, energy security, food security, storm prediction and climate change. PORPOISE is engineering education with a purpose -- so get involved and join the mission today for a better future tomorrow through robotics that works for everyone!
C7
So now that we know C7 that we can make a robot all on our own
C7 We can run it using windows, using Linux or a Mac, Bb7 G7 or using bluetooth from our new Android phones
C7 Because Arduino, C7 is agnostic to the platforms we run Em7b5 A7#5 It can be built from scratch by you or me
Dm7b5 G7 programmed wireless or by USB C7 Bb7 A7 We're talking black, white, Asian or Latino...
D7 G7 Arduino makes robotics so much fun.... Dm7 and within the reach... G6 of eve-ry-one...
C7 With our Arduino... G7 We can make a better world G# G C7 for you.... and .....me...
D.E.M.M.O. Productions Experimetal Class Description for Hollywood High School,
By T.H. Culhane, 1995
D.E.M.M.O. Productions (Digital Engineering for Multi-Media Occupations) is an experimental program at Hollywood High School that integrates the technical, technological and vocational areas of students instruction (digital engineering), the academic areas that underpin our multi-media information age (language arts, history, science and math) and career oriented instruction that helps students relate their school experience to the workplace. It conforms to the Perkins 2+2 and 2+4 models that link high school to higher education while allowing students who are not college bound to find their niche in growth industry trades. D.E.M.M.O. Productions conforms to WASC guidelines for school improvement by offering project based/portfolio assessed instruction to its students; the teachers in the program use a coaching model and a product driven curriculum.
The emphases in this program are critical thinking, creative thinking and real world problem solving. The students are nurtured in their ability to "confront the blank page." -- to solve the fundamental problem of how to create something of value where nothing existed before. The class teaches students how to draw on prior knowledge and use what is known and relevant to them as the raw material from which they can fashion new product.
The class helps students overcome writers block, artists block and other creativity blocks such as stage fright, "boredom", circular reasoning and "infinite iteration". It supplies techniques for overcoming fear of censory and criticism -- fear that freeze the mind and shut down higher cortical functions. When fear and low self-esteem do impede student progress and interfere with motivation, the curriculum teaches students how to work with their limbic system and their fight or flight response as tools for focusing and directing creative energy.
D.E.M.M.O. Productions draws on a solid research foundation in "Brain Compatible Learning" and "Multiple Intelligence" Theory and uses the art ,psychology and science of what used to be called "film-making" in order to teach students how to fashion a compelling, engaging and socially useful story out of the uninflected data stream supplied by academic education. The art and science of story-telling through many media then becomes a valuable tool that students can use to order their world and make sense of the vast amounts of information that can be so intimidating and bewildering in our information age.
The program uses all creative and technical arts tools and manipulatives that are available, from pencil and paper to sophisticated multi-media audio-visual computers, video and audio production hardware, musical instrument digital interface technology, clay, paint and paper mache and and electronic test equipment. With guidance from the instructor, students put these tools to use in the creation of multi-media presentations that illustrate and explain concepts drawn from the academic curricula they are confronting in their other classes.
In effect then, D.E.M.M.O. Productions is an "Edu-tainment" class in which students learn how to process and manipulate information and create their own learning materials -- content based, entertaining instructional materials that are "of the students, by the students, and for the students."
Course Description
The major emphasis 0f this course is to develop the student’s ability
to communicate visual ideas using basic filmmaking techniques. Story
writing, story-based display, basic visual composition, and general
reproduction, and skills will be included with camera techniques, animation,
and line action planning.
Representative Objectives
In accordance with his or her ability and capacities, the student grows in ability to:
Recognize filmmaking as a basic method of communication in our economy.
Apply the art elements and principles to filmmaking.
Acknowledge filmmaking as an art form.
Perceive filmmaking as a medium that unites the visual arts, the literary arts, and the performing arts.
Recognize the role of film in professions other than entertainment including medicine, education, space exploration, and business.
Coordinate thinking processes with technical skills.
Develop objective aesthetic visual criteria related to filmmaking.
Value experimentation and originality.
Experiment with light and design as they apply to filmmaking.
Compare the content, intent, and use of different kinds of films including drama, comedy, documentary, and commercial.Assess vocational aptitude and interest in a career in filmmaking or related professions.
Application of Basic Skills
The student will use:
Language skills related to the preparation of stories and scripts for film.
Reading and research skills to write a paper on the history of film.
Appropriate technical vocabulary.
Reading and conprehension skills in the study of camera and equipment manuals.
Matematical skills to plan the length of films, and the timing of scenes and actions for animation.
Organizational skills to plan and produce a film.
Visual discrimination skills through application of the art elements to set design, character, and lighting.
Performance Skills
The student will:
Research information for media productions.
Organize work activities to meet project deadlines.
Funtion as an informed consumer of the visual media.
Identify the occupations and professions related to the mass media.
Identify the occupations and professions that use filmaking.
Communicate an idea using visual symbols.
Apply the art principles to the design and construction of sets and props.
Demonstrate basic drawing skills.
Compare various films made by students and other filmmakers.
" ... if I can build a treadle pump that you can build a treadle pump too!!"
This melodic-mnemonic is a music video intended to introduce the concept of the treadle pump. It also demonstrates our latest Solar CITIES initiative training Africans in diaspora (particularly Nigerians, like Paul Chido Iwunna, our Nigerian-German colleague featured in the video) in "Green-collar jobs and sustainable development technology" here in Germany and then traveling to our mother-countries to share the knowledge and technologies with our homeland communities. In this case Chido and I and Dr. Charisma Acey (American professor of Urban Planning married to a Nigerian) traveled to Port Harcourt with Chido's mother to build a treadle pump with local craftsmen for the family home so they no longer have to pull water from the borehole with a small bucket and a rope. It is our intention to involve many more Africans and Middle Eastern and Asian immigrants here in Germany and abroad so that we can all participate in the "Sustainable Green Brain Gain"! Won't you join us?
Chords and Lyrics:
(Chorus: G6, A7, Cm, G )
Treadle Pump Treadle Pump, if I can make a treadle pump then you can make a treadle pump too!
A cool effective water pump that runs on human power and functions as a stair master too!
(Verse I section 1: Em, A7, Em A7, Cmaj7, Em, A7)
You start by building pistons cut from 4 inch PVC 'cause it's cheap and it's fast and the plastic will last.
A great new use for sewer pipes, just cut them to 9 inches, then glue them in caps,
Drill two holes, just like that
Use a half inch plastic nipple, threaded with one-half-inch taps... but you can use a metal nipple too, just screw and screw!
Now you mount your check valves, note each piston has one in and one out... (uh, huh, upstroke in, downstroke out!)
These connect to water hoses carrying your water about (as you tread you can dance, twist, and shout!)
'cause we want to make things simple, cheap and fun as they can be -- your legs will run your water pump for free!
(Chorus: G6, A7, Cm, G )
Treadle pump Treadle Pump, why use electricity when you can get a workout and pump your water too?
Treadle pump, Treadle pump, if you're still using fossil fuels, something must be wrong with you!
(Verse II section 1: Em, A7, Em A7, Cmaj7, Em, A7)
Cut two five inch pieces of your PVC to make the piston discs -- each has three where the leather will be;
Cut each section open and then put it in the oven -- it will soften and flatten to make plastic mats and then...
Cut six discs out -- three per piston -- watch out, middle discs must quite precisely fit...
that's the tricky bit!
Five inch circles made of leather, two per piston under the discs -- after soaking the leather gets soft.
All the rest is carpentry, the pistons are the hardest piece; the treadle is made out of bamboo or wood.
Just connect the treadles to two pulleys pulling up and down...
It'll pump water from 7 meters underground!!
(Chorus: G6, A7, Cm, G)
Treadle Pump Treadle Pump, if I can make a treadle pump then you can make a treadle pump too!
A cool effective water pump that runs on human power and functions as a stair master too!
Treadle pump Treadle Pump, why use electricity when you can get a workout and pump your water too?
Treadle pump, Treadle pump, if you're still using fossil fuels, something must be wrong with you!
Tags:
Treadle Pump, Solar CITIES, do-it-yourself, Nigeria, NIDO, Nigerians in Diaspora Organization, T.H. Culhane, IDE
