It's not mainstream but homeschooling exists in India. 1)
Alternative Schools : Many parents choose safer option of "Alternative
Schools" which merge concepts of "free-form, friendly" aspects of
home-schooling with those of mainstream schools. 2)
Home Schooling : Other parents teach kids at home and might choose to
follow mainstream board curriculums like IGCSE, NIOS, CBSE etc.
1) Swashikshan : Alternative Education India 2) Alternative Education in India Mailing Lists : Alternative Education India 3) Indian Home Schooling website for local and national groups : http://indiahomeschoolers.ning.com 4) Bangalore google group for discussing Home Schooling : Google Groups.
If attendance was enough you wouldn't be asking this question. You can attend classes and be none-the-wiser for hours spent. Because this is Second-Hand-Knowledge.
If it's just about passing the exams you need to worry about "Can I answer the question on the exam and get past the examiner with pass/good marks?" That's ALL!!
If
one is low enough on the educational scale one can always find
cram-guides or notes to mug-up. They solve the problem of getting marks.
If that's all you need, use them and be happy.
However
if that is NOT enough and you want to follow the "famous scientists and
entrepreneurs" then you need to at least know the following. One is the technical stream, the other is the business stream!!
B) Learning:
The
famous scientists and entrepreneurs that you talk about didn't restrict
themselves to the safety of being lead by a teacher alone. They went
out of their way "on the path less trodden". And that made all the
difference!!
Learning with "The Five Ws and One H" i.e. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How : Five Ws This small poem is a good way to remember them: "I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who."
C) Understanding:
Out of this What, How and Why in order of complexity are the most important questions in technical education. a) A Beginner is normally concerned with "What and How" b) Intermediate deals with small groups of "What, How and a bit of Why" c)
Advanced sees all 3 in action in the mind's eye esp. the Why and How
flowing through the Whats in a local system as well as it's environment.
How broad/deep is your understanding of the topic? Can you see internal and external relations between things?
Beginner to Master level. Normally we just study mostly theoretical aspects in our standard books. a) Do you refer other better books? b) Are you able to seek out answers for your own questions? c) Are you able to find people who are better than you and can help you find the answers?
For example to take a concrete example of mechanical engineering : 1) Could you describe an internal combustion engine? 2) Do you understand what each part does and relation between things? 3) Could you make a simple and small working model of an engine using scrap parts?
D) Skill:
Skill is the capacity to DO something useful. Normally it is more than just understanding. It is the ability to Solve Problems and come up with Solutions.
Engineering: 1) Could you take the Engine apart? 2) Could you put it back together again? 3) Could you come up with a better design? 4) Do you know enough about different design options to choose a better configuration for a given circumstance?
Scientists: 1) Could you use a totally new way of making engines? 2) Could you create this technology from idea to reality via research? 3) Could you make it easy/cheap to manufacture by engineers?
E) Wealth:
Power is the capacity to Use the Skill and Barter it for something else.
Entrepreneur: 0) Understanding Demand and Supply. If there is no demand create it!! 1) Can you get a team of skilled scientists/engineers to do this for you? 2) Can you patent and copyright the process 3) Can you manufacture it? 4) Can you market it and get market share? 5) Can you become the market leader in this new technology? 6) Can you just license it to others and earn royalty using only Intellectual Property i.e. patents?
This
requires team-work between disparate people - scientists, engineers,
foundry-workers, supervisors, managers, marketing & sales people and
lawyers and interacting with government regulations.
F) Power:
If you want Power then get into Politics which is the art of manipulating people. The most valuable resource of all!! :-D
Note
: Wealth and Power need not come from an academic education since they
are more about managing and manipulating People. So you can directly go
through on-the-job training without necessity for education. Basic
education helps to an extent I guess but is not a pre-condition.
a) Tube formation (base-spine, top-brain)
b) Migration of neurons using Glial cells
c) Programming of neurons about ultimate location.
d) Till term first the pinging connections, followed by reinforcement, pruning and strengthening connections.
e) Stimulus Inputs from environment fine-tune basic hardware platform to higher and higher end-formation within 2-3 months. f) Activation of even 10 minutes can utilize pathways laid down earlier as in cataract removal. g) ?? One year of taping good eye may be enough to compensate for early loss of stimulus ??
1) They just try to digitize existing content by copy-pasting it onto their website. No qualitative change at all. 2) Just having hyperlinks or images/videos doesn't make it a better content.
a) Does the content convey a clear, concise, correct, accurate, memorable meaning to it's audience? b) Is there a feedback mechanism like comments which make the content better over time? c) Does it get updated? d) Does it give the sources of the information so as to allow follow-up into more depth/breadth? Seems to me like a wiki (better than wikipedia) is the best way to achieve this as of now.
======= Just tried a sample article from this "educational site" for 9-14 years called youngzine.org in a field in which I have some interest if not expertise : The Origin Of Language The article was so dumbed down and irrelevant that I wonder why they bother putting that stuff online at all... And
this is a topic they could come across on TV say Discovery, NGC, PBS
etc and understand at least some of it with question/answers from a
parent or elder sibling.
Sound box: There
is a brief mention of evolution of larynx but no mention of impact of
standing upright and change in angle of vocal system from that of apes.
No
mention of changes in the parts of brain which is responsible for
speech. A young person might be better off searching youtube for videos
on the topic than relying on the site.
Though
not designed for young people with potentially "short attention spans"
look at the intuitiveness at this video on how consonants are
categorised in Sanskrit : http://youtu.be/2UfCGrvfmOY?t=10m34s
Note
: These videos or parts of them may/may not be created for young
viewers BUT surely a bit of constant work in this area by the article
authors should result in better results than mine. At the very least a
few vetted clips might be better than what's available.
In fact this part of the main video talks about the evolution and origin of much of what we consider as Human Speech : http://youtu.be/29u6XRY51Bk?t=35m1s
Q) How much exposure to technology is good for kids?
This is a very subjective question Too much or Too little being relative
answers by definition. So there is no "Right" answer, only a subjective
one.
Natural Growth:
As long as you don't hinder the natural growth of the child and don't get him/her addicted to games you're ok.
+ Milestones
+ Phases of growth
+ Maturity
+ Neuro-motor skills
Use only natural things they can touch, feel. Things with texture, smell, taste instead of virtual paintings.
However this lacks sensory touch, feel, smell and taste.
This will severely impact development of these areas of the brain.
So let them run and play. Nature designed play for a very very very important reason.
Also
let them find their own toys from your household instead of store
bought toys. Nature meant children to learn to play with things from
their surroundings so they would be expert at using them later on. No
wonder babies play with remotes and smart-phones. They're just imitating
you.
Extra-curricular activities
In addition to natural activities and things you can also include a diet of videos.
Videos are among the best resources for children to see and hear things (the major senses).
DIY videos are even better as you get to add the missing components and adapt and improvise with your local materials.
Art
Pottery
Craft
Drawing
Painting
DIY Science
Origami Math
Curricular activities:
Videos on things connected with curriculum can be used to make things come alive from the textbook. It also connects the abstract with the concrete and shows links between things we'd miss otherwise.
My niece was studying a chapter on Filtering etc. when I suggested the link to Gold Panning as being a solid-liquid filtration process.
Good uses vs. Bad uses :
Like
the internet there are good and bad uses of technology. It is upto you
to find interesting, good things and encourage the child to learn good
things.
You
need to define good stuff as per your views. Some people try to cram
adult-level stuff into young kid's brains thinking they're some kind of
sponge.
"Never Let your Schooling Interfere with your Education" - Mark Twain Seems like a typical "Nature vs. Nurture" problem. Maybe
it's time we started thinking more positively instead with "Nature AND
Nurture" i.e. using the best of Natural and Environmental inputs
possible together.
Environmental Factors
Just
need to look at successful people (and unsuccessful ones) and figure
out the factors involved. What made the difference? Esp. if the person
was not "mathsy" at first but then somehow got to be good at maths.
I don't think country alone has everything to do with it. Teaching/Learning style match or mismatch has more to do with it. The amount of effort the parent/student puts in is also very important. How much learning/education is valued at home and insisted upon is also a definite factor.
One Size Fits ALL
“Everybody
is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ― Albert Einstein
Though
the quote above seems to accentuate the myth that Maths is only for
"mathsy-people", it does give an idea that differences exist among
students. Differences in learning style, mental modelling etc.
1) 100s of years of mathematical
discovery has to be crammed into a few years. That too with neither the
need nor the symbolic learning style for most kids. Effects speak for
themselves
2) Notation and symbols don't come naturally to most
people. 2 mathematicians working on calculus came up with different
notations. The "better" notation won out. So notation is not the same as
knowledge or meaning. Need to concretize the problem/solution in
different ways to get the necessity and the invention through to the
students.
George Polya has written a book on Teaching Mathematics by "Discovery" and on how to train Math teachers.
I had an amazing math teacher who
helped me see the beauty behind the notation. He was working on his PHD
thesis on facial recognition using wavelet transforms. The formulae
never clicked with him until his guide advised him to learn from
applications of wavelet transforms in Economics. They used Graphs etc.
to explain the basis/logic of the topic. This suited the natural
learning style of my teacher and he could bridge the gap between the
formulae and the mental model constructed from the graphs.
"Necessity
is the mother of Invention". If a student feels engaged and more
motivated when it comes to school/college math the results will follow.
1)
Applied mathematics and understanding the reasoning behind it will
attract more students. This increases the pool of students who like
mathematics.
2) Theorem proving also has it's own heuristics as
captured so nicely by George Polya in his books. He talks about
"discovering" the reasoning behind the math and how expert
mathematicians work out the problem by a mix of intuition,
trial-and-error and experience.
3) Math has huge applications in
Science and Technology. Having a far larger pool of interested students
will definitely be a win-win situation ANY which way you look at it.
Nature - I Want it My WAY
It's rather surprising that I didn't find much information being mentioned here on advances in Cognitive Science esp. a) Multiple Intelligence (Interacting with the world in different ways) b) Learning Style (Input Preferences - visual, auditory, kineaesthetic) c) Creativity in engaging the students
Basically
it's about being right-handed in a left-handed world or vice-versa. If
the way-you-think-and-learn is not the way-you're-taught of course
you're not gonna get it!!
Garbage-In, Garbage-Out. If you enter data into a computer in an incorrect "data-format" it's no wonder if it is rejected.
Somebody
may like abstract symbolic formulae and pick those up very fast.
Someone else may like to hear/visualise the problem. Someone else may
like to work with their hands i.e. a concrete model of the problem.
Example : 1)
Watson and Crick finally solved the problem of DNA structure using a
ball and stick model to match the scant x-ray diffraction data!! One was
very hands-on, the other very knowledge/math oriented. BOTH people
contributed to solving different parts of the problem and won a Nobel
Prize!! 2) Richard Feynman "invented"
his own geometry and came up with his own symbols and notation. From his
book accounts he was both a Visual person and a hands-on person. He
repaired radios and learnt Ham Radio with his father.
Nurture - "Form must follow function"
What, is the purpose of math/science education? Short answer - Problem solving.
To
enable the student to identify and analyse the problem, choose from
multiple options and choose the best option. Also ability to adapt
problem or solution as per circumstances.
Unfortunately
many times the goal/"function" is assumed to be getting through
syllabus by the teacher. So the "form" is that seen in the book. Teacher
may be stuck in his/her own way of thinking and may not try/know enough
about student's way of thinking.
So if "function" is to convey meaning to a student
the "form" of the teaching must adapt to student i.e. learning-style,
interests/hobbies, pre-existing knowledge from his her background,
questions etc.
So teacher must really understand the subject. Teacher must also understand the way the student thinks. And must be able to customize the message in the form the student will most readily accept and process it. Reading
body language and testing the understanding would help the teacher
ensure that the student doesn't just nod the head but is really enthused
with the understanding of the topic and it's implications in the
student's life.
Mastery - Learning is about Connections
The
more connections you make between something new and something old the
better you learn it. The more emotion is associated with learning the
more firmly it is anchored in your memory.
Expertise
Having breadth and depth of knowledge and skill in using that knowledge in real-life or at work is expertise.
Experts
think differently when compared to Novice or Intermediate learners.
They've already mapped out most things and are able to quickly match the
problem characteristics with solution characteristics. They're not
fooled by surface similarities and see the underlying forces at work.
They hence are able to choose right/better answers. They also have more options which they can quickly scan for possible solutions.
Made a modified Balloon Jet Car with my son (see below).
TODO: Need to add a picture/video of our modified Rocket Car here.
Arvind Gupta Rocket Car Videos:
1) Match Box Dumper Truck :
The simplest design of the lot.
Basically you need to know how to meld plastic buttons with a hot needle.
I felt that even I could do that within say max. 30 minutes.
2) Balloon Bottle Car :
3) Bottle Jet Car :
Adapting and modifying the toy car:
1) First problem was attaching the straw to the balloon using a rubber band.
The straw was much smaller than the big balloon nozzle, so tried tying the balloon using rubber-bands.
The straw was thin and got crushed by the rubber-band. Maybe I should have tried cellotape.
Tried double-sided foam tape but the glue was not sticky enough.
Fortunately I had some rubber glue and after a few tries it worked perfectly!!
2) We had a toy-car chassis so I thought why not cut out the weight of the plastic bottle.
Just attached the Balloon straw directly to a stripped down chassis of a toy-car.
This was the simplest Jet Car I could think of as (at first) I didn't see any value in the other designs.
Then I could why the bottle was used in the video :
a) in making the balloon stay in the air.
b) acting as the chassis of the car itself (it doesn't use a toy-car chassis like our prototype).
3) Second Problem : It worked to an extent but had to flick the toy car initially.
But it went nowhere near what was seen in the video.
Observed that the balloon was dragging on the ground adding to starting and rolling friction.
Also the wheels were quite broad and solid.
The Bottle Jet Car video uses thin-rim wheels with large circumference and 4 holes around the center.
Low weight, Low Friction and more distance per revolution.
How to increase distance and speed:
a) Using corrugated cardboard would make the lightest chassis/wheels.
b) Currently balloon faces forward with big end pointing forwards.
This is inevitable as jet-end needs to point backwards.
I would need to make a U-turn with the straw to get tear-drop shape pointing forward.
This might reduce efficiency due to increased friction of jet maybe??
Need to test it out.
In fact it's quite nicely challenging to try and make a better car!
What other things can be modified or changed so that it travels further?
These are things to be tried one-at-a-time as too much too soon will surely kill the golden goose.
In order of simplicity. Simplest first, complex last.
Things to Think About and Try Out with Simplest Tech. : + Shape (aerodynamics)
Tear-drop shape as seen in modern cars
Rocket type needle-nose shape,
Reduce Drag and Eddies
birds and bees use of winglets and eddies to increase stability/thrust.
+ Weight
Corrugated paper car (structural strength): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFWUrUc1K4
Foam car ?
Graphite based car?
Aluminium + Paper (composites) + Friction
Thin-Rim wheels to reduce starting and rolling-friction
Gear system
Lubricant
Hovercraft
Got this shared post on FaceBook which set me thinking on this topic again.
Cesar Millan Dog Aggression :http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/problembehaviors/understanding-aggression ---- ATTENTION DOG LOVERS :
Mumbai: Stray dogs mauled a nine-year-old boy from Mumbra as he was
walking to school, necessitating more than 100 stitches on his face,
chest, hands and lower body. His ear was ripped off by the canines and
his face had deep bite wounds. The incident triggered a wave of
anger against the municipal corporation for failing to check the growing
stray population. A local Corporator said, "The TMC is playing mischief
as the number of dogs caught under the guise of sterilization are
brought from all over the city and left in these areas." ~ TOI, Mumbai, June 27, 2014
---- This time though I wanted to capture the problem and possible solutions for later re-sharing and more research. Esp.
since I've found my son trying to hide behind me at the approach of
stray dogs. Also saw a Husky being taken for a walk near my house. So
best to be prepared and to mentally prepare my kids to avoid any
unnecessary problem with stray or pet dogs. Below are my comments on FB and will update with more research/details as time goes by : ======= Given the amount of anger may not be long before we see angry mind running after dogs trying to bite them.
But seriously, I know from personal experience what it means to be chased and be bitten by a pet
dog. Got 13 injections for it in the tummy when I was kid.
I also had a pet dog who we loved for 14 years. So I can see both sides of the story.
On the other hand I've read reports of dogs left moaning days on end
with electric shock too weak to kill. Spaying might be a better
solution.
That is the other side of the story. ---- It is sad that the poor boy had to suffer in the first case and poor dogs in the electrocution case too. Wonder if any one in the world has found a solution to this problem?
I remember a guy called Cesar Millan on NGC who works with people having problem dogs (or vice versa).
Dogs are basically descended from wolves long back.
As individuals strays are quite afraid but like humans and more so as
pack hunters some actions trigger their buried hunting instincts.
Most victims of such dog-pack attacks are either very young or old as far as I can remember news articles.
In fact in one movie "Gods must be crazy" the Bantu hunter advises his
son that a hyena rarely attacks anyone taller than a certain height. So
the small boy "increases" his height using a piece of bark.
Not sure if this is real or just a part of script. ---- The problem is making kids esp. Small kids understand to keep still. I
ran when I was small too and promptly got bitten on the ankle. Just a
scratch fortunately but still had to take injections as a precaution. Since then came to know about how and why dogs behave the way they do. ---- Resources :
In this special episode Cesar Millan
explains about wolf hybrids similar to huskies what is going wrong and
why. Also shows why it works and how it can work in this video : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FuLTIi7CyOk
NOTE
: He is a professional dog trainer and has got bitten many times while
helping aggressive dogs. So this is for informative purpose only. Do NOT
attempt to do this on your own. --
I was just pondering exactly the same things when I saw this elegant video.
The phrase "Simple and Natural" exists for a reason.
A billion years of solving problems have made these bio inventors experts at room temperature manufacturing. Life makes the most complicated stuff simply and easily.
We can always cross-pollinate the known from "different" fields. For what is unknown in one "field" is common knowledge or practise in another.
As you learn different things from different fields their "intersection" is what will yield hybrid/remixed ideas, techniques and inventions. In fact far from being an "intersection" it will expose the artificial boundaries erected on Nature by the concept of a field. It will reveal the underlying "Bandhuta" (bonds) beneath the apparent differences of a limited mind.
There exist AT LEAST 30 million different life forms which have been field-testing their innovations for last 4 billion years. The lady enumerates at least 12 different areas to look at for "inspiration"/bio-mimicry.
This seems like the scientists and businessman's ultimate paradise! We can rip-off inventions and not have to pay any royalty too!! WoW!!
Yet more sources of patents, inventions, Nobel Prizes and cheaper, best-selling products which can make people Billionaires over-night.
She also cautions that we need to look beyond into the legacy of strip-mining that we're leaving for our off-spring our descendents. Fulfilling our needs while making it 'a sweeter place' for other life is the path of "I'm OK, You're OK" we need to follow.
She warns that the life-forms that didn't choose this path didn't stand the test of Time to tell the tale.
Even parasites slowly adjust and co-operate with their hosts over the long-term to form either benign or symbiotic relations. Given our current adversarial, viral and parasitic relation with the rest of Nature, maybe THERE's a lesson we should learn from first?!!
========= See Also: + Amazonia Bio-Piracy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CLjLTxK9pY
+ Bio-piracy and Bio-Prospecting : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52yE4HtYRpA
+ Sehdev Kumar: "Bioprospecting or Biopiracy" :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKK9k3FWRCw + Antarctica based Microbial BioProspecting : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wXBoHTjR4c
"What is a Weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]
We prefer the known vs. the unknown as it makes us feel safe!
Like the thin blanket which seeks to create an imaginary cave against the looming werewolves of the night.. :-)
In order to know the unknown we need to set aside fear for discovery.
Learning being a continuous process being a permanent learner requires learning by trial-and-error. The main method of inquiry being this exploration.
We can always take the help of the known from "different" fields. For what is unknown in one "field" is common knowledge or practise in another.
As you learn different things from different fields their "intersection" is what will yield hybrid/remixed ideas, techniques and inventions. In
fact far from being an "intersection" it will expose the artificial
boundaries erected on Nature by the concept of a field. It will reveal
the underlying "Bandhuta" (bonds) beneath the apparent differences of a
limited mind.
Ideas of mankind are a Commons like the Earth "divided" into plots by real-estate of Man. These boundaries are as confining and illusory and as those cave-blankets of the night.
The difference between ideas and real-estate is that you can't share land as easily as ideas.
=====
+ How to Change Education from the ground up (literally) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEsZOnyQzxQ
Note : The best part of the talk is towards the very end but the preceding talk is superb too)
Learning Musical Language as a BABY learns to speak.
Why do we treat Mother Tongue differently from Music as a Language:
1) Regimented learning with a teacher a few times a week.
2) It takes too long and
3) Many times the complex rules confuse the learner
4) This confusion doesn't do too much good for the learners confidence.
How did you as a baby learn to speak NATURALLY :
1) Babies are ALLOWED to PLAY and MAKE MISTAKES.
2) The MORE THE MISTAKES, MORE THE SMILES of parents.
3) Baby Jams with proficient speakers Parents not just with other babies.
4) Baby in a musical family becomes really good just by exposure to really proficient speakers of MUSIC.
A few key things to try out:
1) Play around with the instrument
2) PLAY more than Practise.
3) Play in the company of proficient musicians.
4) More they play, more they'll practise on their own (self-driven and not externally enforced)
5) Musician is more important than the instrument
6) "Language works best when you have something important to say".
======== Q) How did you learn the first language you spoke? Were you allowed to
make mistakes? How do you think those mistakes helped you learn the
language? How do you think that relates to learning to play a musical
instrument? A)
At different stages of physical and mental development.
1) First came Single sounds like vowels - a, e, i, o, u
2) Next came consonants like ka, ga, etc.
Teeth, tongue, lips were used and slowly brought under control.
3) Learned by trial-and-error. More "mistake" earlier on but encouraged with smiles from parents who appreciated the effort rather than the accuracy.
4) LOTS of encouragement, hugs and kisses from parents at EVERY stage.
5) Repetitive Double syllable "words" like "ka,ka" "ga,ga" "pa-pa"
That's why Mama and Papa/Dada are basically repititions of same syllable in ALL languages.
6) Double syllable baby-words with Mixing of syllables "Da-I, Da-I", "KaL, KaL"
7) Triple and Quadruple syllable baby-words like "pa-pa-pa" "da-da-da-da"
8) Parents would often imitate the baby talk and smile and kiss and hug the baby.
As time progressed mistakes were gently corrected at pronunciation of words. 2, 3 and 4 word Phrases followed.
Later different turns-of-phrase were introduced depending on what I was wanting to express/convey.
So it seems that the natural way to learn an instrument is follow the same process.
The earliest musicians would have learnt similarly.
Even today there are naturally talented musicians who are self-taught.
They must have explored and gone with the flow rather than setting a fixed curriculum.
"Fooling around" or "Playing around" seems to be the best way to learn.
====
Q) Wooten says that beginning musicians should play more than they practice. Do you agree? Why or why not? A)
Like a baby trying out it's vocal chords with different sounds and trying different combinations a beginner musician gets a feel for the instrument what it can do, what it can't and how to play around with it.
Combinations of sounds are produced either from the throat or from instrument. Practise is repetition of a specific sound or sequence of sounds. It comes AFTER the playing around with basic syllables. It also needs more motivation which we get when we practise with proficient people. We try to imitate them. Succeed and fail and try again to imitate them better.
Also when you're alone practising you can try improvising on different ways of saying something or playing it. Finally you need to find what it is that you want to EXPRESS. This comes from exploring the various shades of your own emotion at different times and ages.
Stop Washing Your Hands off Global Warming. Wipe it Out instead ;-) Instead make the world a better place with 12 shakes, a fold and a wipe!!!
I routinely tried to make do with a single tissue paper and getting my hands fully dry. But always needed that extra paper... Good thing I saw this video!!
A Video that's Funny, Thought-Provoking and Inspiring. Trying to impress his wife this Indian School-Dropout painstakingly created an Open-Source Ultra Low-Cost and Amazing Invention.
Note : This post is NOT meant to be politically correct.
It is meant to convey the Experience of Rhythm. Period.
What's the difference between "counting sheep" vs. 'counting blondes" at a bikini contest?!!
Well...
Doing counting the former Should put you to sleep and counting the latter will keep you awake!!
Amazing Video "A-Rhythm-etic - Math Behind The Beats!!"
YEAH!! You've got where this is headed...
An Amazing Video that "Puts the Blonde back into the Bomb-Shell" of Math - "Math Behind The Beats!!"
Wait!! ....
Where DID you think we were headed, hmm... ;-)
TED Page : http://on.ted.com/h0Ijd
Initially however he lost me at "the dollars and quarters" part as I was concentrating on the rush of rhythm gushing from the drums - all the different styles he showed off.
Like being at a "blonde bombshell beach bikini" party (how's that for alliteration).
You can't make up your mind where to Look ahem I meant Listen.
Slowly he goes from across the range of Rhythm - Jazz, Pop, Rap, Latin etc.
Soon you start seeing how these different rhythms are so different.
So what's common across all the different Rhythms?!! And what's different?!!
Different yet similar at the ROOT.
And what is that Root? RHYTHM!!
The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: 1) Buzz-words and terminology:
Most experts use very specific domain-related terms which also have very generic common usage.
Like what do you mean when you say "Beat" is it absolute like12 beats per minute.
I don't think so 'coz you could play the same piece at fast, medium or slow tempo.
So beat seems to be relative to the tempo i.e. sing 12 notes in a tempo for example.
2) It's a good thing it's on Video
The playing is superb but it distracts from the underlying principles.
It's also the reason why you start seeing the video in the first place.
But as you realize that you're out of depth esp. with buzz-words of that domain you start to lose hope of catching up with the bullet-train.
Fortunately since it's a video you can go over it again and again.
The TED Ed audience didn't have that opportunity to go over the whole thing then and there.
How many took the time and effort to Replay and Decode what went over their heads?!!
3) Stories, Morals and Equations:
People understand stories and extract their own Moral of the Story as per their world-view and imagination.
Math
is the dry, powdered, dessicated mushroom. To turn it into a delicious
soup you need to put back the Juicyness and Chunkiness of THE STORY. The
characters that make it come alive. The relations, the tensions, the
climax to get people interested. Moral of the story is the take-away but
the story is what makes it memorable and your own.
Arithmetic though simple is an Abstract conceptual extract from a Concrete, applied Art.
Normally in academics this extraction of a skeleton from a living breathing body is done for you by people skilled at such symbolic manipulation. If a student goes through the process of inventing his own formula from a given situation(s) he'll really appreciate it. Since he can forward and reverse-engineer and hack his own formula/equation. He can name it the way he's comfortable using his own notation.
This also allows him to Hack his own formula to adapt it to new situations and constraints - more general or specific cases. Richard Feynman followed exactly the same process to create his own notation and own theorems. Though this took more time he did it on HIS terms in a visual oriented 3 dimensional way. This made ALL the difference as he could hack his own notation and develop it as he wanted
4) The audience should have had drums too
Fortunately I was NOT in the audience AND I did Have a drum I could play on. Experiencing the feel of the drum thrumming is UNBEATABLE. Without it the video becomes just a show-piece for the drummmer and a dumbing-down feeling for the audience. In fact this TED Ed Video "Music as a Language" says exactly the same thing - The Baby Jams with Proficient Speakers i.e. it's Parents. Clayton should have allowed people to play along with him to get them to PLAY AROUND.
Get the FEEL of the instrument. MAKE MISTAKES. JAM with him.
So what IS rhythm?Any Kid who has danced or played hopscotch knows this with their entire body!!
So music is a way to play hopscotch well past childhood?!! :-D
Hopscotch = Hop, Skip, Jump, Pause
Hop, Hop, Hop, Skip, Twirl and Jump. (3 Hops, Followed by Skip and Twirl and Jump i.e. a Sequence)
Hop, Skip, Hop, Skip, Twirl, Twirl and Jump.
You can add a Pause for effect as well.
So Dance it seems is In fact an extension of Hopscotch.
Dance = (Hopscotch) + Rhythm + (Arms out, Point the Toes + Expressions + ...)
These basic units can be used in so MANY different Combinations to create a Rhythm.
How exactly you construct the sequence in what proportions determines the Quality of the Dish!!
Beat/Rhythm is how you take a time-slice and use different combinations
to make tasty dishes.
Like in a recipe you need to measure out different
ingredients in different proportions to get different textures,
flavours, tastes and sub-tastes.
Counting and Proportion leads us to Rhythm.
a) Making a 1 Kg strawberry cake requires at most as much flour, the strawberries can be more or less.
THIS is the basic counting part - Teen Taal, Chau-Taal, Ek-Taal.
b) How much Strawberry/Flour and what's the texture of the strawberry
Putting chunky pieces of strawberries vs. putting a strawberry jam vs. strawberry cream changes the texture.
It's still a strawberry based cake or pie but it FEELS different.
With these 2 basic tools you can take simple steps and create all kinds of interesting and fun games, drums and dance!!
In fact as the drummer showcases you can come up with whole new styles just by changing the count or the proportion.
I had to take small segments of what he was saying and try to connect WORDS and NUMBERS to FEEL
I could sense the beauty of the rhythm (the blonde) but still had to word-associate "36-26-36" with a "particularly delicious shape"!! ;-)
Fortunately I'd just bought a drum for my son so just thought to try it out.
Got
it off the show-case and started tapping out some random beats like I
usually do with little success beyond a small sequence when things go
horribly out of rhythm - kinda like tripping while trying out a dance
routine.
First I just played what I liked. Couldn't see the connection though between FEEL and MEASURE.
Saw the video 4-5 times and kept at it off-and-on for nearly an hour.
Tried to work out the connections from what little I'd learnt in Music class.
Too much info needed to focus on small segment at a time. So started to count along with the drummer.
As
I counted off the beats verbally at first and then mentally the
abstract and the concrete merged into one. Suddenly it clicked.
Still working on it and enjoying the understanding of the range of possibilities opening up!!
Confession - I didn't get this the first time I saw the video!! In
fact I had to see it at least 4-5 times just to stop the blondes (i.e.
the foot-tapping rhythm) from totally switching off my head and to start
seeing and feeling the underlying patterns. Much like writing this blog
I had to revisit the experience and find words and numbers to try and
first qualify and slowly quantify a FEELING.
That's why I've used the analogy of the Blonde/Recipe/Hopscotch/Dance/Sheep to first Qualify and later Quantify the Experience!!
A bit like the 10 Blind Men trying to FEEL and then struggle to DESCRIBE different parts of the Blonde....er Sheep!!! ;-)
=========== http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-rhythm-etic-the-math-behind-the-beats-clayton-cameron#review Q) In your own words, explain how music is mathematical.
Rhythm is about how you "dance" to the music.
To tap out a 10 step dance you could split it into 4 groups like so:
1-2, cha-cha-cha (2+3 Steps),
1-2, cha-cha-cha (2+3 steps)
----
With drums you're setting the rhythm for the dancer(s).
1-2, 1-2-3
1-2, 1-2-3
Normally if this is played in a mechanical way it would sound like a metronome.
----
The reason why it sounds so good when Clayton plays it is, I think because he's embellishing it by putting stress on different beats called up-beat, on-beat, off-beat, down-beat : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_%28music%29
----
Given a fixed amount of time you need to figure out ways of spending the money.
For example 3 dollars (or 12 quarters) is what you can spend within a given time say beats.
You can spend the 3 dollars in many ways like so:
a) In Quarters every 4 beats till you run out of quarters
b) In Triplets every 3 beats till you run out of triplets
c) In Duplets every 2 beats till you run out
d) In Singlets every beat till you run out.
Or you could mix it up by spending 12 beats like so:
Singlet,Duplet, Duplet, SInglet (1+2, 2+1 = 6)
Duplet, Duplet, Singlet, Singlet (2+2, 1+1 = 6)
---- Q) Do you think math will help us become better musicians (and vice versa)?
A)
Counting and proportion seems to be the arithmetic tools for maintaining Rhythm and manipulating it.
I'm sure people learned to drum LONG before they could count. This is because most people have an innate sense of rhythm (developed as a baby listening to heart-beats of mother and natural and biological rhythms). Otherwise there would be very few people who could instinctively appreciate the Rhythm of ALL that music floating around.
What Counting etc help you do is __Maintain__ a particular rhythm and mix-up rhythms in symmetric and "off-beat" ways to bring novelty and expectation and surprise to your drumming. So it IS an essential TOOL for MUSICIANs and not necessarily for their audience.
Most folk beats would be simple and repetitive whereas classical music might use more complicated rhythms/patterns to build up expectation to a climax resulting in applause as the audience "gets it".
In fact the more you know math the more you might be unsurprised and predict what's coming.
Amazing Inventions for Kids (by Arvind Gupta Science Toys).
How to get children to enjoy and learn science with Do-It-Yourself projects. Arvind Gupta shows how you can improvize Inventions from common household items or even trash.
Make a LED lighting mini-generator from : 2-CDs Foam sheet Rubber band A straw Toy electrical motor (commonly found in broken toys) LED Bulb (found in many toys or decorational lighting) A strip of aluminium (modified into a clamp) A few screws/nuts (found in many throwaway items)
