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Category: Pulse of the Planet

Pulse of the Planet – Rattle Tyne

It’s kind of like a thumb piano, but it jingles and rattles in unexpected ways when you pluck it. It was created by Bart Hopkin, a Bay Area experimental musician and the subject of this series I produced for Jim Metzner’s Pulse of the Planet. In this segment, Hopkin talks about the freedom of creating music on an instrument that’s never been played before.

Sounds – Rattle Tyne: Creating new music on an instrument that’s never been heard before.

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Pulse of the Planet – Crustacean

In this segment for Jim Metzner’s Pulse of the Planet, experimental musician Bart Hopkin talks about one of his colleagues, Tom Nunn, creator of the Crustacean. The sound of this thing is incredible – like an underwater orchestra. Hopkin also talks about how some of the best music evolves from instruments you can’t control.

Musical Instruments – Steel Vibration: How can you keep a piece of steel vibrating for a long time? Are the balloons ready?

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Pulse of the Planet – Savart’s Wheel

This is the first of the most recent series of programs I produced for Jim Metzner’s Pulse of the Planet. Jim handed me a transcript and a DVD filled with audio/video clips from his interviews with experimental musician and instrument builder Bart Hopkin and told me to go to town. I found about ten stories in there, and so far he’s aired eight of them. This is the first:

Musical Instruments: Sound WheelWhat does it take to design a completely new kind of musical instrument?

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Pulse of the Planet – Maple Seed Drop 3

In this Pulse of the Planet segment, UC Merced professor Christopher Viney and Kids’ Science Challenge winner Olivia Smith-Donovan talk about how to build something BIG based on a natural phenomenon that is, in fact, very, very small. This is the final segment in the series I helped write and produce for the KSC bio-inspired design competition.

Maple Seed Drop – Scaling: When you’re building a larger invention from a smaller scale model, the design is likely to change!

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