Chime Lab: Same Bounces, Different Mood

Do it together

1. Open mytekdev.com/try/chimelab?lesson=same-bounces-different-mood&ref=fam-chimelab-1 together with the sound on. A short guide runs along the top; follow it: press Play, open Music, and change Scale from Major to Minor while it plays. Before the switch, ask your child for one word for how the music feels, then ask again after.

   You'll know it worked when: The balls keep bouncing as before, and your child gives a different mood word for Minor.

2. Find which notes changed. Major on C is C D E F G A B C. Minor on C is C D D# F G G# A# C. Three notes move down: E, A and B. The app names black keys with sharps, so D# is E-flat, G# is A-flat and A# is B-flat.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child circles E, A and B, on the activity sheet or on a keyboard.

3. Press From the top in Major, then again in Minor, and watch the balls.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child sees that the balls hit the same pegs at the same moments in both, so only the notes changed, and the mood changed with them.

4. Listen to five scales for about 20 seconds each, pressing From the top each time (and Play if the ring is paused): Major, Minor, Major pentatonic, Blues and Hirajoshi. For each one, pick a mood word and count the notes in one octave. Stats lists each peg by its note (W1 C, W2 D, and so on).

   You'll know it worked when: Your child finds 7 notes in Major and Minor, 6 in Blues, and 5 in Major pentatonic and Hirajoshi, and can say that with only five notes, spread apart, no two neighbors clash.

5. Your child picks a mood without telling you: a lullaby, a spooky hallway, a sunny morning, a race, or rain on a window. They choose the Scale and Tempo on the Music tab, a sound for each ball on the Balls tab, and Gravity on the Ring tab, and say or write why each one fits. Less gravity means slower, gentler bounces and fewer notes; more gravity, faster and busier ones.

   If you get stuck: If they do not know where to start, try Minor and low Gravity for the spooky hallway. Tempo does not change the bounces; it changes the feel of the rhythm, not how many notes there are.

   You'll know it worked when: Your child has a reason for the scale, the gravity and the sounds.

6. Record it: press From the top, then Record, let it play for 20 to 30 seconds, and press Stop (the Record button's label while recording). Play take plays it back. You listen and guess the mood.

   You'll know it worked when: You guess the mood, or your child can say which setting would make it clearer.

7. Then the real question, without trying it: if you changed only the sound of the balls from Kalimba to Glass, would the mood change? How?

   You'll know it worked when: Your child separates the notes (the scale) from the sound that plays them, and predicts what each does to the mood. That means they see that mood comes from several parts of the music working together.

Talk about it

Ask these while you work together. A child who has understood the lesson can answer them without help:

• What changed when you switched from Major to Minor? What stayed the same?
• Which three notes moved?
• Which scale has the fewest notes in an octave? How does it sound?
• Why did you choose that tempo for your mood?
• Without trying it: if you changed only the sound of the balls from Kalimba to Glass, would the mood change? How?

Bring it into other subjects

• Language arts: write a short scene for one of the mood cards, and choose a scale to play under it.
• Science: sound is vibration. Why does a heavier, slower bounce not change the notes, only when they happen?
• Social studies: the Hirajoshi scale comes from Japanese music, and the pentatonic is used in folk music all over the world. Find a song that uses each.
• Math: count the peg hits for a minute. Which peg gets hit most, and why?

Quick check

Name: ______________________________

1. You change Scale from Major to Minor. What changes? (A) where the balls bounce, (B) which notes the pegs play, (C) how fast the balls fall.

2. How many notes are in one octave of the Major pentatonic scale? (A) 5, (B) 7, (C) 12.

3. Name two settings you chose for your mood card, and how each one helped the mood.

Answers

Read from the app on the starter ring (key C, eight pegs from low C up to high C). The app names black keys with sharps: D# is E-flat, G# is A-flat, A# is B-flat.

With fewer notes than pegs, the pentatonic, blues and Hirajoshi rings reach past high C. Mood words vary: any specific word with a reason is correct. The bounces are the same in every scale: after From the top, each peg is hit at the same moments whatever the scale.