Y'Know, For Kids!

Science, technology, engineering, art/design, math, history, language and music.

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“Wendy appeared on the BBC in 1989” to explain how synthesizers and sound waves work.

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“From the BBC archives. The music towards the end of the video is the 2nd movement of the 4th Brandenburg Concerto from her Well-Tempered Synthesizer album. You can visit her webpage at: http://wendycarlos.com”

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How does music work? What did an Ancient Greek philosopher have to do with it? Why did he keep drowning people? Discover the answers to these questions and more as we take a tour through musical tuning systems, examining how the power of mathematics has helped us build and rebuild our methods of creating music throughout history. Pythagorean tuning, the Pythagorean comma, equal temperament - learn what these are and how they shaped the way we make music today.

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Musician Luma plays her version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” on a Gayageum—a traditional Korean stringed instrument. Her Gauageums have 12, 20, 21, and up to 25 strings. Below is Jimi Hendrix performing the original version of the song live in 1969.

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Zildjian walks you through the cymbal-making process. This reminds me of the old Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers how-things-are-made films that were such a great part of children’s television.

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Allison Schulnik is at it again with her latest animation MOTH. This one is a hand-painted gouache-on-paper effort rather than the claymation of her previous short films. She worked on it almost daily for 14 months to create what she calls “a wandering through the primal emotions of birth, motherhood, body, nature, metamorphosis and dance.”

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Martin Molin, inventor of the Marble Machine, and part fo the Wintergatan band unveils the latest update to the Marble Machine. It involves a series of complex and custom ratchets, belts, and pistons to shuttle the marbles around the contraption to create delightful and complex mechanical music. About the project Molin wrote:

The Marble Conveyer Belt is Completed and it delivers Perfectly. 

Lifts 8 marbles per crank turn.

Thanks to it being driven by ratchets and pistons, it makes a short halt to load and unload the marbles, on exactly the same spot every time.

The pistons are connected to the crank shaft with a 2:1 gear reduction which means that the conveyer belt go in time with the music, and in half time. I can even use the mechanical sounds from the ratchets and the marbles climbing the fish stair to create parts of the beats.

I only had one kick drum channel up and running so the kick drum plays on 2-4 like a snare normally would. Sounds a little strange but I just made this piece of music to demonstrate the concepts are working. (no music you hear in the videos are going to be used for the album, its quick and dirty functional pieces for the videos only).

The throw of the pistons s 40mm, the pitch of the chain is 15,875x2 mm, an imperial value, and it happens to be exactly twice the marble diameter. All this makes it possible to lift exactly one row of marbles per crank turn. The ratchets move 40 mm but only grabs onto the chain to move it exactly 31,75mm per crank turn. The carriers are flame polished cnc:ed acrylic.

The chain was custom made in Japan and I waited 5 months for it to be delivered. haha. Of all the time consuming darlings on the MMX I love the conveyer belt /fish stair combo the most.

The marbles looks [sic] like they are stuck over the demagnetiser wheel, this is by design, as soon new marbles come into the pipes from below, the marbles are slowly pushed over the demag wheel which ensures perfect demagnetisation.

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These behind-the-scenes bakery films from British Pathé from 1966, 1955, and 1938 give glimpses into a craft that has changed both a lot and not at all over the decades.

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Stephen Kelleher directed and designed a series of short animations to abstractly capture Greek myths. He states:

For centuries the Greek Myths have been used as cautionary tales and teaching tools for people both young and old. These stories convey deep wisdom about the human condition which continue to resonate with us. I wanted to honor these ancient stories by interpreting them in the age of the pixel and gif.

The challenge was to communicate these complex stories in the most minimal way possible while retaining their essence. By having each vignette loop seamlessly, the timeless and perennial nature of these stories are reinforced. Ultimately these animations serve as visual shorthand for ancient truths which are as relevant today as they were when first told.

Sisyphus After numerous transgressions, Zeus decided to punish the deceitful king Sisyphus once and for all by forcing him to push a huge enchanted boulder up a steep hill. As soon as he reached the top, the boulder would roll back down to the base of the hill, condemning Sisyphus to an eternity of frustrated labor.


 Icarus King Minos imprisoned Icarus in a tower alongside his father, the master craftsman Daedalus. As a means of escape Daedalus created a set of wings made of feathers and wax for his son but warned him not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus did not however heed his father’s advice. His wings dissolved and Icarus fell into the sea below and drowned.


 Persephone The daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Persephone was abducted by the god of the underworld Hades. Although Zeus intervened and brought her back to the land of the living, Persephone was bound to Hades for four months of each year. In her grief, Demeter would make the soils barren thereby creating winter while Persephone’s return would mark the start of the spring.


 Narcissus As punishment for mortal Narcissus’ cruel treatment of the nymph Echo, he was cursed by Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. She led him to a pool where upon seeing his own reflection, he became besotted with his image and was unable to leave. Fixated, starving and in despair, he fell into the pool and drowned.


 Midas Having done a great service for the god Dionysus, King Midas was granted one wish of his choosing. He wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. Upon turning food, water and even his own daughter to gold however, he soon realized his foolishness and prayed to Dionysus to undo his wish. Dionysus took pity on King Midas and duly undid the wish.


Theseus A Greek hero of many adventures, Theseus is best known for his defeat of the Minotaur. Under the decree of King Minos, every year fourteen young Atheneans were sacrificed to the Minotaur - a monstrous half bull, half man who resided deep within the Labyrinth. Not only was Theseus able to slay the Minotaur but he also successfully escaped the complex Labyrinth, solidifying his legend.

CREDITS Direction & Design: Stephen Kelleher Modeling & Animation: Chris Guyot Sound Design: John Poon

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DoodleChaos spent over 3 months synchronizing a Line Rider track to Beethoven's 5th drawing everything by hand. This takes some skill, patience, and a high tolerance for listening to the same piece of music over and over again.

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Vox’s Earworm series tackles John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.”

John Coltrane, one of jazz history’s most revered saxophonists, released “Giant Steps” in 1959. It’s known across the jazz world as one of the most challenging compositions to improvise over for two reasons - it’s fast and it’s in three keys. Braxton Cook and Adam Neely give me a crash course in music theory to help me understand this notoriously difficult song, and I’m bringing you along for the ride. Even if you don’t understand a lick of music theory, you’ll likely walk away with an appreciation for this musical puzzle.

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La Linea (Mr. Line), was a series of Italian animated shorts by Osvaldo Cavandoli that was a bit like a sassy Harold and the Purple Crayon wherein the titular character is continually bossing the artist around, who in turn draws Mr. LIne into many comedic situations. You can find many of the original shorts on this YouTube account, but beware that some of the shorts are a bit bawdy, violent, and may contain the occasional borderline racist stereotype (it was the ’60s in Italy after all).

La Linea 215

La Linea 006

La Linea 146

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Michael Moschen performing The Triangle on Great Performances is mesmerizing, rhythmic, and just as much music and dance as it is an act of juggling.

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In Lattice, Maria Ferreira watched the formation of crystals using micro-imaging under a polarizing filter to reveal “iridescent waves, geometrical gardens, and spiraling sand dunes found in the landscapes of a crystal's microscopic structure.”

Made possible at the RISD Nature Lab.

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The Smelly Hamstergeccos (2012-2016) was a Hungarian children rockband established by a 14 and 10 year old brother and sister. Their songs and lyrycs are as intuitive and powerful as the best children drawings. This psychedelic music video was created with the same fun mentality using colour crayon drawings to present the band’s members and the song’s hero, a strawberry.

Directed and designed by: Péter Vácz

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Colorscope is a series collaboration between CNN, Dr. James Fox, and animators that examines how colors are perceived across cultures. Catch the first three: white, blue and red.

Colorscope: Blue

Colorscope: Red

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Take in this haunting animation by Naira Muradyan to accompany Tigran Hamasyan's "Markos and Markos," from his 2017 album, An Ancient Observer. Hamasyan’s label, Nonesuch, quoted him as saying:

"As an artist coming out of Armenia, it is a real dream come true to be working with Naira, who is one of my favorite living animation artists in the world," says Hamasyan. "Naira’s work is deeply touching and very poetic. Her works are always taking you to a place you don’t wanna come back from. It’s never showing off anything and always about the visual poetry and giving us viewers an awakening feeling after we are done watching it. Naira’s works are often times inspired by different Armenian poets, like Nahapet Koochak (16th century), Sayat Nova (18th century), or in this case by Zahrad (20th century).