Today we’re delighted to highlight some of the exciting events that have been happening in the greater Washington D.C. area with the Explore! Children’s Museum’s Mission Mobile (a.k.a. IKS Horizon).
We all have a favorite artist and/or a favorite genre of music. Music’s inspiration comes from anywhere. We hear its varied inspirations in all music from the symphonies of Beethoven to the contemporary hip-hop on the radio. But how does that inspiration manifest? How does an artist move from inspiration to a fully realized composition that lives in our car or, alone, in our headphones?
Mission Mobile explores that very question. In its music composition activity, students draw inspiration from our very own Solar System. Mission Mobile invites students on board to create short compositions based upon each of the eight planets in our Solar System.
Utilizing the same critical-thinking, imagination, and collaboration that our simulated missions require, students answer and analyze questions like:
- Saturn has rings made of ice. What does that sound like to you?
- Mercury is the smallest and densest planet. Is that a big sound or a soft sound?
- Venus’ day is longer than its year. Is that a slow or fast sound?
Guided by Mission Mobile’s Mobile Outreach Manager with his guitars and pedals, students build short compositions utilizing a
plethora of percussion instruments. In just under ten minutes time, students go from nothing at all to the beginnings of a full planetary suite!
Recently the Mission Mobile took its musical solar system adventure to two different community events. Children at both Riverdale Park Station and the Shiloh Community Festival went on a journey around the Galaxy with opportunities to compose their own instrumental pieces inspired by the planets.