Making Music Nina and the Neurons

# If you've got a question And you don't know where to go

# Ask Nina for some help Cos she's got a science show

# She makes sense of our senses By helping her fans

# By doing her experiments With potions and with bangs. #

Touch your tongue!

Fingers!

Eyes! Ears!

Nose!

# Every day we use our senses

# Wherever we may go. #

Tongue.

Fingers.

Eyes. Ears.

Nose.

# Nina and the Neurons Find out what you need to know

# Luke helps us with our eyes And Felix with our touch

# Ollie sniffs out smells Belle hears so much

# Bud is Ollie's brother He helps us with our taste

# They're all Neurons And they're coming to your place. #

Touch your tongue!

Fingers!

Eyes! Ears!

Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons Find out what you need to know

# Oh, yeah! #

NOTES PLAY ON GIANT KEYBOARD

Hello, everyone. I'm putting on a musical show today

and I'll be using unusual instruments like this big keyboard.

Can you imagine how big your fingers would need to be

to play it with your hands?

But we need to jump on it like this.

VARIOUS NOTES PLAY

Oh, I'm not very good at it, I'm afraid.

Maybe I should have lessons.

Or find another instrument.

Ohh! This is one of my favourites.

You don't have to touch anything to play it. Watch this.

DRUMS SOUNDS AND CYMBALS CRASH

Ah-a!

To play this, all you need do

is pass your hand through the beam of light.

DRUM SOUND

And the computer can make it play different noises

like these sound effects.

SNORING, BOING, WHISTLING, DIAL TONE

I think it sounds great!

-ALARM SOUNDS

-Oh!

I didn't think it made that noise.

Sounds like my message alarm.

That means it must BE my message alarm!

I'd better go and see who it is.

-BURPING SOUND

-Oh, pardon me!

I hear a beep, I see a flash. I wonder what they're going to ask.

BEEPING

Hi, Nina, my name's Joel.

How do I make my own music?

Oh, an interesting question. I love listening to music,

so we'll have fun trying to make some. Bye!

I think we'll need some help to answerthis one

and I know just who to ask.

OK, Neurons, time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina.

OK, you guys.

Joel's question is, "How can I make my own music?"

Which neuron will the most useful in helping us find the answer?

-ALL: Me! Me! Me!

-Me!

Will it be fabulous Felix?

I can help so very much if you need the sense of touch.

Will it be beautiful Belle?

I send messages brain to ear,

-if there's a sound, I'll help you hear.

-Will it be lovely Luke?

For looking and seeing, day or night

-I'll help you with your sense of sight.

-Will it be

-awesome Ollie?

-If it's pongy or whiffy but you can't tell

my messages help your sense of smell.

Or will it be baby Bud?

Sour, salty, bitter or sweet,

I'm your taste buddy whenever you eat.

BEEPING

-Yes!

-It's Belle!

ALL: Go, Belle! Go, Belle! Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

-Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

-Brilliant!

I'm all ears, Nina.

Music is something you hear,

so we need Belle, the hearing neuron to help us out today.

OK, then, let's go.

NOTES PLAY

Meet Joel and his mum and dad, a regular family from Paisley.

But today, for one day only, they are...

..The Experimenters!

-Ready, Belle?

-BEEPING

Oh, it's my big moment!

Standing by, ready to send lots of messages.

Joel, I'm here to help you answer your question

about how to make music.

I think the easiest thing to do is to sing. Like this...

-# A-a-ah... #

-SHE SINGS OUT OF TUNE

Oh! Stop singing!

Cover your ears, Neurons, Nina's trying to sing.

That didn't sound good, did it?

JOEL LAUGHS

Did you like that?

-No!

-OK. So if you're not the most fantastic singer in the world,

-how else could you make music?

-With a guitar.

That's a good idea. Do you have one here?

Not to worry cos I have something that might do the trick.

I know it looks like a pot.

But you'd be surprised the noise it makes. Hold that.

One for me too.

What do you do with a guitar? You pluck the strings.

SOUNDS VIBRATE

Hey, that's great, isn't it?

I like that noise. Pling-plong, pling-plong.

The elastic goes wobbly when they pluck it with their fingers.

That's called vibration and that's what makes the sound.

You need both hands to play the guitar, don't you?

One finger plucks and the other one moves along the string...

or the rubber bands in this case. Let's try that and see what happens.

SOUND BECOMES HIGHER PITCHED

Wow! Amazing. When you move your fingers,

you change the amount of band that wobbles.

So when it's short, it sounds quite high.

And when it's long, it sounds quite low.

So changing the length of things can change the sound it makes.

We'll get your mum to play this and we'll see if we can find

anything else to play.

Ah! What about these pots and pans, Joel?

What instrument do they remind you of?

-Drums!

-Yeah. They could be good drums.

We'd need to get drumsticks. Oh, look, what I've found.

These are perfect drumsticks. D'you want a go? Yeah!

-Dad as well?

-Yes, please.

Ah, good idea, Joel. Good idea.

And go for it.

BANGING AND CLANGING

Oh, they're making such a racket!

It's nice and noisy, just like real drums.

Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!

That is a fantastic noise.

They are great drums.

Now, Joel, d'you think your dad will make a good drummer?

-No!

-No?!

I think he would.

Yeah, I think you'll be fantastic.

Let's leave Dad to do some drumming and you and I'll find

something else to play, yeah? Take that wooden spoon.

I've found some more flower pots outside.

D'you want to give these a go?

SOUNDS OF DIFFERENT PITCHES

Oh! What did you notice about the sound?

-All different sounds.

-Yeah.

And why d'you think they're all different?

Cos they're all different sizes.

Good point. Let's go again and see if we can notice that.

BEEPING

Ah!

Let's put them in order of size and then we'll see what it sounds like.

Brilliant. I think we've done it well.

Let's have a listen...

Ah! I don't know about you, Joel, but I thought the big pots

were making a lower sound,

going up to the little pot making a high sound.

Ah, they've put the pots into size order,

from largest to smallest.

So the sounds are lined up from lowest to highest,

just like the keys on a piano.

Ha! You're brilliant at that!

All our musical instruments will sound brilliant together.

Hey, young Joel is doing a great job on the flower pots. Ha ha!

Mm, not too tuneful at the moment.

But it sounds like they're having fun.

Well done, everyone. That was brilliant.

We've managed to answer your question, which was...

how can I make music? You did it by making our own instruments.

First we used a pot and a rubber band to make our guitar.

You plucked it like a guitar and the band wobbled and made a sound.

You could even move your fingers to make the length shorter

and make the sound higher. Then we got pots and pans to make drums

and your dad's doing them very well. Then the flower pots

which we used like a piano

cos the biggest pots sounded low, all the way up to the tiny pot

which sounded really high.

And you guys were all so fantastic.

I think we should treat ourselves and listen to real musicians

to get some inspiration.

JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS

Wow! Now this is what I call music.

The piano player's fingers are really busy there.

-What do you think of the music, Joel?

-It's great!

Look at how the strings are vibrating.

Just like the elastic band on the pot!

# It's been a busy, busy day

# Questions answered, experiments done

# We all use our senses in so many ways

# Tell me, Neurons, what have you done today...? #

Well I definitely worked the hardest today.

There were loads of sounds to keep me busy

with all the music were making and listening to.

Well, I was working hard too, you know.

You need to use your sense of touch when plucking or hitting things.

Yeah, I was pretty busy.

I had messages to carry about big and small flower pots.

And when Nina and Joel were watching the rubber bands wobbling.

Well we've had a bit of an easy day, haven't we, Bud?

Yeah! But I've still had a fabby time!

That was great fun.

I hope you've had a sensational time too! Bye!

ALL: Bye!