Thanks to St Francis school in Maidstone for inviting me to visit on World Book Day. We used a parachute to recreate Minkie’s journey down the time tunnel. It helped us generate some ideas about where he might end up next. We had the jurassic era, the sinking of the titanic, Mars and the world of Minecraft. Great ideas! We also used the theremin to make some whale song.
I am currently learning this instrument (or trying too!) It’s an electronic instrument invented by Lev Sergeyevich Termen, better known as Leon Theremin. Lev was a Russian inventor, most famous for building the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. Lev was an interesting character. Aside from this invention, he also built the first burglar alarm, was involved in the development of television and made a listening device for the soviet government. His secret gadget, “The Thing”, hung for seven years in plain sight in the United States ambassador’s Moscow office and enabled Soviet agents to eavesdrop on covert conversations – Sneaky!
For a more in depth look at this fascinating character, there’s a great documentary about him here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IMbsREy85U
You might be familiar with the theremin’s ethereal sound if you’ve ever seen the film, Mars Attacks, or know the theme tune from the original Star Trek series. Check out Katica Illenyi playing it here – unbelievable!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NVb25p1oU
At present all I can do is make whale noises with it, but it’s still fun. It also makes a great time tunnel sound! I am currently composing a sound scape for the whole A Whale of a Time story, which I’m looking forward to using on author visits.
Some of year 2’s ideas below…
Teachers getting involved too!
Playing some whale song on the theremin.
