(bright music) - [Jake] I'm Jake.

- [Esther] I'm Esther.

- [Jake] I play music in a polka band.

- [Esther] I'm a soul and R&B singer and songwriter.

- [Jake] We love music so much!

- [Esther] And we wanna share that with you.

- [Both] This is "In Tune."

(letters clicking) (ball bouncing) (hammer banging) (boards banging) - Vibration!

(image whooshes) (bell dings) (whistle tooting) (beeping) (static buzzing) - I've got a pretty cool job, and that's because my job is making music with four of my friends in a band.

We get to travel all over the place, and we love being on stage with people clapping and cheering and singing along.

Music is the spice of life.

- My mother got me into music.

She was the director of music at my church.

She's a singer, songwriter, composer, and she made me start taking piano lessons when I was about nine years old.

And today, I do music all over, singing everything from jazz to pop, to rock, to blues.

Music is so powerful.

- That's right.

It's safe to say that Esther and me both love music!

- But you cannot have music without first having sound.

How is sound created?

- We're gonna show ya.

Hey, how are they doing that?

(clarinet music) (drums beating rhythmically) (French horn music) (guitar strumming) How are they doing that?

In order to understand sound, we must first become scientists.

What happens when somebody strums a banjo, strikes a drum, or blows on a tuba?

- The answer is vibration.

When something like the cymbal (cymbal crashing) vibrates, that vibration creates sound.

- That's right, and sound waves carry the vibration from this cymbal (cymbal crashes) right to our ears.

- Now that's what I call sound science.

- And let's see what some of our fellow scientists have to say on the matter.

- Hello, my name is Arthur, and when I bounce this ball, it vibrates and makes a sound.

(ball bouncing) I'm Juliana.

These are keys.

And when I shake them, they vibrate and make a sound.

(keys jangling) My name is Gilbert, and when I blow this whistle, it vibrates and makes a very loud sound, like this.

(whistle tooting) (child yelling) - My name's Elaina.

This is a glass and a fork.

And when I hit the glass with the fork, it vibrates and makes the sound.

(glass clinking) - You can be a sound scientist too and find sound waves in action at home, at school.

When you're walking down the street, listen with your ears and look with your eyes.

- What is making sound in the world around you?

How is that sound being produced by vibration?

And how does that sound make you feel?

(clippers snipping) (playful music) - Can you hear that?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah!

(hammer tapping) (leaves rustling) - Literally, every single sound that your ears can hear is caused by vibration.

Esther, give us an example.

(Esther vocalizing) That's your vocal chords vibrating to produce sound.

- As a musician, I love these sounds.

I love being in a band and using all these sounds to create music.

- Vibration creates sound, sound creates music, and that means if we have vibration, if we have sound, we can create music.

(upbeat music) (word echoing) Vibration!

(board bangs) (Jake vocalizing) (hands clapping) (microwave door slams) (soda can tab snaps) (boards banging) (glass clinks) (carrot crunches) (keys jangling) - Hey!

(boards bang) (soda hisses) (tape rips) (rubber band strums) (clippers snipping) (bottle squirts) (knife chops) (chair scraps) - Carrot, carrot!

(can whistling) (paper crinkling) (door slams) (boards bang) (pump hisses) (ball bouncing) (whistle tooting) (clippers snipping) (lid clatters) - Yeah!

Yeah!

(boards bang) (doors slamming) (clippers snipping) - [Jake] Vibration!

(door slamming) (distant dog barking) I'm Jake.

- And I'm Esther.

Thanks for joining us.

Now go make some music.

(beeping) (static buzzing) - [Narrator 1] We just learned how vibration creates sound.

Then that's how musical instruments work.

Like a tuba or piano, they all use vibration to create sounds.

Next, we're going to learn about two specific musical instrument families, woodwinds and strings.

Before that, let's watch a video of Jake's band, the Chardon Polka Band.

Maybe you'll figure out how some of the instruments are vibrating to create sound.

("Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day) ♪ He rocks in the treetop all the day long ♪ ♪ Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singin' his song ♪ ♪ All the little birds on Jaybird Street ♪ ♪ Love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet ♪ ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Blow, rockin' robin ♪ 'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight ♪ ♪ Every little swallow, every chickadee ♪ ♪ Every little bird in the tall oak tree ♪ ♪ The wise old owl, the big black crow ♪ ♪ They flap their wings, singin' go bird go ♪ ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Blow, rockin' robin ♪ 'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight ♪ - Let 'em have it, Mitch!

(saxophone solo) (saxophone solo continues) ♪ Well, the little raven at the bird bandstand ♪ ♪ Taught him how to do the bop, and it was grand ♪ ♪ They started goin' steady, and bless my soul ♪ ♪ He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole ♪ ♪ He rocks in the treetop all the day long ♪ ♪ Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singin' his song ♪ ♪ All the little birds on Jaybird Street ♪ ♪ Love to hear the robin go tweedly-dee ♪ ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Blow, rockin' robin ♪ 'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight ♪ Rockin' out (indistinct).

(keyboard solo) (keyboard solo continues) ♪ Well, the little raven at the bird bandstand ♪ ♪ Taught him how to do the bop, and it was grand ♪ ♪ They started goin' steady, and bless my soul ♪ ♪ He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole ♪ ♪ He rocks in the treetop all the day long ♪ ♪ Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singin' his song ♪ ♪ All the little birds on Jaybird Street ♪ ♪ Love to hear the robin go tweet, tweet, tweet ♪ ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Rockin' robin ♪ Blow, rockin' robin ♪ 'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight ♪ (audience clapping) - [Narrator 1] Making music sure looks like a lot of fun.

One of the musical instruments I saw was a saxophone.

It's a woodwind instrument, and that's the family of musical instruments we'll learn about next.

(saxophone solo) (bright music) (saxophone music) (beeping) (static buzzing) - You know, Esther, tens of thousands of years ago, humans had wood.

(club tapping) - [Esther] These people also had wind.

The combination of these two ingredients created the woodwind musical instrument family as early as 900 BC.

- And this musical instrument family is still around today.

And despite the name woodwind, they can be made out of plastic, brass, silver, all kinds of stuff.

- So we asked a few friends to come show us some woodwind musical instruments that you might recognize.

(image whooshes) - My name's Anayla and I play the flute.

(flute music) So when I was in fifth grade, we got to try many types of different instruments.

When I got a sound of the flute, I just really wanted to play it.

When it's sad music and I understand it, I start to cry.

And when it's like going music and I get hyped up about it, it just makes me feel good and like, smile.

(bright band music) - My name is Zane, and I play the clarinet.

The clarinet is part of the woodwind family.

My mom took me to play at a tryout place.

First time I picked up a clarinet, I made a really good sound.

I think it's just a extension of myself.

It just feels like it belonged.

- My name's Summer.

I play tenor saxophone.

I play the saxophone, because I like the way it sounds and looks.

Playing music makes me feel relaxed and happy.

Like, whenever I go to band, it's like my happy place.

It may seem hard at first, but as you keep on practicing and practicing, it gets easier and it begins to get really fun when you have certain opportunities.

In order to learn saxophone, you might wanna have a lot of determination.

It'll help you learn your instrument better if you really wanna be able to learn how to play it.

(bright saxophone music) - [Narrator 2] On woodwinds, air can either be blown across a tone hole, like we saw on the flute... (flute music) Or across a little piece of wood or plastic called a reed, like we saw on the saxophone and the clarinet.

(saxophone music) No matter what, that air is causing vibrations which create the sound you hear.

- Wow, we have got some truly talented, young woodwind players out there.

But right now, I want to introduce y'all to the guy who plays woodwinds in my band, the Chardon Polka Band.

And I've never seen anyone have more fun with their musical instrument than my buddy, Mitch Lawrence.

- And he got his start when he was about your age.

(bright saxophone music) (bright saxophone music continues) - All right, so Mitch, which one of these awesome instruments did you start playing first?

- Well, my first instrument was saxophone, and I started back in grade school.

- [Jake] So how did it impact you as a kid when you started learning woodwinds?

- Well, I was just a normal kid at first, all the way up until, you know, like, the time I started in band in grade school.

I would just run around like crazy.

But the saxophone gave me something where I could sit down and focus and concentrate.

- Can I ask you, how does playing an instrument make you feel?

- Well, you know, playing an instrument makes me feel just really focused and in the zone, and it's kinda like I'm part of something much larger.

You know, it kind of gives you a chance to interact with people.

It's like we're all just learning together.

Playing an instrument is therapeutic.

It makes me more relaxed and it's fun, obviously.

- I don't see anybody having more fun with their instrument than I see you having.

It is mesmerizing.

(upbeat music) Remember that Mitch's saxophone and clarinet both have reeds that air moves across to make the sound we hear.

Mitch creates the different notes we hear by pushing different keys on his instruments.

(bright clarinet music) A flute is also a woodwind instrument that Mitch plays, but remember, it doesn't have a reed.

Instead, you blow air across a tone hole, which vibrates to create sound.

(gentle flute music) - Now the way a flute works is you're blowing across a tone hole like a water bottle.

(water bottle whistling) And as you change the water level, the pitch changes because the distance changes, just like flutes and the key work on flutes.

Mm, hang on a minute.

(water bottle whistling) You see, as the length becomes longer, the pitch becomes lower and vice versa.

If I were to undrink this water, I would be able to achieve a higher note, or if it rains a lot.

(thunder cracking) - We loved hearing Mitch talk about his music, and we hope you did too.

Learning an instrument at a young age can be incredible.

- That's right!

And you guys can ask your music teachers to try out the woodwinds.

And Mitch showed us a way that you can produce sound just like a woodwind instrument using a plastic bottle.

- And here's some inspiration.

(bottles whistling) ♪ In Tune, In Tune (bottles whistling) ♪ In Tune, In Tune - I like what you did there.

That was good.

Because if you can make sound, then you can make music.

(beeping) (static buzzing) (coconut clunks) - [Narrator 1] Jake and Esther used bottles to create sound.

You can probably find things at home to make sound like that too.

Here's a band we found that makes instruments out of all kinds of stuff.

(bright music) (lawn mower rumbling) (band members grunt) (bright music) (lawn mower rumbling) (insects buzzing) That band is funny.

I saw one guy using a watering can like a woodwind instrument.

But what was that other watering can doing?

Well inside, it had a little string, and when he plucked it, the string vibrated and that creates sounds.

We're going to learn all about the string musical instrument family.

These are all kinds of instruments that use strings to create sound.

But first, how about another song from our new friends, Les Fo'Plafonds.

("Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire) ♪ Let's groove tonight ♪ Let's share the spice of life ♪ ♪ Baby, slice it right ♪ We're gonna groove tonight ♪ Let this groove get you to move ♪ ♪ It's all right, all right, all right, oh ohh ♪ ♪ Let this groove set in your shoes ♪ ♪ And stand up, stand up, all right ♪ - [Narrator 1] I saw that watering can again.

And now let's look at more stringed instruments that you can find at school or being used by all kinds of bands.

(bright music) (violin music) - I want you guys to check this out.

I found this super stretchy, awesome length of green rubber hose.

And you know what I'm gonna do with it?

I'm gonna run over here.

I'm gonna have our cameraman, Jeff, hold one side of it, and then I run back over here with the rest of it.

- Jake, I don't think that's a great idea.

- And then... (hose vibrates) Listen to that.

That's the same way you create sound with any stringed instrument, whether it be a harp, a guitar, a banjo, or a violin.

When you pluck, (hose vibrates) or strum the string, it creates the vibration that creates the sound that you hear.

Isn't that cool?

(hose snaps) (objects clattering) (Esther gasping) Great scott, Jeff, are you okay?

(hose vibrating) - Kids, it looks like we've got some cleaning up to do.

But, in the meantime, check out some of our friends that play stringed instruments.

- My name is Phillip and I play the violin.

My favorite part about playing the violin is learning the finger pattern and learning a lot of new songs.

(bright violin music) - Hello, my name is Lachlan, and I do violin.

I got interested in playing violin because I quit karate, and my mom told me I could do violin instead.

When I play violin, it makes me feel calm and relaxed.

(bright violin music) - Hi, my name's Madelyn, and I play guitar.

(guitar strumming) When I play guitar, it makes me very, very happy.

(guitar strumming) - Hi, my name is Hannah, and I play the violin.

(bright violin music) My favorite thing about playing music or just listening to it in general is that it makes me feel things that normal things in my life can't comprehend.

And so it just... The emotions that go through me is really nice.

(bright violin music) - When you see an instrument with strings on it, chances are, it's in the string family.

- And if you're watching the Chardon Polka Band, those strings are gonna be played by my buddy Mike Franklin.

He's been jamming with me in the Chardon Polka band for almost two decades.

He strums.

He shreds.

He's totally awesome, and we're gonna meet him right now.

This is Mike and he's holding a... - Banjo.

- A banjo, which is a member of the string family.

Mike, what got you into the string family?

- Well, when I was 16, I hurt my leg on the first day of summer, and I couldn't walk for the entire summer.

- And that changed your life.

- It did.

So I was fortunate when I was injured that I had a guitar teacher who would come out to my house every week.

Normally, you have to go to the guitar teacher.

He came out to me, and I had my right leg in a boot up in the air and just sat and played guitar.

- So how do you play a string instrument, whether it be the banjo or the guitar?

They both work similar?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So, the string vibrates (string vibrating) as you may be able to see when you either pick, pluck, or strum it.

Strumming is a little something like this.

(banjo strumming) It's more for rhythm, and you're strumming all the strings at the same time, so I'm going up and down across all of them.

And then you can pick, which looks something like this.

(bright banjo music) And plucking is when you don't have a pick in your hand and... (bright banjo music) And you're just using your fingers to pull on the strings.

- So you can use your fingers or what's this thing?

- [Mike] This is a guitar pick.

- What kind of opportunities have you had playing stringed instruments?

- Well, it's been an amazing career.

We've gotten to travel as far west as Oregon, as far south as Texas, as far north as Canada.

We've gotten to play at cool venues like Red Rocks.

I mean, the list goes on forever.

- (laughing) I forgot we played Red Rocks.

We're a terrific band, and you can hear Mike Franklin play the strings in this band, and we're gonna hear you on a guitar solo right now.

(upbeat music) (electric guitar solo) - You know Jake, you can find strings to pluck and strum in your own home.

- What?

- Rubber bands, fishing wire, dental floss.

Here's an example.

(image swooshes) - All right, check it out.

This is just an old Kleenex box with a rubber band stretched across it.

You can use a Kleenex box or cut a hole in a cereal box, (rubber band strumming) and they make great substitutes for stringed instruments, so you can see and feel how a stringed instrument would work.

Now, check this out.

This is a bit more sophisticated.

We took an old guitar string, and we attached it to an old can and a piece of wood, and this is our homemade stringed instrument.

Should we try and do something with it?

- We should try and do something with it, Jake.

(instrument strumming) ♪ I took my baby on a Saturday bang ♪ ♪ Is that girl with you ♪ Yeah, we're one and the same ♪ Yeah, I believe in miracles ♪ And a miracle has happened tonight ♪ ♪ If you wanna be my baby ♪ It don't matter if you're Black or White ♪ (instrument strumming) (beeping) (static buzzing) - Get out there and see what kind of sounds you can hear and what kind of sounds you can make.

- Yeah, 'cause if you can make sound... (Jake thumping) ♪ Jake (Esther tapping) ♪ Esther - Then you can make music!

(Jake thumping) ♪ Jake (Esther tapping) ♪ Esther (Jake thumping) ♪ Jake (Esther tapping) ♪ Esther (Jake thumping) ♪ You're watching (Esther tapping) ♪ In Tune (beeping) (static buzzing) - Vibration!

(singer vocalizing) (board banging) (hands clapping) (microwave door slams) (soda tab pops) (board banging) (glass clinking) (carrot crunching) (keys jangling) - Hey!

(board banging) (bottle hissing) (tape ripping) (rubber band strums) (clippers snipping) (bottle squirting) (knife chopping) (chair scraping) - Carrot!

Carrot!

(can whistling) (paper crinkling) (door slamming) (board banging) (pump hissing) (ball bouncing) (whistle tooting) (clippers snipping) (lid clattering) - Yeah!

Yeah!

(board banging) (door slamming) (clippers snipping) - Vibration!

(door slams) (distant dog barking) (bright music) (bright music continues) Because we wanna give you a real world example of this, and I am not a teacher, nor do I have a class, we have turned to our amazing resident educator, Ms.

Samantha Puterbaugh.

Right?

- Right.

- You're a music teacher.

- Mm-hmm.

- This is what you do.

What grades?

- I live and breathe the kindergarten through third grade, and I have 650 students that I teach every week.

- (laughing) That's amazing.

You got a 650-person audience every week.

That's a lot of pressure.

Well today, we're talking to kids about sound and vibration, because (pages flapping) vibration creates sound.

But like I said, I'm not an educator.

Give us some examples to pass on to our teacher friends of activities they could do with their kids to challenge 'em in this area or show 'em how it works.

- Yeah, if you want to have children experience sound and vibration in the real world, my favorite thing to do is to go outside.

We can do so much outside.

And find a stick, use your hands, use a rock, and go to the playground.

And you can go to the swings, you can go to the slide, and just tap and click on things, and there's so many different materials.

You have plastic, you have metal.

See if you can create music from that.

What can you play?

Can you play rhythms?

Can you make a steady beat?

There's so much that the children can do and explore out on a playground.

- What about arts and crafts?

You got any arts and crafts examples?

- Absolutely.

There's so many things online that you can find, and Pinterest is your friend, of course.

But there's lots of little activities.

Taking an empty tissue box and wrapping the rubber bands around it and plucking those rubber bands, hearing the vibrations.

You might find different sizes of rubber bands.

That'll give you even more depth in your pitches.

Making egg shakers from toilet paper tubes.

It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy.

We can ask children, and I usually ask my first graders, let's see if we can experience sound with our own body and touch your throat, because when we speak and when we sing, our vocal cords are moving against each other, and that's how we create our vibration, because we are also an instrument.

The voice, the vocal cords are an instrument.

- Ahhh, see, you can feel it move.

That's good stuff.

- It is.

- It's good stuff.

You gotta remind those kids, this is science as well.

We're creating science and music.

Thank you again, Sam.

- Absolutely.

Thank you.