We were both pleased with the end product, and had fun creating it together. It wasn’t just fun, though; it felt like a genuine collaboration. Phil asked LOTS of pertinent questions about my preferences; for example, “Should each student have their own desk, or should they share big desks?” Moreover, he demonstrated genuine technical skill. That speaker next to the singing teacher is his design, as is the computer on the teacher’s desk (hard to see, but elegantly simple) and the Lego-font N’s (which replaced my inferior ones).

As I said on LinkedIn.com, I would not hesitate to hire him again.

Nancy’s show was filled with questions and puzzles. Her backdrop included a box for each letter of the word S-C-I-E-N-C-E, and inside each box was another word beginning with that same letter. Most were straightforward, but the second “C” turned out to stand for Cephalopod, a nice curveball reminiscent of They Might Be Giants. Also reminiscent of TMBG was her skillful reinforcement of her lyrics with musical elements. For instance, a song about a pulley had a melody that climbed up the scale as the pulley rose upward.

Nancy asked us to complete the sentence, “Science is …” Phil shouted, “Surprising!” I offered, “Rigorous!” Which isn’t a bad two-word summary of the joys of science. If you do something rigorously, the surprises are more interesting (to me, anyway) because they are more likely to be “real.”

Toward the end, Nancy introduced a fanciful dinosaur counting song with the words, “Dinosaurs are not around anymore, but if they were, I think they’d want to drive cars.”

“Not pteranodons!” Phil countered. Presumably his thinking was, why drive when you can fly? Note, however, that pteranodons aren’t dinosaurs. Nice try, wise guy.

By the way, several of Nancy’s science songs are available online through her website, NancyMusic.com. A search of the SingAboutScience.org database reveals that some even come with online sheet music! (Note the “score” buttons in the Links column of the search results page.)
 

“I don’t know, Phil. I would need to get permission to come, and I haven’t been able to get permission yet. Plus I really should focus on the things I’m paid to do, like teaching.”

“How much do you get paid to do science music?”

“Nothing, really.”

“But Dad, you love science music!”

“Yeah, but it’s something I just have to fit in when I have time.”

At that, Phil grabbed four quarters from his Easter money and plunked them down on the kitchen counter.

“I’ll pay you, Dad!”

Is there any possible response to that that doesn’t involve a hug?

1. Monty Harper: Songs From The Science Frontier (July 8 to August 22, 2010).

2. Baba Brinkman: The Rap Guide to Evolution – Educational DVD (December 2010 to January 2011).

3. Greg Crowther: Sing About Science & Math (May 1-31, 2012).

4. John Boswell and Will Crowley: An Album All About Science! (July 16 to August 15, 2012).

5. Lode McCammon: Music Can Move Us (November-December, 2012).

6. Baba Brinkman: Darwin Meets Chaucer Off-Broadway (January 23 to March 24, 2013).

7. Tom McFadden: Battle Rap Histories of Epic Science (March 20 to April 16, 2013).

8. Science Notes: Science Notes Web App (April 29 to June 25, 2013).

9. Baba Brinkman: Don’t Sleep With Mean People (July-August, 2013).

10. Monty Harper: Funding a Children’s Science Song CD in 90 Days (ongoing).

Below is a starter list of crowdfunding campaigns that specifically fall into the realm of science music. Please let me know if I’m missing any!

1. Songs From The Science Frontier. Applicant: Monty Harper. Portal: Kickstarter.com. Dates: July 8 to August 22, 2010. Purpose: to finance recording of an album of science songs for kids 8 to 12. Fundraising goal: $9,000. Amount raised: $9,197.

2. The Rap Guide to Evolution – Educational DVD. Applicant: Baba Brinkman. Portal: Crowfunder.co.uk. Dates: December 2010 to January 2011. Purpose: to add post-production enhancements to videos for songs from the Rap Guide to Evolution. Fundraising goal: £10,000. Amount raised: £12,588.

3. Sing About Science & Math. Applicant: Greg Crowther. Portal: SciFundChallenge.org/RocketHub.com. Dates: May 1-31, 2012. Purpose: to support further alignment of SingAboutScience.org with teachers’ needs. Fundraising goal: $3,000. Amount raised: $611.

4. An Album All About Science! “Terra Lumina”. Applicants: John Boswell and Will Crowley. Portal: Kickstarter.com. Dates: July 16 to August 15, 2012. Purpose: to underwrite production of songs about “the most awe-inspiring scientific ideas.” Fundraising goal: $10,000. Amount raised: $23,241.

5. Music Can Move Us. Applicant: Lodge McCammon. Portal: indiegogo.com. Dates: November-December, 2012. Purpose: to support creation of freely accessible songs and movement videos on nutrition and healthy habits for kids aged 4-6. Fundraising goal: $12,000. Amount raised: ongoing.

The songs start at 15:00 (“Myofibrils”), 21:05 (“Money 4 Drugz”), 30:17 (“Good Bacteria”), 36:10 (“Malaria”), 39:00 (“Modes of Transmission”), and 43:02 (“These Cells Are Your Cells”).

UWTV did a nice job recording the presentation and the crowd’s reactions to it!

A few weeks back I overheard a song in a thrift shop about Pluto (written back when it was a planet). The music sounded very 60s or perhaps even 70s, slightly vocal-jazzy, with a group of mixed male and female voices singing how “through the telescope [we searched]” for Pluto, to whom they said “you were the last to be found”. The clerk couldn’t identify the song name or the artist for me. I thought it might be on one of the “Singing Science” records, but failed to locate it.

I’m pretty sure this song was pre-1980s. It just had “that sound” to it. There may have been the slight hiss of analog recording, but those sort of mixed choral pop songs seemed to be out of fashion by the 80s. (Because, we all know that science is always in fashion!) It was not a cappella, to my recollection, but rather had some “light music” in the background.

Does anyone out there know this song? Anyone at all?

First, see if the parody title and artist are enough for you to identify the original song.

1. “American Pi” by Lawrence Lesser.
2. “ANOVA Man” by Mark Glickman.
3. “Gettin’ Triggy Wit’ It” by South Westerville South High School.
4. “Girls Just Wanna Graph Functions” by Al G. Bra.
5. “How Steep is your Slope?” by Mr. Capra.
6. “I Will Derive” by Matthew Kaney.
7. “Mean Angst” by Matheatre.
8. “We Will Graph You” by Ronnie Flowers.

You can scroll to the bottom for the answers.

If you don’t know all of them but don’t want to give up yet, you can the hint of knowing the original artists.

1. “American Pi” by Lawrence Lesser. Original is by Don McLean.
2. “ANOVA Man” by Mark Glickman. Original is by The Beatles.
3. “Gettin’ Triggy Wit It” by South Westerville South High School. Original is by Will Smith.
4. “Girls Just Wanna Graph Functions” by Al G. Bra. Original is by Cyndi Lauper.
5. “How Steep is your Slope?” by Mr. Capra. Original is by the Bee Gees.
6. “I Will Derive” by Matthew Kaney. Original is by Gloria Gaynor.
7. “Mean Angst” by Matheatre. Original is by Cracker.
8. “We Will Graph You” by Ronnie Flowers. Original is by Queen.

SCORING

After checking the answers below, give yourself 2 points for every song you knew without needing to know the original artist, and 1 point for every song you got after seeing the hint, and 0 points for those that stumped you completely.

13-16 points: Perfect Pitch
9-12 points: Close Enough for Rock ‘N Roll
5-8 points: A Bit Shaky
0-4 points: Out of Tune

(Spoiler: answers are below…)

ANSWERS

1. American Pi by Lawrence Lesser is a parody of “American Pie” by Don McLean.
2. ANOVA Man by Mark Glickman is a parody of “Nowhere Man” by The Beatles.
3. Gettin’ Triggy Wit It by South Westerville South High School is a parody of “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” by Will Smith.
4. Girls Just Wanna Graph Functions by Al G. Bra is a parody of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper.
5. How Steep is your Slope? by Mr. Capra is a parody by “How Deep is your Love?” by the Bee Gees.
6. I Will Derive by Matthew Kaney is a parody of by “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.
7. Mean Angst by Matheatre is a parody of “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)” by Cracker.
8. We Will Graph You by Ronnie Flowers is a parody of “We Will Rock You” by Queen.

I’ve never participated in Mini-Medical School before, but I guess it’s kind of a big deal because I was asked to wear a lab coat for a formal photo, which you can see on the Presenters page.