Author: Dianne Hammerand

String Instruments have a long history. This month in the lab students will learn about string instruments and how they came about thousands of years ago, and how they changed over time and different cultures. Some of these started with tough vegetable or fruit skins and plucked bow and arrow strings. They’ve evolved into the instruments we know and love today, and ask your student what they learned about string instruments in the lab.

I’m not sure how many of our students have dogs, but do they occasionally howl along with your music? It’s a sign they like it.

There’s actually starting to be a lot of research about dogs and music. People are able to create playlists for their dogs and search for calming music on YouTube specifically for the pups. Why? Turns out music is therapeutic for dogs, too, and with good reasons. There’s a lot of noise in the world if you’re a dog. You can hear ranges far better than humans, and in our current stage of development there is a lot of noise pollution. Even electronic devices in our homes can bother their finely-tuned ears, not to mention other sounds like vacuum cleaners and everything going by outside. If you think your dog could use more of a break from environmental (not nature sounds, but the rest) this article has more tips.

If you didn’t catch the halftime show, here’s a replay: Video Ad (youtube.com)

If you did catch it live- I want to bring your attention to the Marching Band. Yes, that’s in our music lab theme and it’s really great that they gave us an amazing example of what a marching band can do (and actually the whole thing is pretty awesome).

So, that is Jackson State University Marching Band and they’re also called the Sonic Boom of the South. They spent ten days in Las Vegas to get ready for the halftime show, and I can’t say enough great things about them. Want to see more of their performances? Click here. They have 300 members, and you can see they work really hard.