Creating Your Own Rock Band

by McKee Andrus, William Johnson, and Paul Winkeler

Target Group: Algebra II

This unit of instruction is a series of project-based inquiries into the nature of music. It is designed to familiarize students with a wide array of concepts, from our most basic observations and perceptions of sound to the business models that drive the music industry.

These inquiries were designed primarily for the high-school mathematics student who has a passing familiarity with linear, quadratic, and exponential functions. Every activity prompts the students to model situations with equations, make predictions, and use their findings as grounds upon which to pose questions and draw conclusions. As the students make their way through the following inquiries, they will select their best work and compile a portfolio of their discoveries and recommendations.

This unit of instruction does not focus exclusively on mathematics, but spends an equal amount of time exploring music and sound as a basic human and cultural experience. The mathematics becomes more meaningful when students understand it within the context of other interests, ideas, and enthusiasms. In this spirit the unit begins with as students are invited to conduct their own experiments with vibrating strings. Then they are invited to compare their observations with those of Pythagorus.

Next the class explores the nature and function of the human ear, and how we perceive sound, particularly sound volume. Simple experiments lead students to form a working definition of the decibel, and explore the properties of the logarithmic scale. Tinnitus, the condition of perceiving sound when there is not corresponding external sound, can be a direct result of listening to music too loudly, a topic upon which many young people have strong opinions, which they will be encouraged to share.

Next the unit moves firmly into the modern era with the discussion of acoustics and stage lighting. Using simple demonstrations, strong connections are made between the patterns of light upon a stage and Euclidean conic sections. Students have a chance to be creative and present their own stage lighting designs.

Of course, being a modern musician is more than just performance. In today’s world of mass media, advertising budgets, tours and schedules, music is distributed and disseminated on a scale far greater than ever before in history. Students will explore the mechanisms of the modern industry by creating their own hypothetical band and constructing sound business models for its success. Students will conduct surveys and reach conclusions as to the best way to market their product. They will tackle the logistic and budgetary challenges involved in pressing a CD, planning a tour, and sponsoring a product.

At the unit’s conclusion, students will put together a portfolio detailing their findings and laying out their recommendations for the independent, modern musician and performer. These portfolios may focus on business models, or enlighten the reader as to the key principles that make music possible and valuable. It is to be hoped that by unit’s conclusion, students will have a much deeper appreciation for a subject for which they already have great enthusiasm, and develop a unique and intelligent perspective of their own.