Procrastination Destination: Musical Science, Beauty, and Invention

Take a break! Whether you just put the baby to sleep, need to get through a stack of papers, or are helping your kid with homework, a brief pause will help you. Read the research here!

And I’m here to help. This month’s Procrastination Destination uses music to teach science, inspire, and be creative. Click on one, do some work with happiness, click on another, do more work effectively, click on another–you get the idea.

The first video was a musical marble machine from the band Wintergatan. Mesmerizing because it’s shot in real time–no special effects. Then watch how the machine works!

Might be a bit intimidating to build your own marble musical machine, but what about water glasses as an instrument? You can do this with your kids in the kitchen in no time at all. Here is someone who added color and light. It’s an experiment in sound.

Typing about experiments, here is a musical way to learn about the recent discovery of gravitational waves from one of my favorite nerdy channels: A Cappella Science.

A Cappella is still pretty geeky, but it may be gaining ground in the wider world with the group Pentatonix. The beatboxer of this group, Kevin “K.O.” Olusola, is also an accomplished cellist. Check out his beautiful Adele songs medley:

And if you and your children are inspired by the beatboxing in that video, Incredibox is an online beatboxing game. Of course you and your kids could try out some beatboxing yourselves. Just be careful not to get spit on your computer screen!