Quick, we need kids to be able to express their feelings, they really ought to learn more about electronics, and – more veg. Definitely need to eat more vegetables.
You know what we have to do.
Let’s combine all that.
Moscow-based collective/project Playtronica has gone wild with the Makey Makey “invention kit,” and built a whole range of projects around interfacing electronics to vegetables and other creative inputs. They have hands-on workstations for kids that look like your Farmers’ Market was taken over by Leon Theremin. Kids are making rhythms, recording sounds, making songs.
And in a CDM-exclusive premiere, we get the first look at the music video for The Cucumber Song. (Sorry, Pitchfork – you’ve been scooped.)
Olga Maximova sends us more information.
First, the video details:
Playtronica uses conductive objects like fruits and veggies as triggers to play sounds arranged into a song.
Hands – OMMA, Vasily Volchek, Sasha Pas, Liliya Danieva Music and cucumber – OMMA Camera and editing – Vasily Volchek
What’s Playtronica?
Playtronica is an interactive playground for self-expression through rhythm & sound.
Our mission is to change kids and young adults’ vision and perception of music.
Playtronica is a unique and innovative modern music platform to provide a comprehensive musical training to kids; stimulating creativity and promoting sound and rhythm heritage.
Learn to be creative by playing, composing, improvising and arranging musical compositions. Cutting-edge musical technology enables children to do so in a creative and interactive way. Transmit music understanding, passion and accessibility to children.
And they’ve been busy. Apart from letting kids discovery new musical ideas through veggies, they’ve also got them discovering sounds. At a Master Class at the Gagarin space museum, they recorded sounds and voices, which Olga transformed into a track. It’s a nice way for a new generation to celebrate the first human being’s journey into space – they’re apparently talking about what Pluto sounds like, given its blue color:
Here’s more playful music from Olga’s experimental band, OMMA:
Find OMMA on Facebook, as well:
https://www.facebook.com/ommamoscow
We’ve also got some images of Playtronica in action, including a cameo by friend-of-the-site Jekka (Jenny Nedoskina).
Finally, I love this mix – resonant frequencies of musical loves here, from Moscow: