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I was contacted by a chemistry professor who would like to include a musical staircase in a new college science building.  Our Sciencenter musical staircase is based on your motion through space and uses an overhead camera & computer, but he wants to be able to "play" notes and explore musical scales, etc.

I told him I'd forward his request to the listserve.  See following message below, which includes his email address if you'd like to reply directly.

Thanks!

Kathy Krafft
Director of Exhibits
Sciencenter, Ithaca NY

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St. Olaf College is in the planning stage for a new science building. Being a
college with strong music, science, and math programs (among others...), and
being a violinist myself, it occurred to me that it would be a neat idea to
install in this new building an interactive science/music/math display. My idea
is a musical staircase. I've seen a wonderful example of this at the Science
Museum of Minnesota, and I've talked with several people - Larry Ralph at the
Boston Museum of Science, John Bowditch at the Anne Arbor Hands-On Science
Museum, Kathy Krafft at the Sciencenter (Ithaca, NY), among others.

Kathy suggested I contact this list and ask what people know about such
installations, what suggestions they might have, what they think it should cost,
etc. Really, any comments you have regarding this idea would be greatly
appreciated.

Parameters include:

Timeframe: We're about 2-3 years to construction.

Context: Building plan is roughed out only, but includes a nice central
two-floor atrium with staircase. I don't know how many steps, but if I had 88,
I'd use them all.

Capabilities: We have superb cabnetry carpenters here on campus, I'm pretty
computer-savvy, we have a great electronic services division with lots of know-how.

Funds: I'll probably have to fund this myself, unless you have a better idea.

Ideas: So far my idea is to modify an electronic keyboard (Yamaha clavinova?)
and use infrared beams on individual channels tying into the action of a keyboard.

Comments? Suggestions? Wild ideas?

Thank you,

Bob Hanson
-
Robert M. Hanson, [log in to unmask], 507-646-3107
Professor of Chemistry, St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave., Northfield, MN 55057
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/hansonr

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."  - Albert Einstein

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