A groundbreaking study of the trailblazing music of Chicago’s AACM, a leader in the world of jazz and experimental music. Founded on Chicago’s South Side in 1965 and still thriving today, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is the most influential collective organization in jazz and experimental music. In Sound Experiments, Paul Steinbeck offers an in-depth historical and musical investigation of the collective, analyzing individual performances and formal innovations in captivating detail. He pays particular attention to compositions by Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell, the Association’s leading figures, as well as Anthony Braxton, George Lewis (and his famous computer-music experiment, Voyager), Wadada Leo Smith, and Henry Threadgill, along with younger AACM members such as Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid, and Nicole Mitchell. Sound Experiments represents a sonic history, spanning six decades, that affords insight not only into the individuals who created this music but also into an astonishing collective aesthetic. This aesthetic was uniquely grounded in nurturing communal ties across generations, as well as a commitment to experimentalism. The AACM’s compositions broke down the barriers between jazz and experimental music and made essential contributions to African American expression more broadly. Steinbeck shows how the creators of these extraordinary pieces pioneered novel approaches to instrumentation, notation, conducting, musical form, and technology, creating new soundscapes in contemporary music.

What if your science experiments were so interesting that even an Emperor wanted to know more? The story of Ernst Chladni (KLOD-nee) meeting Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to demonstrate his sound experiments.

Uses activities and experiments to introduce the properties of light and sound.

These totally awesome, kid-friendly experiments teach the scientific basics of light and sound.

This book provides suggestions for experiments that examine some of the qualities of sound.

Edited by David Rogerson, Matt Price. Foreword by Jeremy Deller. Text by Andrei Smirnov.

Light and sound both travel in waves, but sound waves travel significantly slower than light. Theories like this are difficult to grasp in words, but there are easy ways to see them in action. With this book's simple experiments, young scientists will test out how light can bend and how even invisible sounds can make things move, helping them understand how even the most complex theories work. Through step-by-step instructions, young readers will learn the right way to set up their experiments and expand on concepts they already know.