The Joys of Synthesis, with Suzanne Ciani and 3-2-1 Contact
Matrixsynth points to this gem, from the US educational kids’ program 3-2-1 Contact, produced by Children’s Television Workshop. (I can’t think of any science programs today for young people quite like it, sadly. Ordinarily I’d hold off for Matrix’s wonderful Week in Synths, but I just can’t wait on this one. Good Sunday evening watching.)
Suzanne Ciani, the synthesis pioneer, multi-Grammy nominee, and composer of everything from New Age music to classic 70s jingles and sound effects (including the distinctive synthesized Coke-unbottling sound), explains the fundamentals of acoustics and synthesis in terms children could understand:
A Prophet figures prominently, but other than that it’s almost an all-Buchla show. She’s a virtuoso at patching a Buchla patch. And between her and the host, I guarantee you’ll be extremely calm within the first few seconds.
20 Comments
Leave a CommentAngstrom
When I die, my god has promised me a land of hot stoned chicks who own modulars.
I will sport a comb-over and I will be happy.
May 13, 2007 @ 5:59 pm
sillicon
amen to that..
May 13, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Machines
Comb-overs FTW. Sadly, I have not enough hair left to even do something as wicked as what our good friend Steve was sporting in that awesome video.
May 13, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Sascha
Wow. I think i got a buzz from just watching that…friggin great!
May 13, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
Myles
Beautiful video, you’re right about the calm. How this can’t be remade for a modern audience of kids ready to delve into the world of sound and music.. baffles me truely.
Hey Sascha, Franck? From KVR at a guess? :D
May 13, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
DJ McManus
Wow, that’s some heavy granola.
People in the seventies were just way way better.
May 14, 2007 @ 12:04 am
DJ McManus
Heavy heavy granola.
May 14, 2007 @ 12:05 am
Peter Kirn
Judging by comments, am I the only one who watched a lot of PBS/CTW as a young’n? Everything was in this zone. It was lovely. I would do well to return to this sense of calm … maybe going out into NYC schools and teaching synthesis would help. (I know people who have done that, actually … some calmer than others.)
And I think Suzanne Ciani actually does a great job of explaining concepts. Now we just need a whole TV *series* devoted to synthesis for children.
I’ll be the French would be up for it.
May 14, 2007 @ 12:13 am
bliss
Peter, you’re always finding the cool vids, man! I like how Dizzy comes in at the end to put a stop to all that “pure tone” nonsense. ;) I’m relaxed now. Think I’ll go to bed.
May 14, 2007 @ 1:16 am
Peter Kirn
Matrixsynth deserves all the credit. Well, unless you count when some of us “discovered” 3-2-1 Contact vids back in the day. :)
May 14, 2007 @ 1:21 am
Keith Handy
I thought this little pseudo-conversation was cute:
“Vern, could we record Lisa?” “Yeah, what track would you like that on?” “Oh, any open track that we’ve got.” “Okay, I’ll put it on 2?” “Okay.”
May 14, 2007 @ 8:31 am
teej
dood! i loved 3-2-1 Contact as a kid. other faves from the same era were the Bloodhound Detective Agency (AWESOME MUSIC), Today’s Special and Pinwheel. All good stuff. my sister is currently on an ebay hunt buying homemade DVDs of all these shows from our childhood. great video here, Peter!
May 14, 2007 @ 8:56 am
Jay Kay
I used to have the biggest crush on that blonde. I have a mild crush on that Pro 5 now.
May 14, 2007 @ 9:37 am
MetroSonus
Peter, you’re not alone.. ^-^ I have many fond memories of watching PBS when I was a kid. Many, many memories.
Sadly tv has entered the collective subconcious as another noise in the background. Youll never see stuff like this on any modern program. There used to be a dignity about TV in the past that is gone now. With respect to children, it used to be viewed as a window to the world (which is why I wish they’d release 321 contact as DVDs so I can show them to my own son). Reading Rainbow is sadly one of the last shows to take children on virtual vists.
May 15, 2007 @ 6:59 am
MetroSonus
Ok I gotta admit after watching it again, I actually thought they were going to kiss in the first few seconds.. that lady is a dead ringer for a bad 70’s lesbian porn actress.
May 15, 2007 @ 7:03 am
Collin Mel
I can normally only get this calm by listening to someone eat (strange, I know) Thank you, I have found peace.
And regarding the fact that TV isn’t the same - can’t we make web video in this same tone we so admire?
May 15, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
poopoo
right on MetroSonus, this one made me horny
May 17, 2007 @ 1:25 am
Andrew Stone
I’d be calm as a cucumber except the comb over the engineer was sporting caused me a serious chakra disruption. There should be a law.
May 17, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
The Mysterious H
This goes on to remind me how much childrens programming in the 60s and 70s toyed with electronic music and sound.
Bruce Haack was on Mr Rogers neighborhood, the kids on sesame st hung out with Herbie Hancock, not to mention all the crazy electronic soundscapes you would hear just watching regular shorts on sesame st. Especially whenever one of Jim Henson’s vids came on. He was a longtime collaborator with Raymond Scott. I’t was really neat stuff.
As for this vid, I like the way it covers a lot of ground, bringing up overtones, and patches and how synthesizers make all sorts of different sounds. I also love the sound of everyone’s voice in that. It’s so nice!
May 17, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
Create Digital Music » Greatest Synths, and Most Underrated Synths, of All Time; Your Choices?
[...] Surely the Buchla 100 (and Moog Modular, for crying out loud) deserve on a greatest synth list, even if they’re modulars. The Buchla has celebrity endorsements of its own, like our favorite synthesist Suzanne Ciani, seen recently on CDM showing kids how synthesis works. (A Greatest 20 Synthesists List will surely follow.) Photo by Brandon Daniel, via Flickr. And yes, Contemporary Keyboard is what is today called simply Keyboard. [...]
November 16, 2007 @ 1:11 am
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