Theo Jansen's astonishing kinetic sculptures

Theo Jansen creates "creatures" out of simple materials. Amazingly, with no electronics and no computer, he designs creatures that are programmed to anchor in high winds, move away from the water and who can store energy. Everything about this work is intriguing, however the whole video is perhaps a little long for a general Year Nine class. Watch it all yourself, however, and encourage students to follow up. You can discuss the idea of evolving design, the idea of self sufficient "creature" sculptures, how you program behaviour without a computer, even the idea of using absolutely basic material like PET bottles and electricians conduit. The leg action, common to all his creatures, is remarkable in itself (some nice mathematics here as well).

The Theorbo

The Theorbo is a Renaissance instrument developed from the lute. The upper melodic strings terminate at the lute like headstock, but the lower strings are attached to a massively long neck extension. These lower strings are tuned to the scale of the composition and are not fretted. They are played as open strings. You can use this video either to examine a fascinating and even bizaare looking instrument, but also to compare it to a modern approach to the same design problem, the Chapman Stick. This video contains several pieces, so play one as an example. The setting is a baroque church, chosen in part for its acoustic properties.

The Amazing Chapman Stick

The inventor of the Chapman Stick explains his invention and discovery process. The Chapman Stick is derived from the guitar but is played only by tapping. Consequently he has added a second instrument on the same wide fretboard: a bass guitar, that can be played by the left hand while the right is playing melody and even chords on the guitar section.

In the class context show a YouTube video of an expert playing, then this video to explore the design and creativity aspects.