STEAM

This song began as a request for a STEM tune – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. But the more John researched the topic, the more he began to see that schools are switching from STEM to STEAM, incorporating the arts into STEM. Truth be told, this makes a great deal of sense, and here's why.

The practical application of science and math demands an outlet, and oftentimes that outlet is the arts. The arts foster creativity, and creativity fosters innovation. In this changing world, the ability to innovate is important. Sure, scientists and engineers can build a machine that functions, but what does it look like? Is it ergonomic? Is it user friendly? A good example of where all these disciplines come together is the iPhone®. The engineering and technology poured into it is brilliant, but it's also beautiful and user friendly. You need STEAM to build an iPhone, along with so many other useful devices. We certainly need STEM, but creativity helps us to innovate, so we need the arts, too.

STEAM programs incorporate the various disciplines into a whole learning framework. Students learn about subjects in relation to each other, and they collaborate with one another so they have the experience of teamwork and building on each other's strengths. What's more, STEAM programs show students how to learn, making their education more practical and accessible.

The song begins in a pseudo-classical style, with piano and choir pad leading the charge. It quickly develops into a rock groove, incorporating synths to reflect the technological subject matter, but the backbone is still a rhythm section (piano, guitars, bass, drums). The song is in cut-time, mostly because we wanted to make the music easy to read. We've included an optional part 2 vocal line, and while you don't have to use it, it sounds fantastic if you do. (And yes, you'll find a rehearsal track for part 2 on out web site. See page 70 for details.)

Because we're dealing with a high-tech subject, John opted to use a techie-sounding device in this song called a vocoder. (Fans of the old Battlestar Galactica series will remember the sound of a vocoder, which is how they achieved the sound of the Cylon speaking voice.) The vocoder is a robotic voice sound, and it sings along with the intro and outro of the song, as well as the word STEAM on the choruses. And while we're mentioning effect-sy things, the steam train effects at the end of the piece are simply a nod to the title, since the steam train is iconic. The writing and recording of this song itself was a lesson in STEAM. Lots of technology and artistry went into it.

For more information, check out these web sites:

http://steam-notstem.com

http://www.steamedu.com

http://educationcloset.com/steam/

http://steamcarnival.com (This is an actual carnival, where families can go and play all sorts of cool techie games, make music, and learn about STEAM.)