Sound Curiosity

01/02/2026

For those who love fun, join the Gathering of Bronze, the new group from Sound Curiosity! Imagine Bill Nye the Science Guy hanging with Blue Man Group — that’s us!

Monday nights, we're building a and educational performance group in Champaign-Urbana. Good attitude required, no percussion experience necessary but basic familiarity with musicianship is helpful.

The best part? Our donors have covered 100% of program fees — just use code 26SPGOB to use the tuition voucher.

What questions may we answer?

Imagine Bill Nye the Science Guy hanging with Blue Man Group — that’s us! The Gathering of Bronze is the fun new group from Sound Curiosity, no percussion music experience necessary. Just bring that...

10/26/2025

To our Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center friends: We are so grateful to be part of your 25th anniversary celebration today. Your work in our community is meaningful, durable, and needed. In keeping with millennia of human tradition, we sound our in honor of the positive difference you have made, with our best wishes for your next 25 years and beyond.

Thank you for what you do and will do, and congratulations!

Sound Curiosity's composers and performers heard in today's ceremony:
12:27 - Excerpts from "Toccata No. 3" by Kevin McChesney, performed by Daniel M. Reck
24:55 - Plain Hunt Change Ring performed by Dr. Rebecca Reck, Dan Kirsanoff, and Daniel M. Reck

25th Anniversary Panel Discussion - Strong Roots, Rich Soil

08/17/2025

Excited to welcome folks to our Launch Brainstorms today and tomorrow!

Just follow the signs when you come in the Broadway Avenue entrance of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Head upstairs to Suite 203 on the northwest corner of the second floor. We'll see you there!

08/12/2025

It's not too late to register for Sunday's brainstorm session! RSVP now for free food, friends, and fun!

If you were building a Chambana performance group that'll mash up Bill Nye the Science Guy and Blue Man Group, how would you do it?

With your help, we making it exciting for both kids and adults to learn and in Champaign County!

Share YOUR ideas to make sure everyone has FUN as Sound Curiosity launches its first music+STEM performance!

08/08/2025

We want YOUR opinion! What makes learning fun? What excites you about and ?

If you're anywhere near or , join one of our Inspiration Brainstorm sessions coming up on August 17 and 18. Please RSVP right away to make sure we have food for you! (Follow the link for FREE registration info.)

(Yes, we use and instruments, but you don't have to be a musician -- you just need to like fun.)

Your ideas will shape Champaign County’s newest educational performing arts organization for youth and adults.

04/08/2024

The has begun in !

First photos from Daniel M. Reck are up!

View more solar eclipse photos Students and community members head outside at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to view the second total solar eclipse in Illinois or the United States in most of a century. The next to be seen in North America will be on August 23, 2044. Photo by Daniel M....

12/12/2021

"Songs can be a powerful instructional tool. Music therapist Stephanie Leavell says she's written dozens of pandemic-themed songs for young children including 'The Masked Moose' and 'The Washing Walrus.' She's been sharing them with music educators around the country.

"Leavell says she never sugar-coats her lyrics.

"'Kids are so perceptive,' she says, 'They have the ability to understand their own emotions in the right environment, so I like creating songs that really acknowledge those real emotions and big emotions that kids have.'"

As health officials sound the alarm about the pandemic's impact on children's mental health, music, drama and other art classes are helping kids adjust to being in-person again.

11/18/2021

Overnight, the moon will pass into the shadow of Earth cast by the sun, illuminating the gray orb with a red hue. It will be the second and final eclipse of the year.

It will be the second and final eclipse of the year. West Coast night owls and East Coast early risers could catch the peak of the cosmic event.

10/30/2021

What's that in the sky tonight? It's SCIENCE!

NORTHERN LIGHTS POTENTIAL SATURDAY TONIGHT.

Get away from city lights and look north towards the horizon. Better chances are from northern Illinois and north, but they could be seen on the horizon all the way south in Southern Illinois.

A strong geometric storm is expected to impact the planet this weekend. This will send the northern lights visibility more south.

These are difficult to forecast and it’s not a guarantee, but there is an opportunity this weekend.

08/07/2021

The World Wide Web launched 30 years ago yesterday, and the very first page is still there. NPR reports, "There were 10 websites by 1992, 3,000 websites by 1994 (after the W3 became public domain), and 2 million by the time the search engine Google made its debut in 1996."

Everything there is online about W3 is linked directly or indirectly to this document, including an executive summary of the project, Mailing lists , Policy , November's W3 news , Frequently Asked Questions .

03/16/2021

Explore the secrets inside a Schulmerich handbell and find out how to explode it (safely). Check out today's brand new video from the series!

Have questions? Jump over to YouTube and ask them in the comments so Daniel M. Reck can answer them for you!

Help Me Build Better Brains: https://danielreck.com/brainsHandbell Tools: https://forzando.art/equipmentRent & Buy Handbells and Handchimes: https://forzando...

02/27/2021

This story is about cheesy music: For months in end, the aging cheese was exposed to endless loops of different styles of music. "The 'classical' cheese mellowed to the sounds of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The 'rock' cheese listened to Led Zeppelin’s 'Stairway to Heaven.' An ambient cheese listened to Yello’s 'Monolith,' the hip-hop cheese was exposed to A Tribe Called Quest’s 'Jazz (We’ve Got)' and the techno fromage raved to Vril’s 'UV.' A control cheese aged in silence, while three other wheels were exposed to simple high, medium and low frequency tones."

Researchers played nonstop loops of Led Zeppelin, A Tribe Called Quest and Mozart to cheese wheels to find out how sound waves impacted flavor