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Aurora student draws attention of Blue Man Group
He's an inventor, a musician and drawing the attention of some blue faces. In this week's "Celebrate Youth" News Five's Amy West introduces us to Ben Johnson of Aurora who won $2500 and a trip to see the Blue Man Group in Florida.
Add a couple feet and blue paint and Aurora's 12-year-old Ben Johnson could fit right into the famous Blue Man Group. In fact, his zipper-wall won runner-up in the Blue Man Group Invent an Instrument competition. "My dad told me to write down all the words that describe sounds and that's when I learned how I would make this," said Ben. Ben duct taped zippers against plywood to get the sounds he wanted. "I started off with a few of my sister's zippers by tapping them to different resonance chambers. Then I called my grandma and asked her for some of her really old ones," Ben said. Adding a coin and a strip of Velcro Ben composed this winning tune. "He took all of his musical talent and all of his love of science and put that together and really worked hard," said Ben's father Chad Johnson. But mixing science with music is a family activity around the Johnson house. The newest project is a backpack drumilun. "I'm thinking about next year if I do it again. I'm just thinking of different instruments and stuff that I could build," said Ben. A challenge, no doubt, Ben will zip his way through. One thousand dollars of Ben's prize money will go to the Aurora school music program. He said he is going to save the rest of his money for college or to get a car. If you know a kid we should know email us their story at news5@khastv.com |
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