- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(light upbeat music) - [Announcer] Coming up next "Off 90", join us as we learn about a statewide school-age competition that has roots in Austin... ...visit Lake Washington near Mankato as we hear from a master gardener... ...and revisit an archive segment about a regional collection of music machines.

It's all just ahead "Off 90".

(light upbeat music) (light upbeat music continues) (light upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Team number 110 from Halverson.

Come on up, the entire team, come on up.

(audience cheering) - My dad Lewis Aase started Math Masters, came up with the idea with Julie Espe, who was the high school principal at the time.

(light calming music) They wanted to have something that was a way for non-athletic kids to be able to have the fun of competition and the rewards of that and get recognized for their interest and also to try to help inspire them to, you know, achieve more academically and to really pay attention to it and to get some positive feedback for it.

And it was just only an Austin thing and got some Hormel Foundation support I think, you know, to get it going.

And then they decided to try exporting, you know, going to other communities.

- Well, hello, I am Laurie Herman.

I teach fifth grade math here at IJ Holton.

I'm also the fifth grade Math Master's coach.

I started a long time ago.

I've been doing this, coaching for over 10 years.

Math Masters, it's interesting myself when I was in school, math was not easy for me and I was never necessarily told that it could be.

And then obviously that I've aged and I teach now and now, you know, I have my master's concentration in math.

So it's just exciting to see kids that don't think they are good at math do well.

- I learned that like in like many times, like sometimes if you don't know how to do something, you should ask for help other than just guessing or not doing it at all.

- I am Marit Lang.

I teach for Triton Public Schools.

I'm currently the sixth grade middle school teacher.

I started coaching Math Master about 20 years ago.

Well, first we look at some of the test scores within our district.

We also look at student personality.

We look at students who might benefit from being able to participate in the program.

Well our team meets once a week.

I'll spend some time helping them make connections between different areas of math and they always do an individual fact drill, timed of course.

And then they do an an individual story problem and then a team.

And we talk about different ways to work together as a team.

- The most frustrating thing like was probably during the fact sheet.

It's pressuring 'cause you need to go fast, but you also need to give the right answer - With the team competition, I talk with them a whole lot about listening to each other because a lot of times when one person has one idea and then that will grow into a different idea and a different idea and I think it's just really important for our young people to know that there's way more than one way to solve a problem, but to make sure that the solution will make sense.

- I'm Chael Stier and I'm from Grand Meadow School.

I'm Christina Stier, Chael's mom.

It's fun but it's also very tricky and definitely not the easiest.

I think it'd be easier for me if it wasn't the word questions 'cause the word questions get me.

I don't really understand the word questions all that well.

- We were proud of him for making the squad.

Math Masters provides confidence in him I think.

(joyful music) - My name's Ken Strand.

(joyful music) I've been coaching Math Masters for probably about 30 years now.

It's a great enrichment program because it goes well beyond what they're learning in their curriculum in the classroom.

It also teaches the kids to work together because part of the competition is working in teams of five to solve problems and that cooperation is really important for kids to learn.

We start out with a facts round.

There's 75 facts.

Some of them are as simple as what we all learned in elementary school, eight times five.

But then you get into multiple operations, multiple parentheses and they have 75 of them to do in five minutes, which is quite a challenge.

(joyful music) And then we move on to three individual rounds where there are eight questions and they have 10 minutes to do those and they work all by themselves.

They can use a calculator on everything but the facts round.

We have a tiebreaker round, which is similar to the individual.

And then we do three team rounds where they work in teams of five for 15 minutes on three different rounds of problems.

- I was just happy that like our team was just working together and not messing around and we were focusing.

- These problems, they're all what we would call word problems and they are all very challenging.

Quite often the math is what they've learned in the classroom, but the methods to solve the problems are quite challenging for them.

I have kids that I know that I had in Math Masters that are now engineers and physicians and all kinds of professional fields.

What I've met kids who've been in Math Masters, they say, "Oh, I remember how fun Math Masters was."

(joyful music) - The competition was a lot different from the practices and that made me nervous.

But during the team rounds I felt really good.

(joyful music) - I think that idea of responsibility, these kids, they don't have to do this.

They are choosing to do this.

Most of them are recommended by their classroom teachers, but that responsibility to learn something beyond what's required of them in the classroom.

And of course beyond that it's that teamwork idea.

And I tell you sometimes it's hard to get five sharp kids to wanna work together because they all think they're right.

But eventually they do come together and work really well as a team.

- These kids that are competing today are going to be solving problems that we don't even know exist yet.

So we need to be able to give them the confidence.

(joyful music) And teach them how to take what they know and apply it to different situations.

And that if this doesn't work, to give them that ability to continue to try and try and try and try and to not give up to get resilience because failure it's an opportunity to learn.

(kids cheering) - And part of the genius I think of the way they set up the Math Masters competition is that there's an individual competition which appeals more to boys.

But then there's the group part that appeals more to girls 'cause they tend to be a little bit more social.

And so having an opportunity for kind of both sexes to be at their best and to take advantage of their strengths and to really dispel the notion that, you know, the girls aren't good at math or the girls don't like math.

- It absolutely fosters problem solving and critical thinking.

The tests, the competitions are problem based, so there's just the one factor on, but everything else is all about problems.

They read the problems and then they have to figure out what do I need to do to solve this?

It brings in even the engineering design process that they have to think about it and hypothesize and then, you know, change if they need to adapt.

- It's a great opportunity for kids to be involved in something that's not athletics.

And a lot of the kids that I've worked with are also athletes or musicians, but it offers another avenue for kids to be involved.

- [Announcer] And it's time and pencils down.

- And you know, we go through, we start in fourth grade, we have fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, and then there are more mathematic competitions available to kids as they move into middle school and high school.

It's a great way for kids to stay involved.

Let's hear it for all of our top facts performers today!

(audience cheering) - Awards are good.

You know, everybody likes an award.

Everybody wants to bring home hardware, but it's that because I competed in this and because I put myself out there, this has just given me a little bit more of showing myself what I can do and to build that confidence.

- I think it's a good program because it helps students use their critical thinking and help them solve a problem quickly.

(light calming music) - Dad took a lot of satisfaction in the fact that this thing that started as just a seed, you know, here in Austin, grew up to be at so many locations and like 5,000 kids a year or something like, that making that impact.

And I run into people kind of frequently.

I see a kid wearing a Math Master's shirt or I talk to a parent and they talk about, you know, being involved in that and it's, yeah, it's just kind of cool, you know, to know that dad started this thing that continues to have impact for people.

(eerie music) - They can do it, they can do well and that, you know what?

Math is cool.

Math is good.

(light calming music) (light calming music continues) (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music continues) (light upbeat music continues) - What got me involved in gardening was when I was young, I grew up on a big dairy farm.

And so my parents, we always had a really big garden.

Dad would take the plow and literally plow and then disc this giant space.

I mean we're talking a hundred feet long by 50 feet wide.

We're not talking a little backyard garden.

When we got old enough to be in 4H, gardening became one of my main projects.

So I started gardening, doing the 4H thing, trying to raise every vegetable I could.

And the other part was with 4H, they also had a landscape project.

And I thought, "Huh, we live on this farm, lots of grass and stuff."

And so I started doing the landscaping on our farm and that was one of my 4H projects.

So what you do is you, you know, learn and as you go along and I look back at all the mistakes I made, but that is kind of the start of my gardening.

Why do I garden?

Why don't people garden?

Would be more the question I would ask.

You know, it's kind of my canvas.

Like people like to be creative.

So some people paint, some people draw.

I paint on my canvas, this is my canvas.

So if you look, I try to think of color, try to think of textures, try to think of movement.

I can be out here for 13, 14 hours honestly.

And I don't even know where the time's gone and it's starting to get dark.

People are like, "How could you be out there?"

I might just be sitting there picking little weeds and it's just relaxing.

So I guess, relaxing.

And plus I also do it because of the benefits to the ecosystem.

You know, when I first started it was just to look pretty, but now I choose plants, like native plants and I put clover in the yard because I think of water quality since we bought this place, it's on Lake Washington.

I wanted to think, well how can I be a part of the solution to making cleaner water.

Because it's very green at some points, you'll see.

And if everybody would do something, I think it would really make a big difference.

Oh my goodness, I have so many different types of garden.

I've got a hosta garden, so my shade garden, not just hostas, other plants as well.

I've got hundreds of lilies because my son was interested in lilies.

So then I became interested in lilies.

I've got a Lakeshore pollinator garden to try and help with water quality by planting natives, which have really, really deep roots.

And I've got raised bed gardens for vegetables too.

So I kind of run the gamut of all sorts of gardens.

And I have landscaped this entire place myself from ground zero.

So I started with just a little bit and somehow it keeps growing and growing.

Well, you know, when I started at KMSU radio, there were two ladies that came in and once a month we would record garden shows and I wasn't a part of it.

These two ladies, they were master gardeners and they would do these four or five minute segments that would air every week on the station.

So as we did the shows, I kept saying, you know, I'm really learning a lot about this stuff, but I wanna know more.

So that's when I decided like, "Barb, how do I become a master gardener?"

So then I decided in 2016 to sign up and then became the official master gardener in actually 2017.

And so that's what I've been doing ever since.

I always like do a lot of research.

And so based on the things I've learned, I've implemented a lot in my gardens as well.

A master gardener is someone who goes through the University of Minnesota's core garden course and you have to apply to become a master gardener.

So there's an application, there's an interview process that say, you know, why do you wanna become a master gardener?

And then they have to select you.

And so you'll go through the University of Minnesota's core classes and then to become a master gardener, you have to be an intern for the first year, meaning you have to put in 50 volunteer hours.

And I think it's six hours of continued education, which, you know, we all do as master gardeners.

Now that I'm a full-time master gardener, you have to do a minimum of 25 hours of volunteer work and also six hours of continuing education in garden related things.

Now, it can't you coming to me and saying, "Hey, I wanna build a hosta garden.

Can you come help me plant it?"

No.

What we do is we educate.

So I could tell you the things maybe you need to do to fix the soil, to make a good garden, the types of plants you might want.

That's our job is educating.

It's not like volunteering to do your work or weed your garden.

(laughs) My philosophy on gardening is organic.

I don't like to use chemicals because I know how harmful chemicals can be.

And a lot of that is based on many interviews that I've done.

So that's kind of how my philosophy has developed through the years.

And plus my dad and mom were early adapters of conservation practices.

My dad was doing conservation tillage back in 1975.

That really stuck with me and how important it was that, you know, he was doing this little thing.

But apparently it was like a big thing.

Well, I'm in a number of different groups that are involved in gardening.

The first one I, of course, was in was the master gardener group.

And then when my son became really interested in lily breeding, we thought, well how can we nurture this?

'Cause he's on the autism spectrum and usually when they have some interest, they're really all in.

So we thought, well let's go to the Lilly Society.

There's a Lilly Society.

So we found a couple people who were willing to mentor him.

And then when he got interested, all of a sudden he's like, "Well, I'm gonna cross this color and this color."

And then we would go to the Lilly Society, which they have educational sessions, they've got bulb sales.

And of course I would always buy more bulbs.

And if you look now I've got hundreds.

(laughs) And we've all crossed our own and that sort of thing.

So that's a Lilly Society.

And hostas was kind of the same thing.

So I joined the Hostas Society because I just think they're really cool foliage plants, those societies are really great.

I'm on the board of the North Star Lilly Society and I'm on the board of the Minnesota Hostas Society.

I'm on the recording secretary for that now.

And I'm also involved with water quality with the Lake Washington Improvement Association here on Lake Washington.

One of the biggest challenges I have is critters.

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies this summer.

And I've had deer issues and you'll see with the lily garden, we have a big fence.

We had to install a seven foot fence around my son's lily breeding garden because otherwise there'd be nothing.

I think the number one thing to know about gardening is the most important thing is the soil, soil, soil.

If you don't have the soil, you can have the most expensive, most beautiful plant, but if it doesn't have what it needs, you're not going to get anything.

So I always say get a soil test and then amend it with organic materials, whether it's peat moss or whether it's a compost.

You can make it yourself or get it from a reliable source.

I guess the other thing is to look at it as an experiment.

If something fails, you try something else.

If something is great, try it again, it might not work, but you gotta look at it as, you know what?

It's okay 'cause you learnt something.

So the other thing I'd say, if you don't know, call your extension and they can hook you up with a master gardener who can teach you.

So that's always a really great resource to go to.

Well, I've been on a number of tours, so I've been on a national tour, I've been on statewide tours through the associations and I've also opened it up to local gardening groups.

So for example, our master gardener group in Mankato and then the Twilight Garden Club in Mankato wanted to come.

And so I've done that because I feel it's a good way to educate people on gardening in general, especially if they're from around the area.

They can see what works here in their ecosystem.

So it's a lot of work, but I feel rewarded just because it's beautiful.

It's like my art canvas and I don't know, there's just something really peaceful about being in the gardens.

It really is.

But it's just, yeah, peaceful.

(light calming music) (upbeat music) (fast-paced piano music) (fast-paced piano music) (joyful music) (joyful music continues) - About 20 years ago we found at an auction, a box of metal and wood that I didn't know what it was, but we purchased and put together and it made a little bit of a tune.

So I thought that's interesting.

So we brought it home and I found out that it was a music box.

(gentle music) I'm Kiven Lukes, and I am a farmer that has a passion for music.

(quirky music) (quirky music continues) (joyful piano music) (quirky music) (quirky music continues) (quirky music continues) These were instruments from one or two centuries ago that combine my love of music and those things mechanical that most farmers kind of get a kick out of.

(joyful music) (quirky music) (somber music) Music is the language of our emotions.

And I find it fascinating how a bunch of little holes in paper can be transmitted through a machine with a bunch of pumps and vacuum and nuts and bolts and leather to make that music come alive.

(quirky music) This is my oldest instrument that I have.

It's a little over 200 years old and it is what is known as a cylinder box.

(winder clicking) I use this key to wind a spring.

(joyful classical music) My favorite instrument that I listen to most of the time is my 1927 Steinway concert grand that has the player mechanism in it.

It's a fabulous instrument.

(somber piano music) (somber piano music continues) These are player piano roles.

This is a Chopin piece.

Back in the 19 teens, '20s and '30s, artists would come in to a central location and play on a specific piano that would record not just the notes they played, but also the dynamic intensity, pacing, the pedaling effects, all aspects of the performance.

And that would be recorded and they could code a special role that I could then play on my piano and that would emulate the entire performance in total accuracy that those artists would have.

And there were many famous pianists, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Quartet, people like that, that I can have play my piano at just a moment's notice.

This is what is sometimes called a cob organ or a roller organ.

And it gets that name because the programming is on this wooden dowel that looks like a cob of corn.

(joyful music) (joyful music continues) There are a number of instruments that I would still like to add to our collection.

One that I particularly would like is what's called a theater organ that were used to accompany silent films back in the '20s and '30s.

(organ music) Cheryl and I started collecting instruments about 20 years ago.

(piano music) After a while, instruments find you.

(piano music) When I started getting the piano based instruments, they started filling up the house.

So we decided that we would build a venue that we could house some of our collection in and also use it for public performances and fundraising and things like that.

(mud sputtering) (people chattering) Well, hey, Violet, Wayne, how you doing?

- Good, good.

- Thanks for coming.

Should be a fabulous night tonight.

- Thanks for inviting us.

- Oh yeah.

- We call our performance hall a shed.

On the outside it looks like your typical farm steel building, but on the inside it's been designed to be acoustically correct for live performances.

(upbeat jazz music) (somber piano music) (upbeat jazz music) We love to bring the public in to enjoy the music and the instruments and to use them to help further causes that we believe in.

(marimba music) I've got "Lazarus" playing right now, and then I thought I'd maybe spool up something different.

We've heard (indistinct) twice, that's enough.

I love to share my collection with other people.

Yes, yes.

And music on its own is nothing unless it's shared with other people.

(joyful music) (joyful music continues) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (light calming music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.