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Kids Commute: Pale Blue Dot week!

Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister in the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, Michigan
Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister in the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, Michigan

Ever wonder what it takes to make a classical album? We're hanging out in a barn this week with Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister, learning about how they made their album "Pale Blue Dot."

We listen to lots of classical music on Kids Commute - but where does it come from? How are classical albums made?

This week on Kids Commute, we hang out in the Cathedral Barn at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, Michigan. Our friends the Cochran & McAllister guitar duo (Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister) recently recorded there, making their very first album, "Pale Blue Dot."

How did they pick the music? What's the hardest part of making an album? Did they fight? Find out - and hear Matthew Cochran's beautiful outer space suite, "Pale Blue Dot" on Kids Commute this week.

We'll take a trip in a time machine and have a spacy Quizlet for you, too!

This week, we'll hear all five movements of the album's title piece, written by Matthew Cochran - "Pale Blue Dot."

  • You Are Here
  • Voyager
  • Sacred Black
  • Routine Interplanetary Violence
  • Aberrations of Light
Pale Blue Dot - you are here
NASA
/
NASA
Can you find the tiiiiiny pale blue dot?
KC Pale Blue Dot week! Monday: You Are Here (Cochran & McAllister)

Voyager Satellite
NASA
/
NASA
Voyager Satellite
KC Pale Blue Dot week - Tuesday: Voyager (Cochran & McAllister)

Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister
Matthew Cochran and Matthew McAllister
KC Pale Blue Dot week - Wednesday: Sacred Black (Cochran & McAllister)

Matthew Cochran (left) and Matthew McAllister (right) perform in the Cathedral Barn
Matthew Cochran (left) and Matthew McAllister (right) perform in the Cathedral Barn
KC Pale Blue Dot week! Thursday: Routine Interplanetary Violence (Cochran & McAllister)
KC Pale Blue Dot week! Friday: Aberrations of Light (Cochran & McAllister)

You can listen to the whole Cochran & McAllister guitar duo album anywhere you stream music, or right here:

How to answer the Kids Commute Quizlet:

Each week, we present you with a brand-new Quizlet question to answer. We'll ask the question at the beginning of the week, and our pal Quizbot will provide daily clues until Thursday.

Email your answer to kidscommute@interlochen.org . If you get the answer right, Quizbot will let you know! Quizbot's very polite, though, and doesn't want to tell you if you got it wrong, so if you don't hear from Quizbot, keep trying with a new answer.

On Thursday at noon, we'll draw a name from all the Kids Commuters who got the answer right, and award a lucky winner with this year's prize - a shiny, holographic Kids Commute Sticker! If it's your first time answering the Quizlet, we'll send your grownup a form to fill out so you can be eligible for our prize drawing. They'll only need to fill out the form one time.

On Friday's episode, we'll do what we call "shout-outs" - we'll read the names of every single Kids Commuter that got the answer right that week!

Good luck and thanks for listening to Kids Commute - no kid or commute required!

Kate Botello was a host and producer at Classical IPR until 2024.
Emily Duncan Wilson is the producer of "Kids Commute."