Musicians & Scientists

MusiSci: people who are active in both music and science.

[musisci]

Two weeks left to take the survey about music and science, and to get a chance to win these awesome prizes! 

[musisci]

Update: now also includes a Baba Brinkman DVD!

[musisci]

Two weeks left to take the survey about music and science, and to get a chance to win these awesome prizes! 

[musisci]

Last year, Charlotte Church said in an interview that she wants to prepare to study physics. Wonder how far she’s gotten with that. It sounds like she still needed to take high school physics and math first.

“I've always been massively into learning and I do want to go back to education. I might go this year and do two A-levels in physics and maths. I would really love to go to university and, if I can hack the maths, do a degree in some area of physics.”

[teded]

Playing music requires fine motor skills, which are controlled in both hemispheres of the brain. It also combines the linguistic and mathematical precision (which the left hemisphere is more involved in) with the novel and creative content (that the right hemisphere excels in). For these reasons, playing music has been found to increase the volume and activity in the brain’s corpus callosum - the bridge between the two hemispheres - allowing messages to get across the brain faster and through more diverse routes. 

From the TED-Ed lesson How playing an instrument benefits your brain - Anita Collins

Animation by Sharon Colman Graham

[musisci]

Drummer and entomologist Lisa Schonberg in an interview with Oregon Live (from 2014): 

“On tour, Schonberg missed studying bugs. When the band stopped for gas, she collected ants while others filled their van. She and her bandmates talked about music not as songs but as soundscapes.

“The sounds of a place can tell us a lot about what is going on there in terms of human disturbance and ecological health,” Schonberg said. “Not only is sound an important indicator of the health of an ecosystem, but there is also strong evidence of connections between natural soundscapes and the origins of music.”

That is, nature can be its own kind of music. “

[thesciencestudio]

A paper from the Offspring

This week’s guest picker is Eva Amsen. She writes about science and scientists oneasternblot.net, The Finch and Pea, and other places. She is currently running a survey to find out to what extent music and science play a role in people’s lives.

The presenters of KROQ Radio’s Kevin and Bean Show have come across a scientific article by The Offspring’s Dexter Holland. They’ve never seen a molecular biology article before, and they have no idea how science PhD degrees work, so they get Holland on the show to explain it all.

Audio at the bottom of the article here >>

[musisci]

When violinist Kaitlyn Hova discovered that she had synesthesia, she enrolled in a neuroscience degree to find out more about it. She now runs The Synesthesia Network.

[thesciencestudio]

The Enright Files: The Link Between Science and Music

This week’s guest picker is Eva Amsen. She writes about science and scientists on easternblot.net, The Finch and Pea, and other places. She is currently running a survey to find out to what extent music and science play a role in people’s lives. 

Jazz singer Diane Nalini and opera singers Lauren Segal and Isabel Bayrakdarian all have backgrounds in physics or engineering. On CBC’s The Enright Files they discuss how science and music overlap in their lives and in their musical studies.

(Photo from freestock.ca.)

[musisci]

I’m this week’s guest picker on Science Studio!

[musisci]

Want to win these awesome prizes? Take the survey about music & science for a chance to win Helen Arney's Voice of an Angle EP, Gary Marcus' Guitar Zero book and more!

If you've taken the survey already but are not sure if you indicated you wanted to be considered for the prize, get in touch (see this post) and I'll help you out. No need to retake it!

[musisci]

Scientists designed music specifically for cats, and it is pretty beautiful

Music for cats.

[musisci]

The Music and Science Survey is now LIVE! How much do music or science play a role in your life? Answer the survey to let me know. You can also sign up for my mailing list, and enter in a draw for a music/science-themed giveaway.

[musisci]

News of sorts

It's been quiet here, but I HAVE been doing music/science related things. In a few days I will have a survey for you all, and I have been occasionally tweeting at http://twitter.com/musisci 

More soon!

[sciencesandmusic]

Jamming with the cosmos: CERN and the music of physics at the Montreux jazz festival

[musisci]

On Wired: Can This “Neuroscience Based” Music App Really Boost Your Brain Power By 400%?

"The effects of music on mental performance are complicated. It would be fantastic if there were a music app that could boost your attention span by 400%, but I don’t believe such an app currently exists."

says Christian Jarrett. Read the rest on Brain Watch at Wired.

[musisci]

What are your Desert Island Discs?  Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London, and head of Faculty at Faculty of 1000 (F1000),  will share his favourite music this Sunday on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

To mark the occasion, F1000 is asking you to share YOUR Desert Island Discs, for a chance to win some F1000 goodies. Go to their blog to comment. Competition ends this weekend!

[explore-blog]

Musicologist W. Anthony Sheppard explores how the musical, poetic, and cinematic elements work together to create the powerful impact of the song “Let It Go” from the Oscar-winning movie Frozen. Complement with the science of how music enchants the brain and these 7 essential reads on music, emotion and the brain.

[musisci]

"A leading scientist was ejected by fellow audience members during a performance of Handel’s Messiah after he took the director’s invitation to “clap and whoop” to the music a step too far by attempting to crowd-surf."

Yes, everyone has been sending me this story.