- The word music comes from the Muses, the Greek goddesses of the arts.
- The oldest musical instrument ever found is a set of bone flutes found in a cave in southern Germany.
- The oldest musical composition to survive in it entirety dates back to the 1st or second century AD. It is called Seikilos Epitaph and it was carved on a tombstone in what is now Turkey. The lyrics are carved alongside the ancient Greek musical notation. The words are: "While you live, shine, have no grief at all; life exists only for a short while; and time demands his due." If you want to hear it, there's a playable file here.
- Listen to music in the gym, and you'll work out more efficiently and for longer, according to several scientific studies. On the other hand, listening to loud music in a pub or bar makes people drink faster.
- Studies have found that plants grow faster if music is played to them, and Cows produce more Milk if they hear soothing, slow music.
- Think today's pop music isn't as good as pop music used to be? That it all sounds the same these days? It's not just old fogeyism - you may be right. Studies of popular hits through the decades since the 1940s showed that there has been a gradual decline over time in the number of notes, chords, key changes, words and themes in popular hits. The formula for a hit song these days is so simple that computers can write them. Put it down to greedy record companies sticking with trends so they can make huge amounts of Money by doing very little work.
- Why do we get goosebumps or chills when listening to music? It's beacuse our Brains are subconsciously predicting when the peak moments in a song will come, and react when they get it right by releasing the feel-good chemical, dopamine. It's similar chemical reaction to when we eat something delicious. Listening to music and performing music are good for you. More feel good chemicals are released by people's brains when they sing as a group; students who study music do better in other subjects too, and are more emotionally developed; and learning an instrument can change the structure of the brain.
- Can't get that song out of your head? This phenomenon is commonly known as an "earworm" but has also been called "involuntary musical imagery", "cognitive itch" and "stuck song syndrome". It can be triggered by actually hearing a song, or by seeing something, such as a word, that brings the song to mind, or even by feeling an emotion connected to the song. Research as shown that 98% of us experience earworms; that women find them more irritating than men, and that over 73% of ear worms are songs with lyrics. The cure? Do a complex task such as solving anagrams, Sudoku puzzles, or read a novel. Chewing gum can also help.
- You may not think that fans of classical music and fans of heavy metal have very much in common, but science says otherwise. Both groups are creative, self assured and gentle, with a love of the grandiose and theatrical. The main difference between fans of these two genres is their age - heavy metal fans tend to be younger.
- As well as Universal Music Day on the second Saturday in October, there's also International Strange Music Day on August 24, which was started by New York musician Patrick Grant. The idea behind Strange Music Day is to encourage people to listen, without prejudice, to genres of music they wouldn't normally consider.
NEW!
Obsidian's Ark
Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.
Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?
When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?
Themes:
Superheroes; Coming of age; Leadership; Kidnap and rescue; Aliens; Friendship and rivalry; Terrorism; Secrets.
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