The Neutrino Song

Holy crap! This is awful! I'm sorry I read this blog at PhysicsWorld and clicked on the link to listen to this tune. I suffered tremendously due to listening to it, so why shouldn't I subject you to the same torture? Here it is!




Now don't kill me. I'm only the messenger.

After listening to that one, the Fast Food Song doesn't sound so bad anymore!



:)

Zz.

Symphony of Science

This is a rather innovative way to "promote" science. I put that word in quotes because I'm not sure how effective it is, but it doesn't distract from a rather unique way of conveying various words and speeches of famous scientists.

In any case, if you have not stumbled upon the Symphony of Science page, you should check it out. You could download the tracks or the entire album of the Symphony of Science, and a donation to the creator of the work would certainly be appreciated.

Very clever.

Zz.

Resonance - Music from the ATLAS Experiment

Physicists can be a multi-talented bunch. I wouldn't call myself "talented" in cooking, but I've had many people praising what I cook up in my kitchen. Still, it appears that many of the physicists working at the ATLAS detector at the LHC are talented musician. So it is a natural evolution for there to be a musical album released by these folks inspired by what they do. The album is called "RESONANCE".

Released on the ATLAS scientists’ own label, Neutralino Records, which is named after a hypothetical particle predicted by a theory called supersymmetry in particle physics, ‘Resonance’ features 19 artists over two CDs and a DVD.

The album features a wealth of new songs: the highlights include an original blues song about ATLAS from physicist Steven Goldfarb’s Canettes Blues Band: an ode to CERN from the remarkable singer-songwriter-scientist Cat Demetriades, classical piano pieces by head of ATLAS, Italian scientist Fabiola Gianotti, and the wry musings of guitar band TLAs and their song about their perennial bugbear – long meetings. The artists who appear on the album hope their music will attract a new audience to Physics and encourage young people to study a subject that is often wrongly perceived as lacking in fun.

The whole thing looks very impressive. It would be interesting to get to hear the whole thing.


Zz.

Albert Einstein - The Musician

The IoP has produced a couple of videos titled "Einstein's Universe: the scientist, the man, the musician". This is the brief synopsis of the videos:

Particle physicist Brian Foster of the University of Oxford, UK, has teamed up with the British classical musician Jack Liebeck to create a special lecture and performance about Einstein's legacy to physics and the role music played in his life. The show, called "Einstein's Universe", is currently touring the UK. In this exclusive report for physicsworld.com, James Dacey talked to the pair before a recent performance at St George's concert hall in Bristol. In [the second] video for physicsworld.com, the pair also perform an arrangement of a violin sonata by Mozart in C Major k.296.

Here are the two videos:





Zz.

The Surprising Physics of Pipe Organs

I love reading stuff like this. For some odd reason, finding the answer to long-standing "common" puzzle has always been something I have always been keen on reading. So when I came around this article, I gobbled it up! :)

The problem deals with a puzzle that was observed by Lord Rayleigh, so it is OLD! It deals with a peculiar behavior exhibited by pipe organs.

In 1877, English physicist Lord Rayleigh observed that when two almost identical organ pipes are played side by side, something strange happens. Rather than each blaring their own tone, the two pipes will barely make a whisper. But put a barrier between them, and they sing loud and clear.

You have to read the whole article to figure out the explanation for this. Fascinating!

Zz.

The Birth of the Blues: How Physics Underlies Music

We don't see this type of article often - I certainly don't remember reading something like this before. So that in itself deserves some mention here. :)

"The birth of the blues: how physics underlies music" was written by Murray Gibson, one of the Associate Laboratory Directors at Argonne Nat'l Lab. The article appeared online on June 30, 2009, so if the IoP policy of making papers available for free during the first 30 days, you should be able to access it at the IoP website here.

Abstract: Art and science have intimate connections, although these are often underappreciated. Western music provides compelling examples. The sensation of harmony and related melodic development are rooted in physical principles that can be understood with simple mathematics. The focus of this review is not the better known acoustics of instruments, but the structure of music itself. The physical basis of the evolution of Western music in the last half millennium is discussed, culminating with the development of the 'blues'. The paper refers to a number of works which expand the connections, and introduces material specific to the development of the 'blues'. Several conclusions are made: (1) that music is axiomatic like mathematics and that to appreciate music fully listeners must learn the axioms; (2) that this learning does not require specific conscious study but relies on a linkage between the creative and quantitative brain and (3) that a key element of the musical 'blues' comes from recreating missing notes on the modern equal temperament scale. The latter is an example of 'art built on artifacts'. Finally, brief reference is made to the value of music as a tool for teaching physics, mathematics and engineering to non-scientists.

I haven't finished reading it (it's 17 pages long!).

Zz.

Science Helps Unravel Mystery of 'A Hard Day's Night'

I must have lived a musically-sheltered life, because I never knew that a mystery concerning the first note of the Beatles's "A Hard Day's Night" existed till now.

Guitarists and other musicians for more than 40 years -- without success -- have tried to recreate the sound that opens "A Hard Day's Night." While the note played on George Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker is the most prominent, the two-second duration of the chord is filled with undertones and frequencies that musicians have been unable to identify or recreate.

Now someone has studied the Fourier transform of the note (why this obvious analysis was not done sooner is a mystery to me).

A research student at Dalhousie University, in Canada, used a mathematical calculation known as Fournier Transform to figure out which notes are on the record.

Jason Brown took up the issue in his thesis.

Brown's "Mathematics, Physics and 'A Hard Day's Night'" details what he learned by analyzing the opening chord in a computer sound editing program.

The "mysterious notes," according to Brown's research, come not from guitar notes played by George Harrison or John Lennon or bass notes from Paul McCartney, but a piano played by Beatles producer George Martin.

Mystery solved!

Zz.

Physics Sing-Along Tonight!

The physics sing-along is tonight at the APS March Meeting that is going on in Pittsburg, PA. I guess it is a good idea to have it in the evening (scheduled between 9 and 10 pm), because I certainly would have to be loaded up with booze to want to do something like that.

:)

Zz.

A Musical Tribute To Einstein Inspired By Mozart

Unlike the very puzzling "Einstein's Physics on Violins", this one is actually kinda interesting and creative.

Einstein's love of Mozart, and the inspiration it provided him, is the theme behind ''Einstein's Mozart: Two Geniuses'' by Kate Light. The composition -- an integration of two of Mozart's great string works with the narration of Light's original poetry and prose -- will be performed today at the Zoellner Arts Center by the Serafin String Quartet, with Light as narrator.

See, something like this, I can sit through, mainly because it is more of an entertainment. And they don't try to "interpret" physics into music, especially by musicians who are not trained in physics, which is rather pretentious.

Zz.

Physicist Discovers How Sax Players Hit High Notes

Many physicists either study, or try to investigate things that may not be strictly in the traditional area of physics. I mentioned one earlier on the study of the most optimal way to load passengers onto an airline. Now comes a study by a physicist to investigate how a professional saxophone player can hit the high notes that many people cannot. They somehow are able to adjust their vocal tracts to resonate at the same frequency as the sound they're trying to make with the saxophone.

But for the highest notes, the vocal tracts of professional saxophonists did something special.

"In those higher frequencies up there, the saxophone's own resonances are relatively weak, so that's why it's hard to sound those notes," Mr Chen said.

"By adjusting your vocal tract resonances to match those in the saxophone, they add up. That allows them to play the notes."

Interesting!

Zz.