WEB FOCUS
Science & Music
In this focus
This weekly series explores what the latest scientific research has to say about music – what it is, why we make it, how we make it, why we listen to it and how it is changing. Nine opinion pieces from leading world experts working at the interface between science and music discuss how the latest developments in physics, psychology, materials science, information science, neuroscience and anthropology might give us new answers to these ancient questions.
Credit: David Parkins
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Editorial
Editorial
Science & Music: Bountiful noise
Whether in music or in nature, noise can be full of riches. The trick is to recognize the treasures.
Nature 453, 134 (8 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453134a
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Essays
Essay
Science & Music: The ear of the beholder
In the last of nine Essays on science and music, John Sloboda argues that researchers must study music as people actually experience it, if they are to understand how it affects thoughts and feelings.
John Sloboda
Nature 454, 32 (3 July 2008) doi:10.1038/454032a
Essay
Science & Music: Beyond the notes
The way performers shape notes brings music to life. Nicholas Cook argues that measuring these subtle changes can help us appreciate and replicate the performer's art.
Nicholas Cook
Nature 453, 1186 (26 June 2008) doi:10.1038/4531186a
Essay
Science & Music: Playing by numbers
Statistical analysis can inform the history of music, classification technologies, and our understanding of the act of composition itself, argues Dami�n Zanette.
Dami�n Zanette
Nature 453, 988 (19 June 2008) doi:10.1038/453988a
Essay
Science & Music: Raising the roof
Michael Barron explores how physics, psychology and fashion have influenced concert hall acoustics.
Michael Barron
Nature 453, 859 (12 June 2008) doi:10.1038/453859a
Essay
Science & Music: Talk of the tone
To appreciate how our species makes sense of sound we must study the brain's response to a wide variety of music, languages and musical languages, urges Aniruddh D. Patel.
Aniruddh D. Patel
Nature 453, 726 (05 June 2008) doi:10.1038/453726a
Essay
Science & Music: The neural roots of music
Laurel Trainor explains how the emotional power of music depends on the structure of the ear, and on our basic encoding of information.
Laurel Trainor
Nature 453, 598 (29 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453598a
Essay
Science & Music: Lost in music
Music provides unique opportunities for understanding both brain and culture. But globalization means that time is running out, warns David Huron, for the quest to encounter the range of possible musical minds.
David Huron
Nature 453, 456 (22 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453456a
Essay
Science & Music: The evolution of music
In the second of a nine-part essay series, Josh McDermott explores the origins of the human urge to make and hear music.
Josh McDermott
Nature 453, 287 (15 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453287a
Essay
Science & Music: Facing the music
At the heart of any scientific explanation of music is an understanding of how and why it affects us. In the first of a nine-part essay series, Philip Ball explores just how far we can hope to achieve a full scientific theory of music.
Philip Ball
Nature 453, 160 (8 May 2008) doi:10.1038/453160a