Music – Page 22 – David Bradley

Rush Natural Science

Rush natural science, photo by David Bradley Earlier this week, I went to see “one” of my childhood musical heroes, progressively rocking Canadian three piece Rush. The band was on top form as ever and the crowd jostled to the music almost in synchrony like so many atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) as the band raised the energy levels. They played most of their latest album, covering themes of humanism and faith without religion as well as resurrecting some stonkers from their vast back catalogue including the epic Natural Science from 1980 album Permanent Waves.

It was just before that album came out, 78-79, that I first got into Rush, perhaps it’s no coincidence, that the technicality of their music appealed to my early noodlings on the guitar while the content of their lyrics, which aren’t so much sword and sorcery as science and nature, appealed to my inner geek. Not the more usual sex, and drugs, and rock & roll for the maturing Rush of late 1970s, more the cynical take on our place in the world, with tracks such as the aforementioned Natural Science discussing the balance between the natural and the synthetic world and how integrity of purpose could allow us to reach an equilibrium between control and understanding through science.

Science and Rush were always a likely match. They did a song called Chemistry, after all, and a two-part conceptual epic spread over two albums about the black hole Cygnus X-1, and guitarist Alex Lifeson is on record as being quite a science fan. I’m quite proud of the sheer coincidence that not long after I published an article about earthshine, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart saw fit to write about that very subject as an allegory of the public perception of our inner selves. But, it’s no coincidence that Rush generally top the ubergeek’s playlist.

In fact, just for fun here’s a few other scientifically minded fans of the band: Paul May, chemist, Bristol Uni, creator of MotM, Steve Sain, statistician, unfortunately also confesses to having seen Billy Joel in concert, Mark Lewney, physicist, and rock doctor (think Einstein meets Hendrix), Nicole Biamonte, Iowa University music theorist, David Muir, educational computing guy, Arvind Gopu, lead systems analyst for the Open Science Grid Operations group at Indiana University, Anthony Francis, artificial intelligence researcher and science fiction author, Jon Price, geotechnogeek at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Let me know if you want to add your name and link to the list.

Now, tell me what is the biophysics behind post-gig ringing in the ears?

Music and exercise

Workout music Over on Alex King’s blog, they’re offering suggestions for his workout playlist. Dozens of comments have rolled in with music ranging from Eye of the Tiger to Linkin Park to Pussycat Dolls and everything in between.

One suggestion I don’t think I saw in the comments was simply not to listen to music at all while working out, or watch TV screens, or read or do anything else distracting, but simply to do your workout.

There has been a lot of sports science research done to suggest that distractions while working out inherently lower the intensity and so efficacy of exercise, even though they might help you keep going or feel like you’re punching harder or whatever. e.g. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2006 Sep;46(3):425-30.

In that paper, the researchers conclude that “music evokes a ”distraction effect” during low intensity exercise”. They suggest that when jogging or walking at comparatively low exercise intensity, “listening to a favorite piece of music might decrease the influence of stress caused by fatigue” but that it does not affect the autonomic nervous system. As such, music can increase the ”comfort” level of performing the exercise and allow you to keep going longer (or until you’re bored with the music).

However, in my trawl for the original paper I wanted to cite, I found some very recent research in the journal Ergonomics that suggests the exact opposite of my claim that no music is good for your workout (Ergonomics. 2006 Dec 15;49(15):1597-610). In this paper, the researchers attempted to assess the effects of loudness and tempo on peoples’ workout intensity. They found that “Significant effects and interactions were found for running speed and heart rate across the different music tempo and loudness levels.” But more critically from the point of view of disproving my hypothesis, they found that a “More positive affect was observed during the music condition in comparison to the ‘no music’ condition.” So, I guess I’m wrong. That said, the latter study only had 30 volunteers so whether that’s truly statistically significant or enough to prove anything I cannot say.

It’s a complicated issue that might take a little more research to come down on one side or the other. Personally, I don’t mind a bit of talk radio in the background when I’m at the gym, but the young persons’ music that’s often playing I cannot abide, puts me right off my stride. Now, a bit of Zeppelin or Floyd would be a different matter.

As with most things in life though, there’s probably a balance point that you need to find to get the best out of your workout. So, keep taking those mp3 players to the gym. But, make sure you’ve got Wish You Were Here or Led Zep II on there.

Potato Powered mp3 Player – Not!

Sweet potato battery Fed up with using up so many batteries? Rechargeables giving you poor mileage? Then why not try a couple of sweet potatoes instead.

In this “video tutorial”, you’ll learn how to use a couple of galvanized (zinc coated) nails, some bare copper wire, a pair of mini crocodile clips, AND two sweet potatoes, to power up your mp3 player with not a conventional battery in sight. Great video and the music’s sweet too.

The Hole – video powered by Metacafe

This appliance is, of course, closely related to the lemon battery (or more formally lemon cell) familiar to anyone who’s searched for a high school science project. Two different metallic objects dipped into a conduction solution (an electrolyte) will produce an electrochemical reaction the byproduct of which is electricity. A single lemon is usually enough to illuminate a flashlight bulb, but two sweet potatoes are apparently required for an mp3 player. Yes, it reduces the portability of your player, but just think…no more buying batteries! Of course, things might get a bit smelly as those sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) start to go off.

Highly strung

Stradivarius violin Infrared and NMR spectroscopy have possibly revealed one of the great secrets of the violin makers Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu – they used chemical wood preservatives to help preserve their instruments and to improve the tonal quality. The discovery could help modern-day violin makers emulate more closely the properties of irreplaceable violins from the 18th Century and well as providing music conservationists with new insights on how to best preserve the antique instruments.

Joseph Nagyvary at Texas A&M University, in College Station, and colleagues, reveal in a brief communication to the journal Nature how the maple wood used by the celebrated craftsmen could have been chemically processed before the violin makers even began crafting the wood. The researchers have analysed in detail the organic matter from small samples of shavings retrieved from the interiors of five antique instruments during repairs.

Get the score here

Play real air guitar

Air guitar shirt BB King had his Lucille, old slowhand his well-worn Strat, and who could forget Jimmy Page with his Gibson SG twin-neck? You too could join the greats and learn how to play guitar, thanks to new technology from Australia’s science research centre – CSIRO. And, all you have to do is put on their new designer shirt and start strumming…the air.

Engineer Richard Helmer in the Textiles and Fibre Technology section in Geelong has created a ‘wearable instrument shirt’ (WIS) which enables users to play ‘air guitar’ and make real sounds simply by moving one arm to pick chords and the other to strum the imaginary instrument’s strings.

“Our air guitar consists of a wearable sensor interface embedded in a conventional ‘shirt’ which uses custom software to map gestures with audio samples. ‘It’s an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making — even by players without significant musical or computing skills. It allows you to jump around and the sound generated.”

The WIS works by recognising and interpreting arm movements and relaying this wirelessly to a computer for audio generation. There are no trailing cables to get in the way and no risk of electrocution when you’re getting all hot and sweaty thrashing away in front of your bedroom mirror.

The real advantage of the wear-guitar is that when you reach the climax of the gig you can smash your guitar against the imaginary stack of Marshall 4x12s without wrecking thousands of dollars of equipment. Just remember, once you’re done, to ask your mom not to add it to the regular laundry.

Earworms burrow into your brain

I just can’t get you outta my head…is the usual thought when an irritatingly catchy pop song gets stuck on loop in your brain for days on end. A start-up company in East Anglia reasoned that this catchiness might be put to good use in helping people quickly learn a foreign language. Or, at the very least, a couple of dozen keyphrases that will help them get by while on holiday or a business trip abroad.

Programme creator Marlon Lodge found that background music seemed to help his language students remember phrases much better than simply hearing and repeating phrases by rote. Lodge teamed up with his brother Andrew and designed Earworms musical brain trainer (mbt) They reckon the system boosts language retention by up to 80%. I ripped the Earworms Italian CD to my mp3 player and listened every time I went for a run – in an effort to get fit and learn how to order pizza, a gelato, and a cappucino when we went on holiday this year.

It works. Very well. I’d done Spanish and French at school and Italian isn’t so different, but the earworms gave me the necessary extra to be able to confidently book a table, order food and drinks, and find out why the return flight got delayed so badly.

The system uniquely anchors foreign words and phrases into long term memory by hooking them to music. The company reckons it could provide a learning breakthrough for people with poor sight, dyslexia, or attention deficit problems by taking away the need to concentrate on reading phrase books and other academically based language courses.

‘Many people are reluctant to begin learning something new after they leave school, but as Mark Twain once said, ‘My education started the day I left school.’ Earworms is very much about giving people an easy handle on learning, and what easier way to learn than simply by listening to music, something we all enjoy?’ Lodge says.

The program is available for French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and now Mandarin Chinese. More information at www.earwormslearning.com. It would be good to see some solid scientific research on how this system works, perhaps a functional MRI study showing the language centres in the brain lighting up more brightly with music rather than without. I’ll cover any such developments on spectroscopynow.com

Anyway, I just ordered the Spanish disc for next year’s holiday and they sent me Mandarin Chinese too…so, maybe I should think about going a little further afield.

Ciao for now!

Deaf to warnings of mp3 player risk

Are you deaf to the risks of hearing loss from mp3 player aural satisfaction?

According to a survey published today by Deafness Research UK, more than half of 16-24 year olds listen to their MP3 player for more than an hour a day, with almost 20% using for 21 hours a week. Trouble is, 68% of them don’t realise that listening to their MP3 player at loud volume can permanently damage their hearing.

It’s not exactly a new message, as a teenager, I heard the same calls for quiet when the first wave of Walkman cassette players were around and I’m sure generations of wind-up 78 gramophone flappers were told not to put the needle on the record too often or stick their ear too close to that brass cone. It’s a sensible message though, as I am sure many a deaf middle-aged rocker will testify.

Deafness could strike mp3 users 30 years earlier than their parents, the survey says. At least compared with those parents who didn’t overdo it with their Walkmans, one must assume. The survey results are published to mark the launch of a partnership between Specsavers Hearcare and Deafness Research UK to help fund deafness research.

Apparently, 14% of people spend up to “a staggering” 28 hours a week listening to their personal music player. I’m pretty sure some people watch more TV than that and if you go clubbing for five hours three times a week and listen to music on the other days that would quickly add up to far more than any “staggering” 28 hours. More than a third of people who have experienced ringing in their ears after listening to loud music, listen to their MP3 player every day. The news release doesn’t say whether these two facts are actually connected. Every youngster has experience temporary tinnitus after a music gig that usually lasts a day and I suspect that most gig goers listen to their mp3 players fairly frequently too. It would be hard to separate the two issues. Gig tinnitus or mp3 loudness…

Vivienne Michael, Chief Executive of Deafness Research UK, says: ‘Many young people are regularly using MP3 players for long periods of time and are frighteningly unaware of the fact that loud noise can permanently damage your hearing.

‘More than three quarters of people own a personal music player and sophisticated sound systems in their car and homes, which allow them to blast out music day and night. We also spend more time today in bars and clubs where the noise is so loud we can barely hear the person opposite us and few people — particularly the 16-34 year old age group – are aware of the damaging effect all this can have on their hearing.’

This kind of quote appears to be so out of touch that it’s simply unbelievable, “we also spend more time in bars and clubs…”? Really, when I were a lad, we used to spend at least three nights a week clubbing or at gigs where “we could barely hear each other drink”. And, yes maybe it is having an effect on my hearing, but it really is nothing new and yes we used to “blast out” music from our stereos (unsophisticated or otherwise) and play electric guitars too loud and all the rest. Nothing new under the sun, madam I’m afraid.

Meanwhile, there is a serious message underpinning this Deafness press release hidden among the fogeyness: Vivienne Michael continues: ‘Hearing loss can make life unbearable. It cuts people off from their family and friends and makes everyday communication extremely difficult. We want people to realise that their hearing is as important as their sight and protect their ears against any potential damage.’

Fair enough. Stop playing it at “11” and you might just be okay. Oh, and don’t stay out too late, and remember to say please and thank you and look both ways before you cross the road…

Air Guitar

Imagine the hoards of adoring fans, sellout arenas, the groupies, these are now virtually within the grasp of anyone who can play a searing solo on the air guitar, thanks to researchers at Helsinki University of Technology.

The Virtual Air Guitar uses a computer to monitor the hand movements of an air guitarist and adds genuine guitar sounds to match the player’s fret work. The innovative application combines gesture recognition with musical interpretation software and could be a boon to all those who aspire for rock stardom, but really cannot be bothered to actually learn the instrument.

The idea emerged at HUT’s Telecommunications Software and Multimedia Laboratory and progressed to the Otaniemi International Innovation Centre (OIIC). It was further developed through the Tekes’ TULI programme to Technopolis Ventures Oy incubator services. The idea was processed into a business plan with the aim of establishing a significant international business.

A Virtual Air Guitar company was set up in February 2006, and in March 2006 it received an award in the second stage of the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition. At the moment, the founders of the company are in the process of negotiating funding and publishing contracts with various parties.

‘The company’s first product will be a console game which will be on the market in time for Christmas 2007, and later on other games applications will be added to the product family. We are working on completely new and unprecedented applications,’ explains Virtual Air Guitar MD Aki Kanerva.

Loud Music Makes Ecstasy Worse

Ecstasy pills

People taking ecstasy at noisy nightclubs could be doing themselves more harm than those who imbibe 3,4 -methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) at quieter locations.

Research published on February 16, in the journal BMC Neuroscience, shows that brain activity in MDMA-taking rats due to the drug lasts up to five days if the animals are listening to loud music, says a press release from BMC, when they ingest the drug. The drug’s effects wear off within a day when no music is played.

Actually, Michelangelo Iannone from the Institute of Neurological Science, Italy, and colleagues from University Magna Graecia in Catanzaro, Italy, do not report this at all. That’s just what the press release claims. In fact, the rats were exposed to white noise, random acoustic stimulation at 95 db. The press release explains that white noise is sound at a stable frequency that is used in many types of electronic music. Well, it is, usually to simulate the rythmic, “hissy”, bursts of the hi-hat cymbals in a drumkit, but it’s not usually a continuous sound.

Anyway, Iannone’s results show that low-dose MDMA did not modify the brain activity of the rats compared with saline, as long as no music was played. However, the total spectrum of the rats given a low dose of MDMA significantly decreased once loud music was played. The spectrum of rats in the control group was not modified by loud music. High-dose MDMA induced a reduction in brain activity, compared with both saline and low-dose MDMA. This reduction was enhanced once the loud music was turned on and lasted for up to five days after administration of the drug. In rats that had been given a high dose of MDMA but had not been exposed to music, brain activity returned to normal one day after administration of the drug.

The Music of the Spheres

The Pandora project, is an applet that emerged from the Music Genome Project, which analyses and categorises music and styles. It solves the eternal question facing every iPod user once they’ve worked through their old CD collection – “I’ve downloaded all my favourite bands, what do I download now?” Are you brave enough to lift the lid on Pandora’s Box and play some new mp3s?