0:00:02 > 0:00:03THEY SING
0:00:03 > 0:00:06Lovely, isn't it? Very, very beautiful, you know.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Stirs the heart. I mean, they're just warming up.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10It's actually not a tune or anything,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13so I suppose it's not music, but it's musical, so maybe that is...
0:00:13 > 0:00:15And it creates an emotional response...
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I mean, music is a real puzzle. I mean, what is it exactly?
0:00:18 > 0:00:20We do like a puzzle here, don't we?
0:00:20 > 0:00:23I'm Dara O'Briain, welcome to Science Club.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Yes, here, in Science Club, we take one topic
0:00:53 > 0:00:55and we explore it from a variety of different perspectives.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Lighting up the dark, recesses of understanding.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Again, we're joined by our curious audience and our illustrious guests,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Acoustics expert Professor Trevor Cox, thank you very much.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Music psychologist Dr Alexandra Lamont, thank you for coming in.
0:01:07 > 0:01:08Our reporters are here.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Science reporter Alok Jha and Dr Tali Sharot
0:01:10 > 0:01:12and James May, you're with us later too, aren't you?
0:01:12 > 0:01:15- Absolutely, yes.- Great, looking forward to seeing more about it.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19And materials scientist Professor Mark Miodownik will be doing some experiments.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21On the show tonight, we're looking at music.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It's everywhere in our world.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26In fact, every human culture has music at its centre.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28But what is music? What is it so important to us?
0:01:28 > 0:01:32And how does it interact with our brains? On tonight's show...
0:01:35 > 0:01:39Dr Tali Sharot travels to the US to investigate a rhythm therapy
0:01:39 > 0:01:43that reveals a startling connection between hearing and movement.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Journalist Alok Jha looks into music technology
0:01:45 > 0:01:48and asks whether computers are ruining music.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And who knew, Top Gear's James May originally studied as a musician.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Here, he discovers that his brain's response to music
0:01:55 > 0:01:57is stronger than he might have imagined.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01- So my brain is present.- Oh, yeah. - That's reassuring.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04- Beautiful.- Thank you.- This experiment apparently really worked.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07If you want to get involved in the show or follow us on Twitter,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09the details are on your screen.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15So first, let's meet this week's science gurus.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford
0:02:18 > 0:02:22and former President of the Institute of Acoustics, Professor Trevor Cox
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and Senior Lecturer in Music Psychology at Keele University,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Dr Alexandra Lamont. Thank you very much.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:02:33 > 0:02:35How are you? Thank you for coming in.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Hi, how are you? Thank you for coming in.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Can I ask you the straight question that I've already... It's going to run through the whole show.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43What is music?
0:02:43 > 0:02:46I'd say something that promotes some form of emotional response in the listener.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50But music can be loads of things. I went to see John Cage's Four Minutes, Thirty-three Seconds,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54- his famous silent work.- You went to see an entirely silent work?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58I did indeed and my kid couldn't believe that I was spending ten quid to go and sit in silence.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02What? You spent money and sat in silence for four minutes and 33 seconds of complete silence.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- And it was a great piece of music. - Was it a good performance of it?
0:03:06 > 0:03:08LAUGHTER
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Have you seen it more than once?
0:03:10 > 0:03:11No, I've only seen it once
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and this was a particular arrangement for three pianists.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18- Oh...- Yeah, it's much better than the solo version.- Yes, I get that.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But, psychologically, I mean, we've already gone straight to emotion,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23we skipped through the science entirely.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Yeah, that's great, cos that's what I'm interested in.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28OK, fine. But still, you know, I mean,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32cos, an acoustic expert, we may regard you as reductionist to a certain extent,
0:03:32 > 0:03:34you may now go down to the waves and frequencies and all that.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37You're dealing with its effect on the brain...
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Yeah, I would have actually said music is organised sounds,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42so it's interesting you've come with the emotional explanation
0:03:42 > 0:03:44and I've come up with the more acoustic one.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46But I think music is something that makes us respond.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Music is something that every human culture has
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and it doesn't matter how good we are at it, we can still respond to it.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54So I think it's an essential part of being human.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57By the way, does it exist in any animals at all?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00That's an interesting question. There's a bit of research on this showing...
0:04:00 > 0:04:04I mean, songs...you know, birds, for example, communicate through song.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07But most of that is strategic and symbolic and it's about messages.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09It's not for fun, it's not for pleasure.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13It's not for the enjoyment and the aesthetic evaluation of, yeah,
0:04:13 > 0:04:14it's a different kind of thing.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20So there are elements of non-human sounds that you could think of as being a little bit like music,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23- but they don't work like music does for humans.- OK, fine.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Well, we're going to explore these issues more as the show goes on.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28But even though there're maybe different opinions
0:04:28 > 0:04:30in terms of how we would define it,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33yes, it is a universal cultural trait common to all human societies
0:04:33 > 0:04:36and it has been for a very long time.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42How did music begin? No-one knows.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46But humans have been making music for a very long time.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Perhaps even longer than we've had language.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52There is evidence of our caveman ancestors
0:04:52 > 0:04:55fashioning crude flutes from bear's femurs.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58And by 7,000 BC, in China,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00we find the first evidence of a melodic flute
0:05:00 > 0:05:03that could play a scale and carry a simple tune.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Melodies are made by playing notes one after the other.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08Play two at the same time
0:05:08 > 0:05:10and you can make harmony -
0:05:10 > 0:05:12notes that sound good together.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The story goes that it was Pythagoras
0:05:14 > 0:05:17who first worked out why this happens.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18Walking past a blacksmith's,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22he heard the ring of hammers hitting iron and did some quick sums.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24He reckoned whether the hammers sounded good or bad
0:05:24 > 0:05:26was down to maths -
0:05:26 > 0:05:29if one was half, two thirds or three-quarters
0:05:29 > 0:05:30the weight of the other.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Which might be nonsense.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36But he was right that maths and harmony are closely related.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Other great minds of science also studied sound and music.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46From Aristotle to Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49None, however, are particularly noted for their musical prowess.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52By now, music had spread -
0:05:52 > 0:05:56from blacksmith's forges to medieval monasteries
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and then, into houses and courts,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00where Renaissance nobles danced to the latest sounds
0:06:00 > 0:06:02of the sackbut and crumhorn.
0:06:04 > 0:06:05By Beethoven's heyday,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08performances had gone from quartets and quintets
0:06:08 > 0:06:10to full-blown orchestras.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Not only were there now trombones on top of the triangles and timpani.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17But the orchestra had outgrown private houses.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And music was also going commercial.
0:06:20 > 0:06:21At the end of his life,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25all of Beethoven's symphonies were performed in public concert halls.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Then, one morning in December 1877,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Thomas Edison walked into an office and put a machine on the desk.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38He'd made the first device to record and play back sound -
0:06:38 > 0:06:39the phonograph.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41By introducing technology,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45he'd single-handedly kick-started the music industry we know today.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Soon, musical records went on sale.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57And then, on Christmas Eve 1906, came the first radio broadcast,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00which included a festive Christmas carol.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02It was a humble start to music radio.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Music no longer had to be performed live -
0:07:10 > 0:07:12you no longer needed an orchestra in your front room.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17Thanks to technology, music got smaller, cheaper and louder.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23The phonograph, the gramophone, the juke box, the LP,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27the Walkman, the CD, the minidisc player and the mp3
0:07:27 > 0:07:29have all brought music to our ears.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Sadly, while technology might allow music to be widely available,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38it has no control over the quality of the music produced.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46By the way, just to briefly say, over the course of the series,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48we've had a lot of feedback from the audience
0:07:48 > 0:07:50about those animated histories,
0:07:50 > 0:07:51people are very fond of them.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Stills are now downloadable as wallpaper for your computer
0:07:54 > 0:07:56if you just go to our website.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01Now, did we evolve music? Does it even have an evolutionary purpose?
0:08:01 > 0:08:04- Well, it's something we can debate. We don't know for sure.- Yeah.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06It might be, for example, a sexual display.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08You know, your prowess at making music
0:08:08 > 0:08:10may make you a more favourable mate.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13And as a society, would we have bonded through music?
0:08:13 > 0:08:17I think that's one of the really powerful parts of music, that it brings people together.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20So the ability to be in time with somebody, to be in tune with somebody
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and to be getting into those sort of synchronised patterns.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26I think that's probably a very, very powerful aspect of it.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Actually, if you look at early speech,
0:08:28 > 0:08:29when the mother talks to her baby,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32and comforts it or teaches it language,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34she'll often do it with a singsong while doing it,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38so I think it has helped to learning languages as well. So maybe that's the secret.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Do you find, as an acoustic expert, do you find going to gigs
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and just being angry about how badly tuned...?
0:08:44 > 0:08:46THEY CHUCKLE
0:08:46 > 0:08:47I try and enjoy it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51I went to the proms, actually, with a bunch of acoustic experts, auditorium acoustics,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and they all came out whingeing about the acoustics
0:08:53 > 0:08:56and I came out saying, "That was a great gig." Cos I just enjoyed it.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58We were discussing various instruments.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02In terms of sounds that complement each other,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and that's been a large part of how music has evolved.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Yeah, I mean, it's also economically driven, you know.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09In the 20th century is about how many people can get in a concert hall
0:09:09 > 0:09:11and still have decent acoustics.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14When you get a classical orchestra, cos you need to make the orchestra economic.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19And some of the disasters of the early 20th century was trying to make the concert hall too big.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Did it change again then, when we started electrifying instruments
0:09:22 > 0:09:23and putting big amps and...
0:09:23 > 0:09:26You should change your hall when you get electronic reproduction.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28One thing that a big decent concert hall has,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31it has lots of absorbance that you can bring out and deaden the space.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Cos when you've actually got big loud speakers, electronic music,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36you don't want the...you want to deaden it as much as you want.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38So you end up with a very dead space,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41so you have to have verbal acoustics to deal with,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43concert halls deal with classical music,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46but also, with the electronic enhancement and the electronic reproduction.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49OK, so central to our elevation of music in our culture
0:09:49 > 0:09:52has been the discovery of our own ability to make different sounds,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54sounds that complement each other and can express emotion.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Of course, we've come a long way from the bone flute we heard about
0:09:57 > 0:10:01to the instrument that's defined the last 60 years of music - the iconic electric guitar
0:10:01 > 0:10:04of Hendrix and Townshend and Richards.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Many great artists have smashed up their guitar,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08but usually as a statement of rebellion.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Mark Miodownik is taking one apart right now,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13but, this time, in the name of science.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18The Telecaster, as played by Keith Richards.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20The Les Paul, Jimmy Page,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23the Stratocaster, Jimi Hendrix,
0:10:23 > 0:10:28and let's not forget the Flying V, Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32These guitars have defined the sound of rock and roll
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and turned their players into rock gods,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39and that's all down to the unique way they've been engineered.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42So, the first thing to realise about an electric guitar
0:10:42 > 0:10:44is that electricity comes out, it doesn't go in.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47So, with an acoustic guitar, when you ping one of these strings,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49you're creating a sound wave.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51That's what you hear, that's the note.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53With an electric guitar, it's slightly different.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Although you hear the same kind of note,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59you're also creating an electrical oscillation,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and that is the key to an electric guitar.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05'By connecting the guitar to an oscilloscope,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07'you can see the electricity that's produced.'
0:11:09 > 0:11:10So, that is...
0:11:10 > 0:11:13the electrical wave that we've created by pinging the string,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and if I ping another string, I get a different frequency.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Converting the sound wave into an electric wave
0:11:19 > 0:11:24means it can be amplified, manipulated and distorted.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28This flexibility turned the guitar into a revolutionary instrument.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31So, where does this electricity come from?
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It comes from this, the pickup.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35The pickup is magnetic.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38In the 1830s, the scientist Michael Faraday
0:11:38 > 0:11:41worked out how to use magnets to generate electricity.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44You just need a coil of wire and some wrist action.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48I'm just going to push the magnet through the coil of wire, like this.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50And doing that, I'm generating electricity.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53And that electricity is going through this little bulb and lights it up.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55There it is!
0:11:56 > 0:11:58It was almost exactly 100 years
0:11:58 > 0:12:02before Faraday's theories were applied to the guitar.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05But the principles at work are exactly the same,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and to prove it, I'm taking this Fender Telecaster,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11the first mass-produced electric guitar, to bits.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14So, here it is.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Some magnets surrounded by a coil of wire.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21This is what it looks like when you take away that stuff.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Now, when the pickup is in the electric guitar,
0:12:23 > 0:12:29these steel strings vibrate above each one of these little magnets,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and that disturbs the magnetic field, creating an electrical current.
0:12:33 > 0:12:34So, what this pickup is doing
0:12:34 > 0:12:38is turning a mechanical vibration into an electrical wave,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and that electrical wave travels down these wires into the amp,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45and that's the sound you hear.
0:12:45 > 0:12:46ELECTRICAL BUZZING
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Now, I'm going to try and simulate that for you, with this magnet.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52SOFT ELECTRICAL BUZZING SOUND
0:12:52 > 0:12:54This affects the pickup's magnetic field,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57in the same way a vibrating steel string does.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It's a bit bass-y, but that's because I can't vibrate it very fast.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05But it's a sound, nonetheless.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07That's quite cool!
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Because the vibration of a guitar string varies along its length,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12by having multiple pickups,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15you can generate a range of treble and bass sounds.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18And the amount you hear is controlled by these dials.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24But the electric signal generated by these pickups is tiny,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and so, before it can be converted back into sound,
0:13:27 > 0:13:28it needs to be amplified.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32The amp is the unsung hero of the electric guitar.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Without it, the electricity produced by the pickup
0:13:35 > 0:13:37is just too small to power a speaker.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Some people would even go so far as to say
0:13:41 > 0:13:45that the amp is more important to the sound than the guitar itself.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51HE LAUGHS That's heavier than it looks!
0:13:51 > 0:13:53There's quite a few bits of gear here.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54These two here are capacitors,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56and they hold a huge amount of electric charge.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58I'm not going to take those apart,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00because that's actually seriously dangerous.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02But actually, this is what I want to take apart.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05This is the beating heart of the amp, the valve.
0:14:07 > 0:14:08Wait until you see these.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10They are beautiful.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Vacuum tubes, thermionic electron tubes or, simply, valves,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21have been responsible for radio, TV, computers
0:14:21 > 0:14:25and, of course, rock and roll.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29The valve takes the tiny electrical current from the electric guitar
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and amplifies it into a much bigger current that can drive the speaker.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38In fact, the whole field of electronics only really began
0:14:38 > 0:14:40when valves like this were invented.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45Although valves look complicated, how they work is relatively simple.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48The amp gets its power from the mains,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and sends a large current to the valves.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The electricity goes for the cathode to the anode, but on the way,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58it has to go through this grid, which is connected to the electric guitar.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Now, the tiny current from the pickup is what goes into that grid,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07so it imprints the pattern of the music onto this much larger current,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and it's that that gives you the loud sound.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Although valves have now mostly been replaced by transistors,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16they're still much-loved by musicians,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20for the unique tone and distortion they bring to the electric guitar,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23especially when you turn up the volume.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26APPLAUSE
0:15:30 > 0:15:32That's the kind of thing we'll get criticised for,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35because of people crying over your destruction
0:15:35 > 0:15:37of a perfectly good electric guitar. Did it go back together OK?
0:15:37 > 0:15:40- It went back together again in the end, yeah.- It's fine.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43They're too expensive to destroy. The BBC budget is not that big.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Well, it stretched to you smashing a valve with a hammer.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48We didn't put that back together.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- Now, what the instrument is made of is very important?- It is.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I mean, for an electric guitar, it's less important,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56because you pick up the vibration of the string,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and actually, where you change the note is through the amplifier,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00how you distort it through the amplifier.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Whereas, with a violin, the amplifier is that box,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07and so, with the violin, you have to perfect that box to get the right sound.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Give me an example of the weirdest thing
0:16:09 > 0:16:11you've seen an instrument made out of.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Well, maybe a vegetable, which I used to do as a party trick.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17I've made a clarinet out of a giant Japanese radish once.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18LAUGHTER
0:16:18 > 0:16:22What kind of parties do you go to that have giant Japanese radish lying around?
0:16:22 > 0:16:25- Sushi parties, obviously! - Well, obviously, yes!
0:16:25 > 0:16:27How was the sound of it?
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Well, someone once described it as sounding like a mating camel,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31so maybe not the best kind of sound...
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Yeah, but is that because you can't play, as it turns out, the flute?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37You're going to make an instrument for us this evening, am I right?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39- I am.- Using what?- Well...
0:16:39 > 0:16:41I've commissioned a machine to make it for us.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44- Is it our old friend...? - Our favourite machine.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46The 3-D printer. The always impressive 3-D printer.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48- We'll have it by the end of the show?- Yes, should do.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Now, let me talk about another part of this, Alex,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53about our ability to recognise music.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58I mean, it is astonishing how well it's encoded in the brain,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01pieces of music, how quickly we recognise music.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Yeah, the music that we know...
0:17:03 > 0:17:06We can pick up on very, very short segments and recognise,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08"That's that track, that piece, that particular thing..."
0:17:08 > 0:17:11And do we do this better with music than we do with say,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13recognising the first line of a novel?
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Are we more efficient with the information with music?
0:17:15 > 0:17:17I think we get more information with music.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I mean, the first sentence of a novel
0:17:19 > 0:17:21doesn't tell you where it's going.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23We're very good at going, "Oh, yeah, that's..."
0:17:23 > 0:17:26You know that rush when everybody gets on the dance floor cos they've heard...
0:17:26 > 0:17:28It doesn't take long to happen.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30We can demonstrate this with an exciting new game,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32which has never featured on television before,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35where we play a series of very short intros to well-known tunes,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and see if our guests or, indeed, the audience, can name them.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41I call this, "Name That Piece Of Music,"
0:17:41 > 0:17:44but we're going to work on the title.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47So, for example, let's have the first piece of music.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49TWO SHORT BEATS PLAY
0:17:49 > 0:17:51GROANING AND LAUGHTER
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I think this really could work as a telly format.
0:17:56 > 0:17:57LAUGHTER
0:17:57 > 0:18:00I'm really excited by this. Go on, you on the couch.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02I don't want to admit to knowing it, that's the thing...
0:18:02 > 0:18:07- GROANING - The artist in question is beyond reproach, all right? It's fine.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10- Who is it?- It was Lady Gaga, wasn't it?- No!
0:18:10 > 0:18:13- It's Kylie! - GROANING AND LAUGHTER
0:18:13 > 0:18:16- Oh, shame on you!- It's Kylie! - It's Kylie!- Oh, Kylie!
0:18:16 > 0:18:18What's the name of the track?
0:18:18 > 0:18:20- That's difficult, actually. - Yes! That's the thing.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22I find I can't name tracks, there's too many.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Some people are better at this than others.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27Yes, one that goes, "Na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na...
0:18:27 > 0:18:29"Can't get you out of my head!"
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Obviously, when we do this show properly, as a real format,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35they'll tell the host what the names of the tunes are.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39It works less well as a format if I am also trying to guess the tunes.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41LAUGHTER
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Fantastic! Let's try another one.
0:18:43 > 0:18:44TWO BEATS PLAY
0:18:44 > 0:18:47You can redeem yourself.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49LAUGHTER
0:18:49 > 0:18:51I can get it in my head, I can't think what the...
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Do you know, I know that I don't know it.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56- Oh, for Go...! We... - LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:18:56 > 0:19:00This is fantastic. This whole thing was to justify YOUR theory.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05"Oh, yeah, it's amazing. The human brain, given the slightest..."
0:19:05 > 0:19:07It's James Brown! It could be...
0:19:07 > 0:19:09TWO BEATS PLAY
0:19:11 > 0:19:12Oh, I need a bit more.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13BEATS PLAY AGAIN
0:19:13 > 0:19:17- That's Bowie, isn't it? - Yes. Heroes.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18Heroes...
0:19:18 > 0:19:21- Yes, it is!- Did I get it right? - You got one right!
0:19:21 > 0:19:24CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Yes, we are very highly attuned to musical nuance,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and one of the things that is intrinsic to music is its rhythm.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Now, research into rhythm is turning up some extraordinary results.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Dr Tali Sharot went to the US to investigate.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43DRUM BEAT PLAYS
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Whenever you hear a beat, no matter how complex it is,
0:19:50 > 0:19:51it probably makes you move.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Whether it's nodding your head or tapping your feet
0:19:54 > 0:19:55or clicking your fingers,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57you probably find it hard to resist.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00'That's because our brains are wired for rhythm,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03'so much so that rhythm has surprising therapeutic powers.'
0:20:07 > 0:20:11'Rande Davis Gedalia was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2003.'
0:20:12 > 0:20:14- Good to meet you.- Nice to meet you.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17'She had serious problems with her movement
0:20:17 > 0:20:20'until she joined a pioneering New York music therapy programme.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22'And it changed her life.'
0:20:22 > 0:20:25It was hard to balance
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and the music kept me on beat.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31I walk to the beat. Before, I had no beat.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Now, it gives me a sense of rhythm, a sense of order,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39so my movement is way better. It's way better. I love it.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Rande learnt to use music
0:20:42 > 0:20:46from doctors here at the Beth Israel Hospital in the Bronx,
0:20:46 > 0:20:51where they've been treating patients with music for more than 30 years.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Concetta Tomaino is one of their most experienced doctors.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Parkinson's can lead to a variety of movement problems,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02from getting the shakes to completely freezing up.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05This happens because Parkinson's patients
0:21:05 > 0:21:07have lost a large number of nerve cells
0:21:07 > 0:21:09that produce a neurotransmitter, dopamine,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13and dopamine is critical for co-ordinating our movement.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15LOW, BASIC DRUM BEAT
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Strong rhythms help her patients move more fluidly
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and, together, they work out a playlist
0:21:21 > 0:21:23they can use in their daily lives.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Rhythm works incredibly well.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28People with Parkinson's sometimes perceive rhythm differently,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30so you really have to work with each individual
0:21:30 > 0:21:34to find out what pulse or what tempo is going to work best for them.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36It drives motor function almost immediately
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and I've seen this time and time again.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44When rhythm therapy works, the effects are immediate,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48and that tells us something rather astonishing about our brains.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Jessica Grahn is a cognitive neuroscientist
0:21:52 > 0:21:55who studies music and the brain.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57She's arranged to put one of her students in a brain scanner
0:21:57 > 0:21:59while she listens to music,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04to show me what's going on inside our brains when we hear rhythm.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07OK, Ruth, now we're going to move onto the rhythms...
0:22:07 > 0:22:09The results are striking.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12The auditory cortex is active, as you'd expect,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15but so are the motor regions of the brain.
0:22:15 > 0:22:22All of these areas are areas that tend to respond to the control or initiation of movement
0:22:22 > 0:22:25and these are very responsive in her brain,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27even though she's staying perfectly still.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28That's quite amazing,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32because we see very robust activity in all of these motor regions
0:22:32 > 0:22:34when people are not moving at all,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and not consciously thinking about movement,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38just listening to music.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Yeah, we were really surprised the first time we saw it, too.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45So, what did these responses tell us about Parkinson's patients
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and why music therapy is so helpful for their movement?
0:22:49 > 0:22:53What we think might be going on with listening to music and rhythm
0:22:53 > 0:22:56is that this can bypass the faulty part of the circuit
0:22:56 > 0:22:59and allow Parkinson's patients to then stand up and move.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03So the music goes straight into the motor cortex?
0:23:03 > 0:23:04It looks like it, yeah.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10It seems our auditory and motor cortex are so deeply connected
0:23:10 > 0:23:12that rhythm alone really does get us moving.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17But rhythm therapy wouldn't work at all
0:23:17 > 0:23:21without a very special skill called beat induction.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27It's the ability, once we've heard a rhythm, to predict the next beat.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Laurel Trainor is trying to find out if it's something we're born with or something we learn,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34by measuring the brain waves of babies
0:23:34 > 0:23:37while they listen to simple rhythms.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39SLOW BEEPING
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Early results suggest that babies have this ability,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45which means it may be something we are born with.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51So, the red colour here shows there's activity just before the beat?
0:23:51 > 0:23:55- That's right.- So, that shows us that they're predicting the beat...
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Yes, absolutely.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Extraordinarily, beat induction seems to be unique to humans.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05It hasn't been seen in any other primate.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So, what is the function of perceiving the beat,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and anticipating it, in humans?
0:24:11 > 0:24:14There are probably two main reasons why we have it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17One is that when you can anticipate a beat,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20you can dance with another person, you can move with another person.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24When people move together, they bond socially.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26A second reason why it's important
0:24:26 > 0:24:28is because it's a necessary condition
0:24:28 > 0:24:30for the evolution of language.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32We have to hear the rhythm of the language,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36but we also have to produce the rhythm of the language as we talk,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41so we need this interaction between the auditory system and the motor system in order to do that.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44As a neuroscientist,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I was really surprised by how close the connection is
0:24:48 > 0:24:50between the sound system and our motor system,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53but now that I think about it, it's all around us.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It's in my step when I walk, it's when I speak,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and it may just be fundamental to what makes us human.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05APPLAUSE
0:25:09 > 0:25:12In some ways, the results of that are astonishing,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and in other ways, they seem like the most obvious thing in the world.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16We all listen to music as we walk along.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Since the Walkman, our generation has soundtracked ourselves,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21knowing that it can increase the step...
0:25:21 > 0:25:25But it literally is bypassing a damaged area of the brain?
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Yeah, what's really interesting there
0:25:27 > 0:25:30is that if you have one structure that's damaged,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32or one pathway that's damaged,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36and you lose a function, whether it's movement or language,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39there might be a way to bypass it, by using a different trigger.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Alex, were you impressed by this kind of work?
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Yeah, I think it's tapping into what we know
0:25:44 > 0:25:47about the idea of synchronisation being really important in music
0:25:47 > 0:25:49and somehow providing that in a different way.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51And I like the approach of saying,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53"OK, we have a limitation with Parkinson's.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55"Let's try and find another way round."
0:25:55 > 0:25:59So, yeah, finding something that is also intrinsically enjoyable,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01and I think the idea of getting through pain
0:26:01 > 0:26:03and getting through difficult situations with music
0:26:03 > 0:26:05is one of the reasons why it's so useful for us.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Is this a uniquely human thing?
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Interestingly, monkeys don't have the same musical abilities that we do,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15which is interesting, because they are our closest genetic relatives.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16But they can't do it.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19They can't distinguish between different types of music.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21They don't have music preference, like we do.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- They actually prefer silence to music.- Really?
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Yeah. Tamarins, particularly, have been shown to prefer...
0:26:27 > 0:26:29If they're in a situation where they can choose where they go,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32if there's some music playing and some place where there isn't music,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35- they always go to the place without music.- Lovely.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Now, I know we're bombarding you with lots of information,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41but you can always get involved by following us @bbcscienceclub,
0:26:41 > 0:26:42or by visiting our website...
0:26:49 > 0:26:52APPLAUSE
0:26:53 > 0:26:57So, we've seen some of the effect that music has on the brain,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59but it's a physical process.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's just a change in air pressure around us
0:27:01 > 0:27:02that we hear arriving in waves.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05And like any waves, there's a spectrum of frequencies.
0:27:05 > 0:27:06Not that we can hear them all.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09We can only hear a particular range, am I right?
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- Exactly, yes.- Do you know what the uppers and lowers of these are?
0:27:12 > 0:27:13Well, it depends on your age.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16- You lose certain frequencies as you get older?- Yeah.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Basically, when you're 20, your hearing is as good as it ever gets,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and it's downhill from there, and you gradually lose high frequencies.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25You don't notice that, probably, until you get into middle age,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28when it starts just edging towards speech frequencies...
0:27:28 > 0:27:30So, the higher frequencies are the ones that go first?
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Let's get a sample of what we're talking about.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35This is an app, by the way, that's been driving all this stuff.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39LOW ELECTRONIC BEEP So, this is a note. Can everyone hear that?
0:27:39 > 0:27:43- How many hertz is that? - That's 1,000 hertz.- OK.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Basically, if you can't hear this, there's a really big problem.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48We're going to test you. That's 1,000 hertz.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51All hands up if you can hear that. Now, that should be...
0:27:51 > 0:27:54That's pretty much everyone here, including ourselves.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57No, no, leave them up. Leave them up, please.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58Right, 5,000.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00HIGH-PITCHED BEEPING
0:28:00 > 0:28:04- Everyone hear it? Fantastic. 10,000?- Young crowd...
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Right, who can hear that?
0:28:06 > 0:28:08We haven't lost any hands at all. 13...
0:28:10 > 0:28:12- I can't hear anything. - Can't hear a thing.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Can the rest of you all hear that?
0:28:15 > 0:28:17- That's amazing.- It's really weird!
0:28:17 > 0:28:19It's really strange. Right, let's try 15...
0:28:19 > 0:28:21It's going to turn into a weird auction.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24The winner is the person with the best ears.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Wow! Really?!
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- Are you just doing this? Is it part of a gag? - LAUGHTER
0:28:29 > 0:28:32- OK, what are you up to now? - This is 17,000.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Oh, we lost a few people at 17,000.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37OK. No, we lost most people at 17,000.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40You're still hearing it? Really faint? OK.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42- Are you bluffing?- Let's try 18...
0:28:45 > 0:28:48- Is that everyone?- There's one there in the front. Look!
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Oh, you as well. You're still in.
0:28:52 > 0:28:53Gone. We lost you somewhere between 18,000.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Well done you, though. Give her a round of applause, that's fantastic.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59APPLAUSE
0:28:59 > 0:29:01This phenomenon became very well-known, by the way,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04because some company marketed an alarm
0:29:04 > 0:29:07that shopkeepers could play outside their shops
0:29:07 > 0:29:10to clear teenagers from in front of the shop,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12because only teenagers could hear it.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15My favourite thing about it is that the teenagers recorded the tone
0:29:15 > 0:29:17and used it as a ringtone on their phone,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19because teachers can't hear it in school.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21So, they can actually phone each other in class,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23which I think is genius.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26So, that's the frequency. What are the physical effects?
0:29:26 > 0:29:29I can show you a particularly nice example here,
0:29:29 > 0:29:30where you can actually...
0:29:30 > 0:29:34If we can find the resonant frequency of a wine glass... GLASS TINKLES
0:29:34 > 0:29:35So, that's its resonant frequency.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37That note is what you'd want to achieve, yeah?
0:29:37 > 0:29:40If you then force it to vibrate at that frequency,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42then it will vibrate so violently that it will break.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44Fabulous. Great. I'm into that in a huge way.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46In theory! I meant to say, in theory.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Yeah, no, let's just keep doing it until we get it to break.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Everyone ready? Do you have your fingers in your ears or something on?
0:29:53 > 0:29:57By the way, this trick used to be done by opera singers, didn't it?
0:29:57 > 0:30:00It's actually really difficult to do. To do it, you have to...
0:30:00 > 0:30:02If I just nick it for a second...
0:30:02 > 0:30:04You have to get it that close to your mouth.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06As we shall see in a moment, when the glass goes...
0:30:06 > 0:30:08glass in your mouth is a really stupid thing to do.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10So, we know we're at the right frequency
0:30:10 > 0:30:12if we get the piece of paper to vibrate?
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Yeah, so that's going to vibrate the glass,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16which will make the paper jump.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19So, the minute the paper jumps, you just crank up the volume?
0:30:19 > 0:30:20Right. OK, are you ready?
0:30:20 > 0:30:23PITCH OF NOTE INCREASES
0:30:23 > 0:30:27- How exact do you have to be here? - Very exact.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30- Can you see that going? - I can, yeah. That is spooky.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33HIGH-PITCHED BEEPING
0:30:33 > 0:30:34It's quite loud.
0:30:37 > 0:30:38I can even see it vibrating.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Oh! Oh, oh, oh!
0:30:47 > 0:30:49LAUGHTER
0:30:49 > 0:30:52APPLAUSE
0:30:52 > 0:30:54Wow!
0:30:56 > 0:30:58I'm loving the tension of the build-up.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01You took a long enough to get there, didn't you? We have...
0:31:01 > 0:31:03You did wrong with a proper high-speed camera.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07So, our institute did one a few years ago with a slow-motion camera.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10- This is it.- Wow, it wobbles quite significantly.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Bottom bit goes first. How is the top bit holding together?
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Yeah, that's incredible. That shows you just how fast the frame rate is.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24- Imagine if that was near your mouth and was tumbling that way.- Yeah.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26- So, not recommended.- No, but cool!
0:31:27 > 0:31:31Hey, if any of your glassware smashed during that...tweet us.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33LAUGHTER
0:31:33 > 0:31:36As you're just brushing them around... No, hopefully it didn't.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39I've always wanted to do that. Thank you very much, Mark.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42APPLAUSE
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Still to come on tonight's show,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Alok Jha investigates whether computers are killing music.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51But first, the most remarkable thing about music
0:31:51 > 0:31:53is how these wave forms and frequencies
0:31:53 > 0:31:56are translated into tangible emotional effects by our brains.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58To find out how a piece of music moves us,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01we sent James May to have his head examined.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04MUSIC: "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Bach
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Many years ago, I did a music degree
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and I came away convinced of one thing,
0:32:10 > 0:32:15that music has a real emotional grip on us that's hard to explain,
0:32:15 > 0:32:17and I've always wanted to know why.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Why is it that a simple chord change in a pop song
0:32:21 > 0:32:24can have the capacity almost to burst your heart?
0:32:24 > 0:32:29Why is it that a single, supposedly wrong, note in Chopin
0:32:29 > 0:32:31can turn mere organised sound
0:32:31 > 0:32:35into something that seems to scratch at the very kernel
0:32:35 > 0:32:37of human self awareness?
0:32:37 > 0:32:40So, to see if science has an explanation, I've come to Berlin.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44My first stop is the Technical University,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47where Hauke Egermann is a music psychologist.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53I haven't been allowed to bring any of my own music to this experiment.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55Nothing that I love, nothing that I'm familiar with.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58I have to listen to something I've never heard before,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and then we will measure my reaction to it.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Right, you want to attach electrodes to me?
0:33:03 > 0:33:04Yes, please. Have a seat.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08These clips and electrodes are going to monitor
0:33:08 > 0:33:11changes in my skin's electrical conductivity.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17Apparently, it's a scientific measure of involuntary emotional arousal.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20So, when it starts playing, I want you to press the left mouse button
0:33:20 > 0:33:24- and then continuously rate how the music makes you feel, OK?- OK.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28CLASSICAL PIECE BEGINS TO PLAY
0:33:28 > 0:33:31This is composed by a Frenchman called Edgar Varese.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36It's a bit strange, but I rather like it...
0:33:45 > 0:33:47Is that the end?
0:33:47 > 0:33:49- That's the end, yes.- How did I do?
0:33:49 > 0:33:50HAUKE LAUGHS
0:33:50 > 0:33:53- Well, we'll see.- Am I dead? - You did fine.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57We can see that there are actually some moments here
0:33:57 > 0:34:01where, especially, your skin conductance response
0:34:01 > 0:34:05is really reacting to individual events in the music.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10This could be that something surprised you,
0:34:10 > 0:34:14or you had an intense emotion linked to certain events in the music.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17It seems all of us respond in roughly the same way
0:34:17 > 0:34:20to acoustic changes in music.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23But that doesn't explain why we respond emotionally.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26When I put this to Hauke, he played me this...
0:34:26 > 0:34:30MUSIC: "Symphony No.4 in A Major" by Mendelssohn
0:34:33 > 0:34:35..and then these voices.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38'I won the lottery, and I still can't believe it!'
0:34:38 > 0:34:41'I've finally bought the car I've always dreamed about.'
0:34:41 > 0:34:45That "da-deh-deh...", which I tend to think of as being
0:34:45 > 0:34:48a sort of hunting, horse-riding motif in music
0:34:48 > 0:34:51is also, actually, now you point it out, very similar to that
0:34:51 > 0:34:53AMERICAN ACCENT: "Oh, my Gaaad!"
0:34:53 > 0:34:55What you're sort of saying is,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59major keys sound like people speaking positively and excitedly.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01- That's the point.- So, have you got a clip in a minor key
0:35:01 > 0:35:04and then someone saying they've lost their lottery ticket?
0:35:04 > 0:35:06Yes.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08'It only took a moment for the accident to happen.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11'We were laughing and joking about things
0:35:11 > 0:35:13'when the truck crossed the median and hit us.'
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Now, this gets very interesting now.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18Had that been a German woman talking in German,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21I would have still known she was talking about something sad.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24The idea is that these expressive features,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26they're supposed to work in different cultures
0:35:26 > 0:35:27everywhere in the world.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30But all of that was with music I didn't know.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34Now, we're going to see how I react to music I know and love.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40All right, James, let me lead you through our scanner room.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45I'm going to have my brain scanned by music psychologist Stefan Koelsch.
0:35:45 > 0:35:46Close your eyes, please...
0:35:46 > 0:35:49To see just how deep my love of music really is,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52I'm going to listen to my absolute favourite piece of Bach,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54his toccata in G minor.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56MUSIC: "Toccata in G Minor" by Bach
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Are you feeling OK in there?
0:36:05 > 0:36:07- 'Yes, I am. Very relaxed.' - Oh, right.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09And for comparison,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13music that I have absolutely no emotional attachment to...
0:36:13 > 0:36:14Jedward's Lipstick.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23# You say you're on it, but you just don't know
0:36:23 > 0:36:26# You're spending money like you're on Death Row... #
0:36:26 > 0:36:28HE LAUGHS Thank you for the Jedward.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30'Time to find out what happened.'
0:36:30 > 0:36:32So, my brain is present?
0:36:32 > 0:36:34- Oh, yeah.- That's reassuring.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36Wow, look at this. Wow, beautiful.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39- Thank you.- This experiment apparently really worked.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Stefan's team have laid both my listening experiences
0:36:43 > 0:36:44on top of each other.
0:36:46 > 0:36:47Red is my response to Bach,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49and Jedward is represented
0:36:49 > 0:36:51by the practically non-existent blue.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56Yeah, it's a very clear result here.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59So, I've got Krakatoa of Bach reaction there,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02but only a sort of faltering cigarette lighter for Jedward.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04Is that fair?
0:37:04 > 0:37:06Yeah, that's correct and that shows us
0:37:06 > 0:37:10that you had much more pleasurable experience to your preferred music
0:37:10 > 0:37:12than to the unpreferred.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14And it seems the pleasure gets me
0:37:14 > 0:37:17right in the deepest, most primitive parts of my brain,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20the amygdala, the hippocampus,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and a reward centre called the nucleus accumbens.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28This is the structure where dopamine is released in the brain.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30And dopamine does...?
0:37:30 > 0:37:35It is released in situations where we feel great pleasure.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39For example, if we drink a glass of water when we are thirsty,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43when we are having sex, when we eat something when we are hungry...
0:37:43 > 0:37:46So, if you could put two people having sex in the scanner...
0:37:46 > 0:37:47I know there isn't space,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51but you would get the same bits of their brains glowing
0:37:51 > 0:37:53as you do when they listen to music?
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Which means music is, scientifically speaking, orgasmic.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00- Yeah...- And scientifically proved. Here it is.- It is, yes.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05APPLAUSE
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Ladies and gentlemen, James May.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17APPLAUSE
0:38:20 > 0:38:24So, James, it turns out that at a very fundamental, basic level,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27almost at a primitive level, you're a musical snob.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- Yes.- What's your problem with Jedward?
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Well, I don't have a particular problem with Jedward.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Well, I do, actually. It's the inevitability of the sort of...
0:38:35 > 0:38:37HE IMITATES REPETITIVE BEAT
0:38:37 > 0:38:39I know it will always go... HE IMITATES BEAT AGAIN
0:38:39 > 0:38:42So, you can predict the rhythm, like a six-month-old child.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45LAUGHTER
0:38:45 > 0:38:47But it did prove something that I've always suspected,
0:38:47 > 0:38:52which is that outside the sphere of regular musical appreciation,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56which is sort of intellect, culture, experience, learning, all those things,
0:38:56 > 0:39:01there's a sort of grey area where it appeals directly to the emotions,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03this most widely documented
0:39:03 > 0:39:07but, I think, least understood bit of the human existence.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10And I found that very reassuring.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15It does mean that the music that you get off on is a fundamental need,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19along with eating, as you were saying, drinking,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21orgasm, ejaculation... or a really good kebab.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24LAUGHTER
0:39:24 > 0:39:26This is the basic stuff of life, basically.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28And one hell of a night, by the way!
0:39:28 > 0:39:31LAUGHTER
0:39:31 > 0:39:34But the order would have been slightly weird.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37I mean, buy her dinner first, for God's sake(!)
0:39:37 > 0:39:39It always ends with a kebab, Dara.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42But, yes, it is, because it is very deep recesses of the brain.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44This is very fundamental.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47Some would say stuff that was there earliest in our evolution,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49that music is appealing to.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Yes, which is probably why it's in every human culture
0:39:51 > 0:39:54and why it's so important, because you can't explain it,
0:39:54 > 0:39:55you can't express it terribly well.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57And, like James says,
0:39:57 > 0:39:59we're still really figuring out how this all works.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02And we're more naturally likely to speak in a major key
0:40:02 > 0:40:04when we're delivering happy news?
0:40:04 > 0:40:06It depends what you're saying.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Speech is atonal, it doesn't fit into keys. That's a construct.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13But, broadly speaking, you were in a major key there.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15But we're simplifying it massively,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17because music essentially in major key
0:40:17 > 0:40:21will still move through minor keys as part of its musical dialogue,
0:40:21 > 0:40:22as part of the sense that it makes,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24and then you get contrasts and, you know,
0:40:24 > 0:40:26"Oh, that was a pity, but, hey, never mind."
0:40:26 > 0:40:31Of course, you're responsible for a great deal of "music as a motivational tool"
0:40:31 > 0:40:35with the 18 and counting Top Gear Driving Music albums,
0:40:35 > 0:40:37which have been released to date...
0:40:37 > 0:40:39They were nothing to do with me, though.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41But tracks like Don't Stop Me Now by Queen, I think,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44was voted on some Top Gear website as the best...
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Neurologically, what do you think you are achieving
0:40:46 > 0:40:47with this body of work?
0:40:47 > 0:40:49LAUGHTER
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Umm...I don't know.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53But driving music is an interesting idea,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57because the rules are different in the car from the rest of life,
0:40:57 > 0:41:01and that's bodily hygiene, opinions, music that you listen to,
0:41:01 > 0:41:03all the rest of it. And it's...
0:41:05 > 0:41:06..they're lower.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08One thing is, you can't listen to, say,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Schubert's string quartet in the car, because most cars are too noisy.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14The dynamic range of classical music is too great,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18whereas pop music is reasonably level, for the most part.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Music with a regular beat, a regular form,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24chorus, you know, refrain, middle eight, and all the rest of it,
0:41:24 > 0:41:29suits the sort of slightly banal, but very involving, act of driving.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31- Yes.- Does that make sense? - That makes perfect...
0:41:31 > 0:41:36Put that on the liner notes on the sleeve of Top Gear 18.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38You wouldn't put it like that.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40You'd put, sort of, "25 gut-busting, tyre-smoking tracks."
0:41:40 > 0:41:42LAUGHTER
0:41:42 > 0:41:45That is kind of the shtick, all right. OK.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47Do any of you own a top Gear album?
0:41:49 > 0:41:51No. That's fine. The weird thing is...
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Don't get all snooty. Don't you get all snooty!
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Because you'll own the tracks, you'll definitely...
0:41:57 > 0:41:59You'll own the most of those tracks in some shape or form,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02because that's really the way it's evolved, because of technology.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Music was first recorded in 1877,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07and the amount of music we have access to
0:42:07 > 0:42:10has changed and grown dramatically, as you might have guessed.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11Here's the data.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Technology has transformed the way we consume music.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20In the 1980s, it's reckoned the average 16- to 24-year-old
0:42:20 > 0:42:25had a record collection that consisted of 150 songs.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30By 2009, that figure had grown to over 8,000 songs.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35A vinyl LP plays for around 45 minutes and holds about 12 songs.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38The C90 cassette tape holds 22 songs.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42A CD plays 21 songs for about 80 minutes,
0:42:42 > 0:42:48whereas a 160GB MP3 player can hold 40,000 songs,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50that's 160,000 minutes,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54almost 16 weeks of continuous play.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57The MP3 player weighs 140 grammes.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59If you were to carry around that amount of vinyl,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01it would weigh 640kg,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05which is the equivalent of carrying a large horse in your pocket.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09APPLAUSE
0:43:09 > 0:43:12Now, if we were to ask you who the most influential person was
0:43:12 > 0:43:15in electronic music, you might have said Robert Moog,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17for his synthesiser, or Brian Eno, or Kraftwerk,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20or the Chemical Brothers, but none of these, really.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22It's a woman called Daphne Oram,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25who arrived at the BBC as a sound engineer in 1943,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and began to experiment with the effects that she could create
0:43:28 > 0:43:29with the equipment there.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32She then set up the first radiophonic workshop,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36which basically initiated sound effects and electronic music,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39and this was done almost as an after-hours hobby of hers.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41In fact, she was regarded so strangely
0:43:41 > 0:43:44that she actually appeared in a news story from 1962.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47You should just see the scepticism of the reporter and, indeed,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50the fantastically clipped Received Pronunciation.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Have a look at this.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54ELECTRONIC BURBLING
0:43:56 > 0:43:58Welcome to Tower Folly,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02this lonely oast house on the North Downs of Kent.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Well, as far as I know, this house isn't haunted,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07and there isn't a mad scientist in sight.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09This is, in fact, a music factory,
0:44:09 > 0:44:13where they can literally make music out of electronic sounds.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15And the woman who makes it
0:44:15 > 0:44:18has just been awarded a grant by the Gulbenkian Foundation
0:44:18 > 0:44:20to help her research.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23She's here at her control box, Miss Daphne Oram.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Now, Miss Oram, how did you get involved in this kind of work?
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Well, it dates back, really, to 1944, I think,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33when I read a book which prophesied that composers in the future
0:44:33 > 0:44:35would compose directly into sound
0:44:35 > 0:44:38instead of using orchestral instruments, you see.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Now, I've made a little loop of tape here
0:44:40 > 0:44:42with varying pure tones on it, varying pitches.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Here we are.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48ELECTRONIC BURBLING, BEEPING
0:44:50 > 0:44:51Good night.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55LAUGHTER
0:44:55 > 0:44:57APPLAUSE
0:44:57 > 0:44:59I'm sorry.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05If for no other reason, enduring that face from a reporter...
0:45:06 > 0:45:10but mainly, because of her, we have Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx
0:45:10 > 0:45:13and Fat Boy Slim and a lot of people whose work I've really enjoyed.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16I normally put my people on this wall here,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18this sort of semi-wall of shame here.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19I'm putting Daphne front and centre.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Well done, Daphne Oram, loving your work.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24Who else would you like to add as an unsung scientist?
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Well, I'd like to add Athanasius Kircher,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29who was a 17th-century Jesuit scholar
0:45:29 > 0:45:31who had the most fantastical acoustic devices,
0:45:31 > 0:45:33some nice and some unpleasant.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35His unpleasant one was the cat piano.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37And this was a piano which...
0:45:37 > 0:45:40You have a line of about seven cats in little cages
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and when you press the keys for the piano,
0:45:42 > 0:45:43- it drove a nail into the tail of the cats.- Oh!
0:45:43 > 0:45:46These screech and you play tunes on it.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48But surely you can only play each note once, twice...?
0:45:48 > 0:45:51At some stage, the cat's tail wouldn't take any more, surely?
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Well, there's some doubt about whether it was ever made,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56but it was done for psychiatric patients, was his idea.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58It was meant to shock them out of their condition.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00He did actually invent some nice things as well.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Very good. Who would you like to add, Alex?
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Music psychology is a very new field, so this is a hard question,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08but I decided I'd pick one of our living scientists...
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Professor Alf Gabrielsson has spent his whole career
0:46:11 > 0:46:13working on music and emotion.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15He's retired now, but he worked in Sweden,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18and he's got this enormous archive of people's emotional experiences with music.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21- Fantastic. What's his name, again? - Alf Gabrielsson.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24- And this excellent man here...? - Athanasius Kircher.- Fabulous.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Well worked, Athanasius, with the cat piano.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29OK. Has technology in music come too far?
0:46:29 > 0:46:33Alok Jha asks if computers are ruining music.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Computers have been used to make music almost from their beginnings.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Synthesisers opened up a whole new world of instrumental sounds.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Sampling brought on the creative cross-fertilisation of genres.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Not even the human voice has escaped the influence of computers.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12Thanks to automatic tuning,
0:47:12 > 0:47:17you no longer have to be able to sing to record a flawless song.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Estelle Rubio is a singer-songwriter
0:47:22 > 0:47:26who teaches studio production at the Tech Music School, London.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29- Here it is.- Wow!
0:47:29 > 0:47:32I have to say, I was expecting a bigger mixing desk than that.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Well, this is the days of digital, you see.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38'Can automatic tuning really turn a bad performer into a good one?
0:47:38 > 0:47:42'To put it to the test, we need a bad performance.'
0:47:42 > 0:47:44OUT OF TUNE: # Baa, baa, black sheep
0:47:44 > 0:47:46# Have you any wool?
0:47:46 > 0:47:48# Yes, sir, yes, sir,
0:47:48 > 0:47:50# Three bags full... #
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Surely THAT is beyond help.
0:47:52 > 0:47:53# And one for the dame... #
0:47:53 > 0:47:56So, what are we looking at here? We can see the notes I actually sang.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Yes. What we tend to do is go to the nearest note that you were singing.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02So, "Baa, baa, BLACK..."
0:48:03 > 0:48:04Let's just see.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07RECORDING: # Baa, baa, black sheep... #
0:48:07 > 0:48:08So, you're going through,
0:48:08 > 0:48:11- and you're drawing lines where you want the pitch to be?- Yes.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13# Baa, baa, black sheep... #
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Automatic tuning literally drags off-key singing back into line.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18But does it just polish up something
0:48:18 > 0:48:21that shouldn't have been recorded in the first place?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23# Yes, sir, yes, sir
0:48:23 > 0:48:25# Three bags... #
0:48:25 > 0:48:27So, you can see now, you're sounding in-tune,
0:48:27 > 0:48:28but in a way, we've lost the essence.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31The quality... You've lost the quality of the voice.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35Do you think that all of this editing and changing...
0:48:35 > 0:48:37Do you think that's cheating a bit?
0:48:37 > 0:48:39I still think there are great singers,
0:48:39 > 0:48:41but why not let everybody have a chance to make music?
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Music's about universal language, it's about sharing...
0:48:44 > 0:48:47You know, why can't everybody have a go and play with their voice
0:48:47 > 0:48:49and make themselves sound better than they are?
0:48:51 > 0:48:55In studio recordings, computers are definitely here to stay.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57But there's one area of music
0:48:57 > 0:49:01that humans must be able to call their own - composition.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Can computers reach anywhere near the creative heights of composers?
0:49:06 > 0:49:08Alexis Kirke is a research fellow
0:49:08 > 0:49:14of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at Plymouth University...
0:49:14 > 0:49:16Basically, he makes computers make music.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18COMPUTER PLAYS PIANO NOTES
0:49:18 > 0:49:21This is a system that I have. I call it IPSIS.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26It's a bunch of musical intelligences inside a computer
0:49:26 > 0:49:27who sing to each other.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30They sing each other very simple tunes,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34but when they sing, they pick up each others' tunes.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37So, the tunes that they have get bigger, bigger, and bigger
0:49:37 > 0:49:40and turn into musical melodies.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Starting with just a single note fed into the computer,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46the intelligences build up a tune together.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50But do artificial intelligences singing to each other
0:49:50 > 0:49:51actually sound any good?
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Alexis has a composition called Ash.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59COMPUTER PLAYS SIMPLE TUNE AS IF ON PIANO
0:50:03 > 0:50:04So, if you close your eyes,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07it's like a four-year-old playing piano...
0:50:07 > 0:50:09- Yes.- ..learning how to play a piano.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Yes, it's very plodding...
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Its very, kind of, precise in the rhythm.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17No human would play this tune this way.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19It might not sound like much,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22but to write a pleasant melody from scratch,
0:50:22 > 0:50:26computers have to draw on something they just don't have - feelings.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28Alexis had to give his algorithms emotions,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31but they also need another form of human behaviour.
0:50:34 > 0:50:35As well as compose the music,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38the system can perform the melodies in an expressive way.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41So, there's kind of two layers to this,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44there's a layer where it produces the notes,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and there's a layer where it takes those notes
0:50:46 > 0:50:51and it tries to express them in a human way.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54Although, at the moment, it hardly sets the pulse racing,
0:50:54 > 0:51:00the potential for computer algorithms to replace human composers is huge.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03I believe in maybe ten years, maybe that soon,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06you will have many computers that can compose music
0:51:06 > 0:51:09that 80% of us, we won't be able to tell the difference between that
0:51:09 > 0:51:12and music composed by a human composer.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17Computers are undoubtedly a democratising force in music,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21taking the elitism out of composition and performance.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25But music is, by nature, an artistic form of human expression,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30so is there ultimately any point in taking ourselves out of the equation?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38APPLAUSE
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Alok, obviously, firstly, thank you so much singing on camera for us,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49- which was brave...- I played guitar too. I don't know where that went.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Well, judging by your singing, I can guess where it went.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56Did you leave thinking that there was anything in this AI music?
0:51:56 > 0:51:57Well, one key question for me is,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00"Will any of this ever replace people?"
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Whether it's composers or people performing.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06And, I think, you know, when it comes to listening to music,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09as you've discussed already, you kind of want to think
0:52:09 > 0:52:12that someone has slaved away, either producing it, or playing it...
0:52:12 > 0:52:15There's some emotion there that's a bits missing.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Now, you can programme computers to have some sort of emotions,
0:52:18 > 0:52:20as Alexis Kirke has done...
0:52:20 > 0:52:24and you can do a facsimile, but it always will be a bit of a facsimile.
0:52:24 > 0:52:25- But that's what- I- think.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28In 20 years, 30 years, if this stuff is all over the place
0:52:28 > 0:52:31and we're hearing computer-made music and it moves us in the same way,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34- then what's the difference? - We can actually test it.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36I mean, that was a fairly simple example there,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39but we have two pieces of music that we're going to play for you now.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42One of them is computer-generated, and one was written by a human.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45The... We're not going to tell you which is which.
0:52:45 > 0:52:46Let's play the first piece of music.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49COURTLY TUNE PLAYS
0:52:57 > 0:52:59And let's play the second piece of music...
0:52:59 > 0:53:01VERY SIMILAR TUNE PLAYS
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Now, we'll take a quick vote on that. You heard them both.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16How many of you thought that the computer-written one
0:53:16 > 0:53:18was the first piece of music?
0:53:19 > 0:53:22I'm with you on that. I thought that was the one.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26And then, how many of you thought that the second piece of music...?
0:53:28 > 0:53:30The computer-written one was the second piece of music,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32that's what you're going for?
0:53:32 > 0:53:35OK. The majority, including our experts...
0:53:35 > 0:53:37- You're wrong. - LAUGHTER
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Ah, but, it's not a fair call,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42because that's a style of music that's very, very rule driven.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45- Really?- It's really easy to generate something according to rules.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47By the way, the "computer-generated piece," as you thought,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51that was actually by Bach, just so you know. Just to rub it in.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53I actually knew that. That's why I didn't vote.
0:53:53 > 0:53:54Because it was cheating.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57To balance this debate slightly in favour of science,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00we're going to introduce an artist who creates musical works
0:54:00 > 0:54:02that simply wouldn't be possible without technology.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Please welcome Imogen Heap, ladies and gentlemen.
0:54:05 > 0:54:06APPLAUSE
0:54:06 > 0:54:08God love her!
0:54:09 > 0:54:10How are you? Now...
0:54:11 > 0:54:12I should say...
0:54:14 > 0:54:17- ..Grammy award-winning artist, Imogen Heap.- That's right.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21- And it was actually... The Grammy was in...- Engineering.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22..engineering, yeah.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24So, you were already working very successfully
0:54:24 > 0:54:26with the whole decks and bodies of equipment
0:54:26 > 0:54:29- that people would normally have...- Yes.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32But you have a new system that you've actually pioneered yourself?
0:54:32 > 0:54:33Yes.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36In between touring and making albums,
0:54:36 > 0:54:38I've been developing these with a team of people...
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Just have a quick look here...
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Within there, you've got gyroscopes, accelerometers...
0:54:44 > 0:54:45What's the cabling here?
0:54:45 > 0:54:48- This is the bend sensors. - Bend sensors, so you can...
0:54:48 > 0:54:52All of these motions, up, down, left, right...
0:54:52 > 0:54:55And also, the stage, I'm mapping, using a Kinect.
0:54:55 > 0:54:56- We're in a Kinect here?- Yes.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Well, somebody's found a use for a Kinect,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01rather than pretending to be rafting.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04And then also, you can flick through different modes,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07so you can record with it, you can feed in the sounds...
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Yes. Shall I give you an example?
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Yeah, I genuinely would love that. A full piece, or just a quick thing?
0:55:12 > 0:55:15A quick thing. First of all, I'm just going to demo...
0:55:15 > 0:55:17going now into playing...some notes.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19NOTES TINKLE
0:55:19 > 0:55:21And for those in the audience who can hear,
0:55:21 > 0:55:26it's going to the right side and to the left side of the speakers.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30And then I can also play a bass, if I wanted to. So...
0:55:30 > 0:55:32BASS NOTES PLAY
0:55:32 > 0:55:37So, I can change the filter, the kind of...filtering sounds,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40and I can mix between two different types of sounds
0:55:40 > 0:55:42as I move up and down the scale.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46So, it's giving me lots more freedom. I can also take...
0:55:46 > 0:55:48I can say, like...
0:55:48 > 0:55:49"Dara O'Briain..."
0:55:49 > 0:55:52HER SPEECH ECHOES AND DISTORTS
0:55:55 > 0:55:57And I could, "La, la, la..."
0:55:57 > 0:55:59SPEECH ECHOES
0:55:59 > 0:56:03So, I can change the grain...speed
0:56:03 > 0:56:06and I can again pan it to the left and the right
0:56:06 > 0:56:07and then the volume is here.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10But I can map anything to anything.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13Wow. OK, well, we'd love to hear something.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Ladies and gentlemen, Imogen Heap.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17APPLAUSE
0:56:17 > 0:56:22SHE SINGS, SOUNDS ECHO AND DISTORT
0:56:39 > 0:56:42TINKLING, THUMPING
0:56:47 > 0:56:50SHE WAILS, SOUND ECHOES
0:56:53 > 0:56:55ELECTRONIC BUZZING, OWL HOOTS
0:56:55 > 0:56:58CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:57:02 > 0:57:04So...
0:57:04 > 0:57:07Obviously, that's only a short taste of Imogen's work.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09You can go to her website to find more about her.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11I'm sure she has a web presence herself.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14It's worth seeing longer pieces to see what she achieves with that.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17It's impressive stuff. It's very beautiful stuff.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Now, we were making a slightly less sophisticated instrument
0:57:19 > 0:57:22with a 3-D printer. Mark, do you have it there?
0:57:22 > 0:57:25- I do.- Lovely. Wow, this is...
0:57:25 > 0:57:26- Yes.- Yeah...
0:57:26 > 0:57:28This is, apparently... Oh, that's...
0:57:28 > 0:57:30It's that. It's a whistle.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33It's a penny whistle of some description. Fabulous. Great.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36- Have a go.- OK. Grand. - It's not just an ordinary one.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38HE BLOWS TUNELESSLY
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Wow, yeah, it's not ordinary, is it? It's amazing(!)
0:57:43 > 0:57:47It creates some of the most beautiful sounds we've ever had.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Wow, this is how we finish the music show?! With these notes?!
0:57:50 > 0:57:52Thanks to all of my guests tonight,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55to Alok Jha, Tali Sharot and Mark Miodownik, as ever.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57Our special guest James May
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and our science gurus Dr Alex Lamont and Professor Trevor Cox,
0:58:00 > 0:58:01ladies and gentlemen.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04APPLAUSE
0:58:08 > 0:58:11And, of course, our thanks go to Imogen Heap.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Now, how to wrap this up?
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Cos it's been an 8,000-year journey, to be honest, in terms of music.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19We've seen the later stages of it here.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21Musical instrument played with the hand alone,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23the inside of James May's brain,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25we've smashed glasses in the name of science,
0:58:25 > 0:58:27so many great things.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30But what will stay with me is the fact that this journey started
0:58:30 > 0:58:34with a flute made out of bones from a mammoth,
0:58:34 > 0:58:37and 8,000 years later,
0:58:37 > 0:58:39- we've made this... - HE BLOWS TUNELESSLY
0:58:39 > 0:58:42That is as far as it's gone, ladies and gentlemen.
0:58:42 > 0:58:44We should be very, deeply impressed by that.
0:58:44 > 0:58:47Have a wonderful New Year. We'll see you again. Good night.
0:59:08 > 0:59:12Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd