Musicals have odds like venture capital: only one in ten makes money, and two out of ten lose it all. The hits, however, are huge. “Cats” probably made a 3,500% return for its initial investors. Since it debuted in London 27 years ago “The Phantom of the Opera”, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has grossed $5.6 billion worldwide, more than any film or television show.
Richard Grey, Science Correspondent, The Telegraph:
They are the songs you cannot get out of your head. Now scientists may have found a way to help anyone plagued by those annoying tunes that lodge themselves inside our heads and repeat on an endless loop.
Researchers claim the best way to stopping the phenomenon, sometimes known as earworms – where snippets of a catchy song inexplicably play like a broken record in your brain – is to solve some tricky anagrams.
This can force the intrusive music out of your working memory, they say, allowing it to be replaced with other more amenable thoughts.
But they also warn not to try anything too difficult as those irritating melodies may wiggle their way back into your consciousness.
For those unwilling to carry around a book of anagrams, a good novel may also do the trick.
Recently the 1812 Overture took over my mind. I have no idea how it got there, all I know is that for the rest of the day I had the last five minutes (cannons and all) playing on a constant loop in my head while I was trying to work. If only I had known that a quick game of scrabble would have taken care of it.
"The Earth has music for those who listen." George Santayana
In October 2012, NASA satellites recorded mysterious radio waves emanating from Earth. These radio waves known as "Chorus," were given an audio rendering. This is what they heard. For the very first time, we could hear the Earth speak. So we decided to speak back.
Original song "The Night Sky" by Kerry Muzzey. Read more about the NASA research here. Produced by DS2DIO.
Starting today you can visit MusicMoves.Me to view all the Smarter Creativity music related content.
The app’s main function is to tell you if you’re in tune. But it doesn’t just tell you--it shows you. Play a note, and you’ll see your pitch traced as a vertical line on the screen. If you’re within the green band in the center, you’re money. If you’re to the right or the left, you’re either sharp or flat. But what’s so great is that the feedback isn’t limited to that instant. The app continually charts the last second or two of activity on your screen, a "pitch history" that gives you a simple visual sense of how steady you’re playing.
Recently I was having lunch with friends that are music teachers and performers. Ella Fitzgerald started playing in the background and we were discussing her amazing voice when one of my friends remarked how she had perfect pitch, which is why she could so easily scat the way she did. The idea of perfect pitch is fascinating and mind-boggling to me. Almost immediately after that conversation I saw this app and I could not help but think that while most everyone needs this app to help them all that this app accomplishes was happening in Fitzgerald's mind in real time while she performed. She didn't need an external reference, she had this app in her head.
Exploring the ways artists, artisans and technicians are intelligently expressing their creativity with a passion for culture, technology, marketing and advertising.
A blog by Antonio Ortiz.
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