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Brian Cox to science the shit out of music and make it all perfect

By | Published on Tuesday 7 October 2014

Brian Cox

Everyone’s favourite physicist (except in the unlikely event that you can name another one) Brian Cox is to host an event at the Royal Opera House next month, titled ‘What Makes The Perfect Song?’ It’ll attempt to answer that question. Obviously.

But it’ll answer it with SCIENCE! A panel of musicians and physicists (so you’ll be able to learn the names of some others) will bash out the issue so that we can eradicate bad music from the world.

Says Royal Opera House Creative Producer Tom Nelson: “The best arias in opera have some of the simplest tunes, yet some of those arias will last for centuries while other tunes being produced now may be forgotten in a year or two, and we want to ask why. You could never forget Luciano Pavarotti’s performance of ‘Nessun Dorma’ being used at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, but are there examples of contemporary songs that we will still be using as the theme tune for the 2116 World Cup? I think it’s a fascinating question”.

He adds: “We will also look at the structure and lyrics of songs and ask at a scientific level whether there is something in a tune that provokes an emotional response, or just produces something catchy”.

Tickets will be available exclusively to people signed up to the Royal Opera House student scheme, but you’ll be able to watch the whole thing live on the ROH YouTube channel from 7.30pm on 24 Nov.



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