From The Monkees to Westlife – boy bands have been climbing the charts with catchy pop for decades. And since the Spice Girls’ appeared all those years ago, it’s not just boys who churn out these number one hits. Millions of people love it; they run to the dance floor and wail at the tops of their voices, or download the tunes to their mobile phones and irritate train-users. Music is about playing instruments, singing with feeling, making a statement, isn’t it? Well, it’s a matter of taste – but is there anything scientific about why people like different music?
Have you ever wondered what makes a piece of music popular?
You might like to …
• find out if there are scientific reasons why some pieces of music are so popular
• ask a sample of people to rank pieces of music from their favourites to their least favourites, and find out whether this varies with factors such as your age or your gender
• research what part of the brain responds to music and why some music has strange effects, such as making the hairs stand up on the back of your neck
• find out what harmonics are, and how they are produced
• compare recordings on different machines – a mini-disc, audio tape, CD and mini-disc; find out how they vary; carry out ‘blind’ tests to see which people prefer
• design (and make) your own musical instrument to produce a particular sound quality and range.