Brouhaha at the Ballet
Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring is beloved by many today, but its premiere in 1913 left much to be desired. From the moment the orchestra began to play, members of the Paris audience began to boo and hiss. Others, however, were fascinated and impressed by what they were hearing and seeing, and they showed their support of the conductor and dancers by cheering loudly.
The cheerers and the booers soon turned on each other, exchanging angry words and eventually, breaking out into an all-out fight. As punches flew and the noise level rose, the musicians and dancers struggled to complete the ballet. Stravinsky later blamed the ruckus on lead dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinksy, whom he said made a gesture in the direction of the audience that was “too audacious and too intimate.”
iPods Safe for Pacemakers, Study Finds
Last year, a widely reported study concluded that errant electronic noise from iPods and other mobile music devices can cause malfunctions in implantable cardiac pacemakers. But doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston disagreed with that finding—after all, they’d treated hundreds of children and teenagers with pacemakers who used their music players every day. The doctors decided to launch their own study, monitoring the effects of four popular MP3 players on 51 pacemaker and implantable cardio-defibrillator patients. In all of the 255 tests conducted, no interference was detected, and none of the patients reported any negative symptoms.
The only potential concern raised by researchers was that in about 40% of patients, the music player caused interference with the pacemaker’s telemetry, which allows for communication between the programmer and the
pacemaker itself. This interference went away, however, when the device was moved at least six inches away from
the pacemaker. The study was published in the April issue of the journal Heart Rhythm.
Math Rocks
For centuries scholars have been fascinated by the connection between mathematics and music. More than 2,000 years ago, the famous mathematician Pythagoras discovered that musical intervals could be described using simple ratios, and during the Middle Ages, a theory developed that the sun, moon, and planets could be viewed as a form of inaudible, yet perfectly harmonious, music.
That research continues today. In a recent issue of the journal Science, a trio of researchers has outlined their method, called “geometrical music theory,” for translating the language of music theory into that of contemporary geometry. Sequences of notes such as chords, rhythms, and scales, can be categorized into families. The families are then assigned mathematical structure, so that they can be represented by points in a complex geometrical space.
The researchers hope their work will help people to gain a deeper understanding of how music works, and they believe its applications could include the development of new musical toys, instruments, and visualization tools.
A Whale of a Duet
Humanities professor David Rothenberg of the New Jersey Institute of Technology has been fascinated by whales and
the sounds they make for years. An avid clarinetist, Rothenberg has taken his fascination one step further, recording
an album of duets with the extraordinary creatures. The album, Whale Music, can be heard at www.thousandmilesong.
com.
To create the album, Rothenberg traveled from Hawaii to Russia, recording the sounds of beluga, orca, and humpback
whales and playing his bass clarinet along with them. The album includes a never-before-heard Pete Seeger song, “The
World’s Last Whale.”
Rothenberg says, “I see this recording changing how we listen to the sea, leading us to appreciate beautiful and little-known sounds from the world’s watery depths.”
Musical Help for Man’s Best Friend
For years, research has shown that music affects the human nervous and cardiovascular systems, providing stress relief and relaxation. Now, new research has found that music may have the same effect on dogs. Hundreds of boarding kennels, animal hospitals, rescue shelters, and owners have adopted music as a means of therapy for anxious dogs.
Songs with slower tempos, simple melodies, and few instruments seem to have the greatest impact. This is likely because dogs hear at a much higher frequency than humans do; because of this, music intended for animals should also be played at a much lower volume than we might play for ourselves. One study in Belfast, Northern Ireland, exposed dogs to a variety of music genres as well as recorded human conversations and other sounds. The dogs
spent most of the time resting and sleeping when classical music was being played. Heavy metal appeared to agitate them, while human conversation and pop music seemed to have no effect at all.
Harmonious History
In May, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington named 25 additions to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. Among them were Michael Jackson’s legendary album Thriller, the first trans-Atlantic radio broadcast in 1925, the Sounds of Earth recording that traveled through space with Voyager, and performances by artists such as Roy Orbison, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker.
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian, with advice from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), chooses 25 recordings each year that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The recordings must be at least 10 years old. The 2007 inductees bring the total number of recordings in the registry to 250.
Do you have an idea for a recording that should be preserved? Nominations, including online submissions from the public, as well as recommendations from the NRPB, are now being taken at www.loc.gov/nrpb/.
Neil Young’s Tangled Web
Neil Young has been honored with awards, gold records, and a throng of adoring fans, but it’s safe to say that this is a first for the legendary rock star. Jason Bond, a biologist at East Carolina University, has named a newly discovered trapdoor spider after the musician, dubbing it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.
Bond discovered the spider last year in Jefferson County, Alabama. The genus Myrmekiaphila refers to a group of trapdoor spiders, which live in burrows and craft trap doors that protect their dwellings while also trapping passing
rey. When it comes to naming new species, specific rules must be adhered to, but within those rules, a scientist has a lot of freedom. Says Bond, “I really enjoy Neil Young’s music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice.”
Young is not the first musician to have a member of the animal kingdom named in his honor. The whirligig beetle (Orectochilus orbisonorum) was named for Roy Orbison.
