Music for PhDs

What purpose does music serve? The answer is a mystery, whether you have feet, feathers, or fins.

We talk about dancing parrots, singing whales, and music that got sent into space for aliens to find.

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Ah the good old days, when the upper class spoke five court languages and everyone else couldn’t read. Still, opera endures as powerful emotional storytelling.

Hear how opera singers build their lungs, learn about the International Phonetic Alphabet, and musical “accents”.

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Did you know more adults in Canada sing in choirs than play on hockey teams? In. Canada.

Singing is the ultimate combination of music + language. We sing lullabies to babies, and songs to bring people together. Learn why music making isn’t a solo endeavor - it’s all about bringing groups together.

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Yep, science confirms that listening to old dead white men does not make you - or your baby - smarter.

Instead, listen to what you enjoy - it will ‘activate’ your brain. We hear from real life PhDs and Smart People what music they use to focus.

Babies are Pattern Detection Machines™. They’re always soaking up information around them, both in speech and music (and unusual robot sounds somewhere in between). Imogen Heap composed a song - with help from science! - to make babies happy. Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Is music a language? Not really. But speech does have musical elements! Featuring a spoken word poem by Calgary's poet laureate Natalie Meisner, "Carry On."

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On the season finale for Music for PhDs, Alexina Louie draws inspiration from astronauts and her Asian heritage. We talk about imposter syndrome and finding your own voice. Ever wondered what a black hole sounds like? Dr. Kate is here for all your space-music questions.

We are ringing in 2020 with Alberta based composer, Kristin Flores. Kristin is inspired by nature, and has even composed for specific outdoor spaces. We talk about her piece “Waves”, plus pregnancy, Mexico, and teaching your own kids music. Dr. Kate unpacks the Suzuki Method of teaching music, and how babies start to specialize pattern recognition. There’s also monkeys!

Happy Holidays! My gift to you is this episode with the hilarious - and very modest - Jocelyn Morlock. We talk about the creative process, i.e. plummeting into despair, knitting, and why all composers love the movie Amadeus. Dr. Kate gives us all an earworm, and explains how you can never escape your musical past.

https://www.sunitalegallou.com/musicforphds/episode-6-jocelyn-morlock

We chat with Jared Miller and get the low-down on his piece Under Sea, Above Sky, which one reviewer called "a love letter to Planet Earth." Dr. Kate has the scoop on what the conductor is actually doing up there, and how expressive body sway leads to more emotional - and better - performances.