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Playlist: Music Exploration

Compiled By: Skyler Gronholz

Caption: PRX default Playlist image

An ever-growing collection of my favorite non-fiction audio about all things music.

The Wire Episode 1: Hallo, Hallo

From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Part of the The Wire series | 52:54

First episode of The Wire, discussing the experience of music as it was affected by the invention of electricity.

Thewire1_small The arrival of public electricity on the eve of the 20th century transformed virtually every aspect of daily life - not least of all, the experience of music. We begin our journey on The Wire with a reflection on how it has changed the way we think of the human voice, the way we communicate sound to large groups of people, and the way we now take for granted that sound is something that can be preserved, stored and heard again.

The Wire Episode 2: The Change of the Sound

From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Part of the The Wire series | 52:55

Episode two of The Wire, this show explores how the manipulation of recorded audio with magnetic recording tape changed music.

Thewire2_small Electricity refined the way sounds were captured in time - adding a new dimension of fidelity to the acoustic phonograph. The invention of magnetic recording tape represented a quantum leap forward in audio technology. For the first time, thanks to tape, sound could be manipulated. What had been the representation of a singular moment in time became a malleable moment in space. It was the change of the sound.

Wired for Sound: Music and the Brain

From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Part of the The Nerve - Music and the Human Experience series | 53:32

The Nerve Part 1 looks at how we are wired for sound – and just how all the wonder that music makes possible, is possible itself in the first place.

Thenerve-240x240_small On Episode 1 of The Nerve, host Jowi Taylor takes you on an aural journey, from the creation of sound at its source, through the air and the outer ear to the cochlea, the spinal column, and the cerebral cortex. On the way, you'll hear about how and why hearing evolved, and how the human ear is designed to react to certain sounds. Why do we hear some sounds as music, and other sounds as noise? What's the critical relationship between anticipation and satisfaction that drives music? Just what happens when the human brain and music become dance partners? And what roles do the elements we call rhythm, harmony, melody and timbre play in that dance?