Humans have been singing to the heavens for millennia. This Monday, however, the heavens will be singing along: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will be singing his song ISS — Is Somebody Singing? with schools and communities across the country, live from the International Space Station. He wrote the song in collaboration with Barenaked Ladies lead singer Ed Robertson especially for the upcoming Music Monday, which is designed to celebrate music education in Canada.
As a kid I loved Simon and Garfunkel’s classic song, “The Sound of Silence.”
Somewhere in the decades between the 1970s and today we’ve forgotten what silence sounds like. Although we might think we “tune out” the jarring din and chaotic noises that assault our senses on all sides today, scientists tell us a different story. They attribute much of our stress levels to mindless haste and noise. They warn that some birds and other wild urban creatures avoid downtown areas of mega cities. And some ...
Photo: flickr/VicBurolla and all that improbable blue
Songs can be used to woo lovers, to change the world or just to entertain. In these pursuits, musicians often write tunes that are similar to other successful songs.
Humpback whales, it has been discovered, take a similar tact.
According to a study reported online last month in the journal Current Biology , at any given time within a population, male humpbacks all sing the same mating tune.
"Our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale," says Ellen Garland, a graduate student at ...
French President Charles de Gaulle was coaxed from a visit with Mayor Jean Drapeau on July 24, 1967, by a crowd of thousands chanting his name outside Montréal’s City Hall.
As he stepped onto the balcony over the building’s main entrance, a great cheer rose up. With confidence, de Gaulle gave a brief speech, punctuating his final words with the unforgettable cry "Vive le Québec libre!"
Below the balcony, where throngs gathered to glimpse de ...
