Ode to the Brain

"Ode to the Brain" is the ninth episode in the Symphony of Science music video series. Here’s creator John Boswell’s explanation of this video:

Through the powerful words of scientists Carl Sagan, Robert Winston, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Jill Bolte Taylor, Bill Nye, and Oliver sacks, it covers different aspects the brain including its evolution, neuron networks, folding, and more. The material sampled for this video comes from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Jill Bolte Taylor's TED Talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran's TED Talk, Bill Nye's Brain episode, BBC's "The Human Body", Oliver sacks' TED Talk, Discovery Channel's "Human Body: Pushing the Limits" and more.

Götterdämmerung & Propaganda

I admit to seriously mixed feelings of fascination and revulsion when I watch this 8-minute 1941 German film entitled Stukas. Richard Wagner is among my Top Five favorite composers and here we see the remarkable curative strength of music, specifically from his 1876 Ring-cycle opera Götterdämmerung.

Trouble is, the miraculously cured patient in the film is a clinically depressed Nazi pilot who is hospitalized and then hears the soaring strains of Wagner’s music. The pilot is miraculously rejuvenated, rejoins his cheering squadron and takes to the air again to continue the Reich’s merciless bombing of Britain.

This clip’s Götterdämmerung music is worthy here, but I offer Stukas more as a clear example of how propaganda is structured and the type of story it tells. We live in an age where the propaganda is subtler, but it’s undeniably present, especially on some cable networks. Beware.

Thanks to Alex Ross, author of the excellent book The Rest is Noise, who earlier posted this film on his blog at www.therestisnoise.com. 

Musical Interlude: "Teach Me to Dance"

Here's the wonderful dance scene from Michael Cocoyanis's film adaptation of Zorba the Greek, the 1946 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. The story concerns the interplay of our earthy selves with our intellectual selves, represented by Alexis Zorba (played by Anthony Quinn) and Basil, a young English-Greek intellectual (played by Alan Bates), respectively. 

At one point in the book, Zorba recounts: "I felt once more how simple a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roasted chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. And all that is required to feel that here and now is happiness, is a simple and frugal heart."

In this famous scene, Basil ~ learning from Zorba how to enjoy life in all of its beauty and tragedy ~ asks Zorba to teach him to dance.

Click here for more about the book.

Click here for more about the film.

A Musical Interlude ~ Lux Aurumque

Here American composer Eric Whitacre (born 1970) carries Internet communication to a heavenly level, combining 185 voices posted on YouTube clips to sing his Lux Aurumque.

The singers are from 12 countries around the world. Whitacre ~ who also is conducting this video ~ merged hundreds of individually recorded tracks to produce the beautiful finished rendition.

(If you want to see what just one of the hundreds of tracks is like, click here for Melody Myers of Tennessee.)

A Celebration of Resurrection

For Easter, I'd like to offer this brief musical celebration of the Resurrection. It's performed by the Serbian orchestra Stupovi as part of an effort to raise funds for reconstruction of the Pillars of St. George medieval monastery. Some of the images of children, spring blossoms and joy are simply beautiful.

Musical Interlude ~ A 17th Century Cantata

Don't underestimate the 1600s when it comes to incredible, spirit-lifting music. Here's a 4-minute chamber cantata from Luigi Rossi (1597-1653) joyfully played by the European group L'Arpeggiata that's guaranteed to thrill.

Musical Interlude ~ "We Are All Connected"

This video strikes me as odd and yet beautifully meaningful, with the words of prominent physicists put to popular music. It’s part of the “Symphony of Science” being created by John Boswell using clips from Nova, Cosmos and other television programs. This 4-minute piece uses astrochemist Carl Sagan, quantum physicist Richard Feynman, “Science Guy” Bill Nye and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and is titled “We Are All Connected.”

Watch it, absorb it, and you won’t forget it.

Musical Interlude ~ "War"

"We don't need no more trouble."

I agree.

Saw this on PBS a while ago ~ a great rendition of the Bob Marley song "War," performed by musicians in over 20 countries. The point was to demonstrate a harmonious world, and this time it really works. Hear the words of the reggae bodhisattva:

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned ~
Everywhere is war ~
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes ~
Everywhere is war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

A Musical Interlude ~ The "J'attendrai Swing"

Take four minutes to simply relax and journey to a different time, different place ~ Paris, 1939 ~ to hear a couple of Europe’s most renowned jazz musicians play "J’attendrai Swing."

Though I’ve been fond of Django Reinhardt’s music for years, this rare video is the first time I've seen him play guitar with his distinctive two-finger style. Born a gypsy in 1910, he was badly burned at 18 when flames ravaged a caravan he shared with his young bride, Bella. Already an accomplished guitarist, he was forced to re-learn the instrument and develop new fingering patterns to compensate for a partially paralyzed hand. He went on to become one of the world's best-loved guitarists.

This video also features Stéphane Grappelli, the famous French violinist who ~ with Django ~ in 1934 formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France, the first and most famous all-string jazz band ever.

The Perfect Beat to Save a Life

I’m not making this up.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Medical School have identified a song that has the perfect beat for performing CPR . . . Stayin’ Alive.

Yes, doctors and medical students in the study found they performed the ideal number of chest compressions at the optimum rhythm while listening to the 1977 Bee Gees hit from the movie Saturday Night Fever. 

According to Dr. David Matlock, the study’s author, the American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, which is more than most people realize. The doctors and students listed to Stayin’ Alive on their iPods while performing CPR on mannequins. “It drove them and motivated them to keep up the rate, which is the most important thing,” he said.

It seems some people in the American Heart Association have been aware of the Stayin’ Alive phenomenon for a couple of years now and have used it in CPR classes. The AHA’s Dr. Vinay Nadkarni of the University of Pennsylvania said there’s also a song by the group Queen with a similar beat, “but it didn’t seem quite as appropriate.”

That song?

Another One Bites the Dust.

Click here for the Associated Press article.

A Musical Interlude ~ Dead Can Dance

I have some pressing writing jobs to finish, so I’m taking a few days away from Bloglandia. I’ll leave you with another of my musical interludes, this time a 1995 performance of the Australian group, Dead Can Dance. This live performance of Rakim is about eight minutes long. When Brendan Perry switches to English toward the end of the song, the lyrics are:

Favored son,
Turn in the garden.
Shades of one,
Sins forgotten.
Favored signs to find hope
In the rounds of life.
Favored rhymes to find hope
In the sands of life.
Favored son,
Fence in your heart.
Saviored son,
Sins forgotten.

The combined talents of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard defy being put into a convenient genre, yet the duo attracted a worldwide audience until their eventual breakup in 1998.

Enjoy.