How music works: the science and psychology of beautiful sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and beyond

So, what is music, anyway?

What is perfect pitch and do I have it?

Notes and noises

Xylophones and saxophones : same notes but different sounds

Instrumental break

How loud is loud?

Harmony and cacophony

Weighing up scales

The self-confident major and the emotional minor

I got rhythm

Making music

Listening to music

Fiddly details. Naming and identifying intervals ; Using the Decibel system ; Tuning an instrument to the pentatonic scale ; Calculating equal temperament ; The notes of the major keys.

CD. How to get different sounds from a guitar string

Can you guess what this instrument is?

Why some notes clash and others get along together

Different ways to accompany a tune

Ancient and modern scales

3,000-year-old music : ancient harp tuning

The horrible out-of-tune bamboo whistle

Confident majors and emotional minors

How to bring tears to the eyes of the audience

The magnificent drinking-straw oboe.