Main content

Everybody Likes Music, Don't They?

How can a song mean terror for one person and boredom for another? Stories about complicated relationships with music, and reflections from Gareth Malone and Sophie Scott.

Some people seem completely impervious to music. To them it means nothing at all. Some suffer when faced with live performance; others fail to connect with music as social glue. And then there are those who don’t ‘get’ what music implies or the emotions it’s designed to provoke. Music can be used to sway political views. It can also be part of torture, leaving indelible effects on the human brain.

‘Everybody likes music don’t they?’ reveals the thoughts and insights of people who find their relationship with music to be a complicated one.

Voices and sounds reveal previously untold stories, while choral trainer Gareth Malone and professor of cognitive neuroscience Sophie Scott muse on the many ways that the human brain interprets music. Is there any way of knowing that what you hear is what I hear? How can a song mean terror for one person and boredom for another?

With Gareth Malone, Professor Sophie Scott, James Tysome (Emmeline Centre for hearing implants, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge), Frances Harris, Cherry, Mike Moreton, Sofie, Nav Chana, Margaret Farquharson, Christine Bell, Flora, Sheldon Gilbert, John Lwanda, Anna Papaeti and George Szirtes.

A Tandem Production for ±«Óãtv Radio 3, first broadcast in September 2019

Presenter: Faith Waddell
Producers: Faith Waddell and Sarah Devonald
Assistant producer: Sofie Vilcins
Sound designer: Riccardo Marcucci

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Sat 2 Jan 2021 11:45

Broadcasts

  • Sun 15 Sep 2019 18:45
  • Sat 2 Jan 2021 11:45

Featured in...

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh explore the puzzle of Beethoven’s poor health.

Classical music in a strongman's Russia – has anything changed since Stalin's day?

What composer Gabriel Prokofiev and I found in Putin's Moscow...

Six Secret Smuggled Books

Six classic works of literature we wouldn't have read if they hadn't been smuggled...

Grid

Seven images inspired by the grid

World Music collector, Sir David Attenborough

The field recordings Attenborough of music performances around the world.