The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
George Frey/Reuters
Sacred music joins people in a collective expression - whether of joy, sorrow or protest.
SIlly sounds or smooth jazz?
Researchers teamed up with artist Imogen Heap to discover what music makes babies laugh.
Lionsgate
No film could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time.
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
Musicians have largely greeted Trump with the sound of silence – and in doing so, they check the normalisation of the current administration.
Dale Robinette
We all need a little trip to La La Land.
Dan Sultan played a defiant version of Midnight Oil’s The Dead Heart at 1967: Music in the Key of Yes.
Prudence Upton
From My Island Home to Treaty, Indigenous musical luminaries gathered in Sydney on Tuesday to sing classic songs marking the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 referendum.
On New Year’s Eve, Mariah Carey was at a loss for words.
Stephanie Keith/Reuters
From The Monkees to Mariah Carey, lip-syncers have been getting mocked for decades.
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in La La Land.
Black Label Media
Musicals are back in vogue, with La La Land cleaning up at the Golden Globes. The film is, among other things, an homage to the classic musicals of old. So what are the must see movies of the genre?
Will Brooker
Spending a year living life as David Bowie gave me a better understanding of the pop icon’s mind and work.
A Bowie mural in Brixton, London.
Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
Amid the tribute concerts and outpourings of sadness on the anniversary of Bowie’s death, we should be wary of mythologising him.
Turns out children don’t necessarily become smarter just because they have learned how to play the piano or sing in a choir.
Members of the band MP4 present Jeremy Corbyn and Tracy Brabin MP with copies of the Jo Cox charity single. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images
MPs and rock songs may seem like odd bedfellows, but the charity single marks a longstanding shift in how music mobilises the masses.
Kerinin/Flickr
A new study analyses the chemistry of a Stradivarius, but there’s little evidence these violins actually sound any better.
Detail from Jenny Hval’s album Blood Bitch.
Supplied
In a world seemingly spinning out of control, music has important roles to play – either to reflect or interpret the state of affairs, or simply to provide solace.
Carolling wasn’t just for Christmas back in the day. Easter, New Year, and even political events such as battles were occasions for carol singing.
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Good Christian Men, Rejoice dates from the 14th century; O Come, All Ye Faithful may contain covert Jacobite symbolism and Silent Night is now UNESCO recognised.
usaghumphreys/flickr
A Canadian police force on Prince Edward Island is threatening drink drivers with Nickelback – continuing a tried and tested method of punishment.
A saxophone player busks in New York: as technology transforms their industry, quite a lot of musicians are leaving the field.
Michael Tapp
Whenever you listen to a streamed song, like it but don’t buy it and instead stream it again, you are casting a vote for the future nonexistence of professional musicians.
Exposing babies to multiple languages can help them detect differences in musical sounds from an early age.
from www.shutterstock.com
For bilingual children, the constant switching between languages is like a frequent exercise for the ears and the brain.
Be young, be foolish …
Kaspars Grinvalds
Known as the reminiscence bump, memory scientists are hotly debating what causes it.
Manuel de Almeida/EPA
Cohen’s label declined to release the album containing Hallelujah, a song that has now inspired over 300 versions.