Musical Science Projects

Today's Music Monday post offers science projects in honor of the new school year. I don't mean to imply, though, that the only time we do science projects is in school. Most people don't consider themselves to have an everyday connection to science or to be scientific, but aren't we? Don't we all do little experiments of our own (on ourselves) all year long?

We try to figure out what medicines or vitamins or exercises have the most favorable effect. We evaluate which hair product works best, which pillow or mattress allows us a better night's sleep, which routes take the shortest amount of time. Many of us have determined that certain kinds of music have predictable effects -- for instance, listening to certain songs before a sports event can help you get pumped up. We might find particular music best for studying, writing, or meditating.

Anyway, here are the musical science projects and articles:

* All Science Fair Project's Music section

* Science Buddies' Music Science

* Julian Rubin's music science projects

* Music Science Fair ideas from Ehow

* Exploratorium's Science of Music: The Accidental Scientist

* Brian Wesley Rich's Sound Experiments

* Robert Krampf, the Happy Scientist, has a number of sound-related projects. He generously made one of his subscriber-only videos available for us: Noisy String: Explore the importance of sounding boards for guitars and other stringed instruments. Thanks, Rob!

* PBS's The Music Instinct (Science and Song)

* Psychology Today's music blog