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Schoolhouse Rock was always great. But the music from one particular episode has haunted us down the years.
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How did wall-to-wall music find its way into every public space? Meet General George Squier.
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How a few inaccurate jingles came to represent entire cultures.
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After a month at the mercy of an earworm, I found the cure. Then it all went wrong.
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The mark of a great film score is knowing when to shut up.
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They are some of your favorite artists of all time. And you don't even know their names.
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HOW MUSIC DOES THAT returns with a Mexican bandleader whose coloristic imagination defined the sound of the space age.
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The quality of 'cool' in music has deep evolutionary roots in the brain.
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Sometimes the greatest moment in music is the one you don't hear.
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After greatness came one bad decision—and then, the forgetting.
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Eight hundred years ago, they left the church and found the world.
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Most covers stay on the surface. Sara Bareilles got down into the bones.
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Sternberg didn't like film music—until he needed it.
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Classical music isn't that white by accident -- and it can't afford to stay that way.
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If you love a song you don't really care about, see if it's from the year you were 12.
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When I was a boy, I sat bored in church, trying to break a code.
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Children are taught to fear and avoid this sound. All the more reason to love it.
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The lyrics are poetic and evocative. But let's talk about that long trip home.
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Antonio Vivaldi was a very big deal -- and then he wasn't. But he had a plan.
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For a few weeks, TikTok forged an unholy alliance of banjo, yodeling, and scientific notation.
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Sometimes you find the Vibe. Sometimes the Vibe finds you.
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The fact that music unfolds over time is key to understanding its unique power.
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'Wait a minute - how do YOU know Purple Haze?!'
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It's an electrifying cry from the ancient heart of Bali. Or is it?
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Classical music isn't that white by accident -- and it can't afford to stay that way.
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Strip language away, and the human voice becomes a pure instrument of emotion.
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One tune tormented me since I was two. I finally figured out why.
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Before every music course I teach, I have the same argument with myself.
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One of the most powerful stylistic movements in music starts with a simple idea.
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Piano Ravel and Orchestra Ravel are both great. They met only twice.
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Sometimes the greatest moment in music is silence.
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Mussorgsky asked the impossible. Ravel made it happen.
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Eight hundred years ago, they left the church and found the world.
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Why do kids in many cultures taunt each other with a falling minor third?
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How the muggle and wizarding worlds collide in the Harry Potter theme.
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For magic and wonder, there's one go-to instrument.
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Most covers stay on the surface. Sara Bareilles got down into the bones.
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Beethoven composed while deaf -- but that's not the amazing part.
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From Sting theory to a wedding in Bulgaria, it's meters gone wild.
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The most captivating piece by the most famous composer you've never heard of.
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It was a middle-class party trick. Then it changed rock and roll.
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When music is stripped down to its essentials, every note matters.
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'The Gnome' is a creepy masterclass in orchestration.
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Fred Rogers hid a geeky musical inside joke in his theme song.
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A computer has chosen the most iconic song ever. Time for the human rebuttal.
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One note has been teasing you, making promises to you, and leading you home your whole life.
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Oh, little piano piece. You're not in Kansas anymore.
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There's a reason so many songwriters hate the one that made them famous.
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So I wasn't going to be John Williams. But I had one Hail Mary left.
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Just in time for the Oscars, I found my abandoned dream in a box.
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The 'Stairway' lawsuit was based on a modern myth about how music is created.
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Johnny's gonna be fine -- but I'm worried about Trent.
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Music without dissonance is like a rollercoaster without hills. It's light rail.
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From the Satanic Panic to Pokémon, a creepy folklore often bubbles under our music.
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Beethoven lit a fuse that burned for 89 years. This was the boom.
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Whether music surprises you depends on where your ears have been.
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Without lyrics or even a descriptive title -- nothing but vibrations in the air -- this piece brings people to tears. Here's how.
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It's a hidden key to music's emotional power. And it's not all that hidden.
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I had never felt so tangibly dropped into another world.
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Even starting this piece was an act of pure optimism. Now to finish it.
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In which two little kids knew a big thing I didn't know. And I'm okay with that. No really.
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A gorgeous technique to unify emotion in music has been passed down from the Renaissance to Radiohead.
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From a Bach fugue to Diana's funeral to Truman's wall, this technique is the music of finality.
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The edgy, powerful electric guitar tune that kicks off Pulp Fiction has a long and surprising history.
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The quality of "cool" in music has deep roots in the evolution of the brain.
