• Andover [MN] math assignment turns numbers into music [from StarTribune.com]. “Last school year, as Carda tried to find a way to pass on to her geometry students some of the fascination she has with math, she asked students to figure out all the prime numbers up to 500. Then she added that it would be pretty cool if someone could compose a song using the gaps between those numbers.”

• Working Life: Songwriting and Science [from Science magazine!]. C. Neal Stewart Jr. lays out the parallels between songwriting and grant-writing/paper-writing. (Thanks to Marc Servetnick for this one.)

[Keaton Wilson] is a member of The Whizpops, a children’s band that focuses on elementary education and science curriculum as the basis of their lyrics. One of his favorite songs on their new ocean-themed album is “Dolphin Disco.” The founders of the band, Casey Schaefer and Kevin Cashman, are elementary school teachers. The song-writing duties fall on them, but they often run lyrics by Wilson to ensure scientific accuracy.

• Daytona teacher’s song-and-dance program helps kids absorb lessons (Daytona Beach News-Tribune)

The former cheerleader and Miss Bethune-Cookman University started developing the math and reading programs — including software and videos being used in classrooms at other Volusia schools and across the country — 10 years ago while teaching fifth grade in Broward County. Frustrated when her students had trouble grasping the concept of division, Pasley-Henry tried creating songs and dance moves to capture the children’s attention and help them remember the math rules to follow.

• Communicating science through hip-hop (PLoS Blogs)

Ethan Perlstein: “…I think every seminal paper in the history of science should be immortalized and popularized in rap form. Someone needs to call Kanye’s or Eminem’s agents and see if they’re interested in bringing science to the masses. There are lots of papers to go around!”

• Brotherly punk duo writes music for stage (The Western Star)

Being asked to write a song on relatively short notice is a tall order for nearly any artist. Asking a punk band to write a tune about mathematics for a stage play doesn’t make the task any easier.

• 10 awesome pieces of astronomy-inspired music (Astronomy magazine)

“Talent is an Asset” [is] the coolest song about Einstein ever. Example: “Look at Albert, isn’t he a sight; growing, growing at the speed of light.”

• Oded Ben-Horin of The Science Fair is co-organizing a Write A Science Opera (WASO) course to be held August 3-9 in Norway. It targets middle-school science teachers! For details, please consult the WASO flyer.

• Speaking of middle school science, the Honeywell- and NASA-sponsored musical physics program FMA Live! Forces in Motion is now 10 years old. The Pensacola News-Journal has a report.

• Violinist Mark Wood warmed up for a performance at Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem by contributing to a lesson in the physics of sound.

James Clarke of King’s College London is this year’s Lab Grammy champion for his video “The Tale of a Post Doc”!

• Singer Charlotte Church says physics rocks her universe (New Scientist)

The song Entanglement came about after a house party in south London. A friend’s friend is doing a master’s in something physics-related. One of his specialities is entanglement theory. He started talking about it and I just thought it was incredible.

• Bringing mathematics to the community (University of Western Ontario)

Led by [Western University education professor George] Gadanidis, the Math Performance Centre … seeks to promote and support the celebration of mathematics through the arts.

• Vocalist Gia Mora returns to Bethesda with an updated ‘Einstein’s Girl’ (Gazette.net)

“There’s the Big Bang Theory [about the origin of the universe] … where everything collides and explodes,” [Mora] said. Cosmic dust coalesces into planets, and things start to settle down a little, much like falling in love and entering into a relationship over time. “I dived into it and thought, ‘This metaphor could really work.’”

• Verbal Bling, Homicide, and Afrocentricity (Huffington Post)

Baba Brinkman writes: “When I was commissioned to write The Rap Guide to Evolution and challenged to communicate the key ideas behind Darwin’s theory in hip-hop form, my first thought was to go through my record collection and see if I could find any rap songs that already center around evolutionary themes. The three that seemed like the best candidates were ‘I’m a African’ by Dead Prez, ‘Survival of the Fittest’ by Mobb Deep, and ‘Hypnotize’ by Biggie Smalls. So I set myself the challenge of rewriting these songs to make them explicitly instead of just implicitly evolutionary.”

• Saline native nominated for Grammy (Daily Register)

Rocky Alvey who grew up near Muddy and is now the director of Vanderbilt University’s Dyer Observatory co-wrote an album that was nominated for a Grammy Award. Alvey, who combined his lifelong passion for astronomy with his musical writing and singing skills, teamed up with two prominent female singer/songwriters to produce their album, “The Mighty Sky.”

• RSM curator relishes his two loves: ecology and music (Leader-Post)

For some songwriters, combining music with social and environmental activism is a natural fit. But that isn’t the case for Glenn Sutter, a Regina-based folk recording artist and a strong proponent of environmental sustainability. “I’m very sensitive to not be preaching with music. For me, it’s a personal exploration and a creative outlet, for sure,” said Sutter, curator of human ecology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

• Mississippi children learn with blues curriculum (Register-Guard)

Chevonne Dixon is one of the first teachers in the state to incorporate the blues into science, math, social studies and English lessons. So far this school year, the 9- and 10-year-olds in her class have written blues songs about the weather. They’ve composed short ditties about the travails of being a kid. And they’ve read classic blues lyrics to learn the challenges of growing cotton. “It makes them recall information, especially with that slow, melodic sound,” said Dixon.

• Cedar Creek Middle School makes math fun (Statesman.com)

With the opening lines to their song, Cedar Creek Middle School eighth-graders Grace Becknal, Isabel Arevalo, Ariana Alvarado and Jorge Meza explained how to find the rate of a change — or the slope — of a line.

• Beastie Boys’ ‘Girls’ Transformed Into Girl Power Anthem (radio.com/antimusic.com)

One of the Beastie Boys’ earliest and most famously misogynistic hits has been retooled by upstart toy company Goldieblox into a girl power anthem that encourages young girls to have fun with science and engineering.

• MWV #81 – Sheldon Campbell – The Singing Microbiologist (Microbe World Video)

Dr. Campbell teaches microbiology at Yale School of Medicine and he uses music to enhance his lectures. He has one song for every block of lectures he gives on a major topic.

• Genius student hides Rick Astley song lyrics in quantum physics essay (metro.co.uk)

One inspired student took the art of ‘rickrolling’ to another level by inserting the chorus from the singer’s hit song, Never Gonna Give You Up, into an essay.

Your colleagues might also want to use your songs. “Many music teachers will be happy to incorporate science songs during music if you just ask,” Heath notes. “The same goes for [physical education] teachers: some play music during their activities in the gym… You can also ask your principal [if] your class [could] present a science song at an assembly.”

Other recent articles and posts of possible interest:

• Bluford STEM Academy Shows School Pride Through Song (WFMY News). “The school took Robin Thicke’s song ‘Blurred Lines’ and changed the lyrics to positive words that are associated with their core subjects.”

• Bohemian Gravity: Canadian grad student uses music to explain string theory (CTV News). “Rocking out to his own rendition of the hit song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ a Canadian physics student’s online music video explaining the concept of string theory has attracted the attention of Queen guitarist Brian May, who happens to hold a PhD in astrophysics.” Additional coverage: CNET.com; BBC America.

• Edible Opera: Artists Turn Music into an Algae Meal (LiveScience.com). “The artists designed a special, futuristic suit that collects the carbon dioxide exhaled as Ashcroft is singing. This carbon dioxide feeds algae, which grows during the performances and is later prepared and served.”

• Hip Hop Classroom To Boost Science Education (WNEP). “‘You learn all the things about force, mass and acceleration and it’s really fun show to watch because it’s not boring and you have fun watching it,’ said student Carly Hoak.” (Thanks to Monty Harper for this one!)

• Finally: An epic, original science rap that’s actually really good (io9.com)

• The Music of Science: Exploring astronomy and space through music (Washington Times)

• Science Rap B.A.T.T.L.E.S. Bring Hip-Hop Into The Classroom (NPR)

• Epic Science Rap Battle Sets the DNA Discovery Record Straight: Rosalind Franklin vs. Watson & Crick (Scientific American)

• Lowell native gives math — and music — a good rap (Lowell Sun)

• Don’t Sleep With Mean People (Baba Brinkman’s crowdfunding campaign)

• ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Chemistry)’ (UCLA Newsroom)

• Teaching Kids Science
A LinkedIn.com discussion group hosted by the Banana Slug String Band! Music-related discussion threads have included “Should junior secondary school students be referred to YouTube videos as part of science lesson learning activities?” and “What has been the best way (or one of the best ways) you’ve found to start off a science lesson? How do you ‘hook’ the kids?”

• The Hadron Big Bangers: When Physics and Music Collide (Newtown Bee)
“…A strong fascination with the scientific world inspired the CD and band name. ‘What could possibly be more interesting than the reality behind everything? Not made up stories, not myths, but the actual facts: the truth of creation?’ asked Mr Rabinowitz.”

• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of Chemistry)
Neil Garg’s organic chemistry students at UCLA have done it again.

• 5 Famous Songs That Prove Musicians Don’t Understand Science (cracked.com). The supposed offenders: “Promise of a New Day” by Paula Abdul, “Perfect” by Hedley, “This Kiss” by Faith Hill, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, and “Save The Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams. Not all of the “mistakes” seem egregious to me, but the cartoon illustrations about each song are very cool.

• Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing (New York Times). Neuroscientists Robert Zatorre and Valorie Salimpoor grapple with the question of why music is so important to us.

• New Marlborough students become forces of nature for Earth-science themed play (Berkshire Eagle). “Students from New Marlborough School presented an original play with poetry and songs in a production called ‘Under Our Feet,’ presented this week in the New Marlborough Meeting House. The production, along with an exhibit of art and writing, focused on the study of Earth science. It was presented in partnership with Flying Cloud Institute, a grassroots organization that promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics education through the arts.”

• Science Notes Web App. An ongoing crowdfunding campaign to create a web app with science music streaming on demand while lyrics display simultaneously.

• They Might Be Science: Astronomy Songs (Part II). A nice explanation of how a pair of They Might Be Giants songs (“Why does the sun shine” and “Why does the sun really shine”) illustrates the scientific research process.

• PODCAST: The Annual Physics Sing-Along. “The Physics Sing-Along [is] an event hosted by Walter Smith, who is a professor of physics at Haverford College. Smith and his wife, Marian McKenzie, started writing physics songs that Smith could use as a teaching tool in his undergraduate classes, but 8 years ago he decided to start the sing-along as a social activity at the meeting. The result is one of the most awesomely nerdy things I’ve ever seen.”

• UF professor writes song on benefits of learning chemistry. “University of Florida professor Charles R. ‘Chuck’ Martin loves teaching chemistry and loves performing music. So he decided to combine the two into a song he penned called ‘Bonds of Life.'”