It happens when you least suspect it.   Your child is singing a song she learned at school. All of sudden you’re singing the song too, first with her and then through the rest of the day.   You are bored at work. Then, you start singing a tune you don’t even like but you cannot stop singing it!   The phenomenon, often called having an earworm (or scientifically known as involuntary musical imagery), is a real thing that affects up to 92 percent of people at least once a week

Let’s be entirely honest, singing karaoke is not everyone’s idea of a good time. For some it may be embarrassing or spark a fit of...

Traditionally, we’ve gone out to our local Karaoke Night to do some singing with a group of friends, but lately, those with a Karaoke itch have been turning to their smartphones.  That’s why The Voice created StarMaker , a karaoke app for android and iphones , says its users have logged 2 billion minutes of singing time since launching in 2010 – around 23,000 hours per day – and has nearly half a million likes on Facebook.  You can choose to submit a recording from the app t

Regular readers of our blog will know that we love science almost as much as we like music. Whether we’re seeing singing and dancing NASA...

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! According to scientific studies, people who listen to Jazz music are proven to be smarter and more...

Parents and Teachers all agree that they would like children to correlate their success at school to how much work they put in.  So that,...

If you’re having a difficult time remembering people’s names you can blame the cause on something other than your memory. You can blame...

According to an article by PBS.org , a study published in 2007 by Christopher Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy at...

Idina Menzel stops by the Tonight Show Music Room to perform the Oscar-winning song “ Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen .”  The unique thing about this performance is that the song has a new accompaniment – composed from musical instruments that you would find in a classroom.   Jimmy Fallon and The Roots created an impressive re-imagining of this Oscar-winning song.  My favorite part is the instrumental breakdown leading up to the bridge.  It’s at that moment that you realize

Gizmodo.com reports that biological anthropologist Leslie Seltzer of the University of Wisconsin held an experiment where 7-12 year-old...

A child’s brain is going through constant stages of development, so parents want to find the best activities to have a positive impact on...

Two hundred years ago, Francis Scott Key witnessed British soldiers firing on Fort McHenry as they tried to gain entry into Baltimore during the War of 1812.  American soldiers, however, remained fearless and defeated the British. To celebrate their victory they hoisted the U.S. flag and seeing those stripes and stars inspired Key to write “ The Star-Spangled Banner. ” Since then, the song has been immediately cherished by the country, proudly sung during the Civil War and as

By now, you know we love stories that expand our definition of music and musical instruments. We’ve previously discussed the music potential of plants and earthquakes and now we were excited to learn about bridges and monuments! Composer Joseph Bertolozzi created 10 musical suites a few years ago based on the unique vibrations of the Hudson Bridge’s panels, spindles and cables.  From those sounds, he created a plainly, but aptly named, “Bridge Music”  in celebration of the Ne

With earthquakes being a persistent part of our lives in California, we always have those  tremblers on our mind. We should always be...

Since The Orchestra app debuted in late 2016, there has been a steady stream of praise for its ability to bring orchestral music to life...

They have sung their songs dancing on treadmills, while testing elaborate Rube Goldberg contraptions and off-roading in a car. And in their video for the song “ The Writing’s on the Wall ”, OK Go wants to make you question reality. Equipped with only a handheld camera, the group, along with 50 video assistants, created 28 different optical illusions on its first video for the group’s EP, Hungry Ghosts. The video appears to be shot in one continuous take and shows illusions th

When instrumental musicians struggle with their sound they can buy new strings, order more reeds or grease their gears. When a singer...

If you haven’t met Nora the piano cat this is a good time to do it – this kitty is inspired!  If cats had fingers I think Nora would be doing a lot more than pawing at the keys. Interested in lessons?   Learn more!   | Questions?   Contact us Music Junction offers private one-on-one music lessons with talented and caring music teachers at our music school in Burbank, CA. Study your choice of piano, voice, guitar, ukulele, violin, drums, woodwinds, strings. Virtual lessons ar

Playing music produces a whirlwind of activity in the brain that is unmatched by any other activity including playing sports and painting. It is the only activity that researchers can compare to a full-body workout. A recent Ted-Ed video has some fun with this topic, exploring the issue through animation that’s under the direction of educator Anita Collins. Researchers have been studying this topic for more than two decades and there is still more work to be done but what is

If there was anything that would make the most recalcitrant music student excited about practicing, we think the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus would be it. Children who visit the bus have an opportunity to write, compose, record and sound engineer original songs as well as shoot and edit an accompanying music video and documentary — all in one day! The bus houses more than $3 million in state-of-the art equipment and is staffed with engineers who are more than happy to ed