For every music lover who has ever wondered how music happens, what Pythagoras meant when he classified music as a branch of mathematics, this informative and entertaining series of lecture-demonstrations provides fascinating insights into the relationships between sound and music. Part of the annual series of Christmas Lectures given each year at Britain’s Royal Institution, the programs explore the basic science of the fact that every sound—from the dropping of a pin to the deafening frenzy of a rock concert—is produced by changes in air pressure. The resulting waves are perceived by the miraculous ear-brain system as sensations we understand as sound and music—both apparently objective, yet intensely subjective phenomena. 5-part series, 60 minutes each.