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17 results
  • Article
  • Article

Disabled musicians and the fight to perform

| Jamie HaleKirsten Irving

Music might be the universal language, but unfortunately it doesn’t come with universal access. London-based artist Miss Jacqui discusses the barriers to her career with Jamie Hale.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

Writing the language of music

| Eva Moreda Rodríguez

The earliest surviving attempts to notate music date from the 10th century, and became increasingly precise and complex over the following millennium. Discover the visual beauty of music manuscripts through the ages, and how they help musicians interpret composers’ intentions.

  • Article
  • Article

Defying deafness through music

| Danny LaneSteven Pocock

Did you know that Beethoven’s profession meant he was ashamed to admit to being deaf? Find out how similar prejudices persist today and how our writer is helping to break them down.

  • Article
  • Article

Is fake news killing fictive art?

| A R Hopwood

Parafictional artists create projects where the imaginary interacts with real life. But the growth of so-called ‘fake news’ is providing a new challenge.

  • Podcast
  • Podcast

Joy

Bidisha explores joy, from the psychology of our earliest laughs to collective and solitary pleasures like comedy, food and performance.

  • Article
  • Article

Is shoegaze the loneliest genre of music?

| Christine Ro

Christine Ro explores the connection between shyness and shoegaze.

  • Article
  • Article

How music opens the doors of memory and the mind

| Philip Ball

People living with dementia can often still listen, perform or move to music. What does this tell us about how memories are formed?

  • Article
  • Article

Giving shape to sound

| Jamie HaleSamuel DoreKirsten IrvingThomas S G Farnetti

Fascinated by language and how music feels, Deaf rapper Signkid creates tracks that give shape to sound. He discusses inspiration, access and performing for all audiences, D/deaf and hearing alike.

  • Podcast
  • Podcast

Ecstasy

In the final episode of our podcast, Bidisha takes us on a journey through the highest of highs, from nightclubbing and the ecstasies of religion and drugs to mania.

  • Photo story
  • Photo story

The spectacle maker

| Clare DowdyCarmel King

Born into the eyewear business 80 years ago, Lawrence Jenkin still designs and makes glasses, while supporting and inspiring the generations of designers following him.

  • Article
  • Article

The enduring myth of the mad genius

| Anna Faherty

There’s a fine line to tread between creativity and psychosis.

  • Article
  • Article

Guide dogs or good dogs from the Middle Ages

| Jude SealSteven Pocock

Medieval illustrations often show blind people, sometimes with dogs. But working out whether these were actually guide dogs involves a mix of detailed detective work and expert speculation.

  • Article
  • Article

Enduring taboos and the future of skin bleaching

| Ngunan AdamuAmaal Said

Many condemn skin bleaching in public while secretly lightening their own complexions. To break away from these taboos, we need honest information and open conversation.

  • Article
  • Article

Exceptional talent and the trouble with IQ tests

| Anna Faherty

Is a high IQ really a mark of genius, or does something else explain the exceptional?

  • Article
  • Article

Tripping for spiritualism and science

| Stevyn Colgan

Getting high in the name of religion or creativity has been practised for centuries. Now it seems hallucinogenics could help treat mental illnesses too.

  • Article
  • Article

Synaesthesia, or when senses overlap

| Lydia Ruffles

What’s it like to see heartbeats, taste Tube stations or hear paintings?

  • Long read
  • Long read

Rehab centres and the ‘cure’ for addiction

| Guy StaggJess Nash

Guy Stagg takes us on a brief history of rehab centres and their approaches to addiction and recovery.