All language subtitles for Stewart Copeland Adventures Music 1

This programme contains
some strong language.

MUSIC: Carmina Burana
by Carl Orff

My name is Stewart Copeland.

I make noise for a living.

I hit things with sticks.

But I also compose, listen to
and have pretty much built a life

on this strange phenomenon
that we call music.

My first recollection
of being captivated by music,

enslaved by music, was sitting
in a darkened room aged seven

listening to
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.

MUSIC: Carmina Burana
by Carl Orff

Something powerful took hold.

Some seriously strong mojo,
which never let me go.

It led me through a career in bands,
including The Police, and beyond.

What was going on was that
the heart of a seven-year-old

was being lit up like
a bonfire of emotion.

But why?
How did music ignite this flame?

# Girl, you really got me going. #

What exactly is this stuff
that has ruled my life

for more than 60 years...

..and that makes everyone else
jump and shout, laugh and cry?

Shakespeare doesn't do that.
Spielberg doesn't do that.

Rembrandt doesn't do that.

Music dispenses with
the thinking stuff

and goes straight
to direct your feelings.

So I want to find out why.

How does music help us tell stories
that make sense of our lives?

Yeah, that's a great cue.

How does it transport us
to a higher plane...

..and help us escape
this cruel world?

# See, don't ever set me free

# I always want to be
by your side. #

And in this episode, perhaps the
most important question of all.

How is it that us humans
are so connected by music?

We resonate as human beings,
all of us.

And that's music.

How does it build community...

Give it up for Mr Bobby McFerrin
and Mr Stewart Copeland.

..as the glue
that binds us together?

It's football season
in the United States of America.

And at a typical Friday night
NFL game....

..67,000 people will come together
to exhort their teams unto battle.

Fans and players united as one to,
as an anthropologist might say,

kick some butt.

And an essential soundtrack
to this is music.

Which is why most every
American football team,

just like most every army,
needs a band.

Go, Tigers!

BAND PLAYS

The Mighty Sound of the South
at the University of Memphis

has a simple mission.

To unite musicians from all kinds
of backgrounds in one common goal -

to bond a team with the supporters
as one tribe

on the warpath to victory.

BAND PLAYS

Excellent. Thank you.

I saw you improvising over there.

Why do you think adding music
to what is already

a very exciting event,
why is it that music ramps it up?

It reaches a part of the brain
that nothing else can, you know.

When you hear music you can feel it.

There's an emotional tie
to music that we all have.

I think that brings people together,
just for that simple fact.

And the game is exciting
and they want to win the game,

but the music makes them feel the
emotional part, that's the charge.

Do you ever get a little excited
yourself or wound up

by the feeling of "Oh, my gosh,
this is all so exciting!"

Always. I can act like I know,
but it's always there, yeah.

It's a really great give-and-take
between the elements.

Sometimes you'll feel the crowd
riding the energy of the band.

Sometimes the crowd gets going
and the band feeds off that.

And sometimes it all happens at once
and those are the really good ones.

The war chant. That's kind
of what it is, isn't it? Exactly.
Like a tribal war chant.

A lot marching bands,
it's based in military tradition,
so there is a lot of that.

The uniforms and everything.
Absolutely.

Have you got a spare drum
over there? We do.

Do you think an out-of-towner
can come and join in there?
I think we should do it.

Now, I'm a proud American
and known for hitting a drum or two.

But I've never played as part
of a marching band until this day...

..in this rousing rendition
of their signature tune - The 300.

Let's rock!

BAND PLAYS

Music lights up any human gathering,

quickly creating a shared experience
and a kindred spirit.

And it's been doing this
for thousands of years.

Why?

Because music might just be
part of the reason us homo sapiens

originally chased off
our evolutionary competition.

Thank you, guys! That was fantastic!

This is the Hohle Fels cave
in southern Germany.

It's a hole in the ground...

..but also a gateway
to another time.

40,000 years ago to be exact.

We learned how to make music even
before we learned how to grow food.

A case of beauty before beans.

And long before they
mastered the plough,

our ancestors were digging
sounds like these.

MUSIC

This is an exact replica of the
oldest instrument ever discovered.

An ancient bone flute
found on this very spot.

SHE PLAYS INSTRUMENT

Amazing.

Amazing that so early
in the human experience,

beauty was a thing that induced them
to create this instrument,

which looks simple
but is actually very complex,

what it does
and what you can do with it.

Every society we know
anywhere in the world has music

and life without music
is pretty much inconceivable.

And the earliest time where
we can prove that music existed

was with the discovery
of all these flutes.

Dr Nicholas Conard led the team
that discovered several of them,

just like this one,
in a cave where both Neanderthals

and humans, or homo sapiens,
both lived.

And we all know how that turned out.

It was the homo sapiens
that won the cave.

It's a great cave
for studying human evolution

because in this lair that
represents the first occupation
of this cave by modern humans

we found this flute here close
to all sorts of things

that suggest an incredible amount
of symbolic complexity,

of which music, many people
would consider, is the high point.

And it seems that this capability
allowed modern humans like ourselves

to displace the archaic humans.

But why?

What advantage did music give
homo sapiens over Neanderthals?

Well, instead of just
interacting with one another

and a few people we've
known our whole lives,

we're seeing much more
complex social structures.

When you have more people
coming together

you need ways of keeping
the group cohesive,

making sure people function together
and creating group identity

and shared interest, altruism,

all of these things are key factors
if you're interacting

with maybe dozens or even hundreds
of people as opposed to just a few.

And I would argue that music,
simply put,

would be kind of a glue
that holds people together
and keeps people together.

So music specifically
was an important factor

that made homo sapiens beat out
all the other hominid competition.

They were bonded by the music,
which gave them advantage. Right.

I would view that as something
close to an empirical fact.

So music has strengthened group
identity from our earliest days.

That's what all culture does,

even around the earliest campfires
in caves just like these.

SHE PLAYS INSTRUMENT

Flautist Anna Potengowski is one
of the few people in the world

who know how to play
these ancient instruments.

So I wonder if one more
knuckle-dragging caveman,

your humble servant,

can really help bond this gang
of hominids right here today.

Anna, can you show me
how to play this?

I mean, I'm your fellow cave
dweller... I can try to.

Would I be able to... Hey, give me
that thing. Let me take a solo!

OK, let me be your teacher.

Do you want to try the little one?

Can I try my favourite instrument,
which is the easy one.

There is no easy one.
None of them are easy ones!

You just have to hold it
in one angle of your mouth

and play on the opposite side
of the bone.

Blow across. Blow across, yes.

OK. There's five holes. I've got
them all covered and I blow across.

WHISTLING SOUND

Wow.

OK. Stewart, you have talent.

Most people cannot
get good tones from it.

Yes, but there's a difference
between whistling and...

Oh, that's right. I was cheating!

It was whistling, I think!

I don't think that's going
to be bonding, really, do you?

No. Try a different technique,
maybe.

SAXOPHONE MUSIC

I'm convinced that music
has always played a part

in forming communities
of human beings.

It still does.

But does that mean music
has been fundamental

to our evolution as a species?

That is less clear,

at least to one of the most
distinguished minds in America.

Welcome to Harvard University,

the August academic
home of Steven Pinker...

..a challenge to our confidence,

both in terms of our common sense
of psychology.

..best selling author and professor
of cognitive psychology.

..that if we conform
to the opinion of experts

of how well we really do
understand human behaviour.

His theories of how
our brains function

have built his reputation as one
of the world's pre-eminent thinkers.

So his ideas about
why us humans love music

carry some pretty hefty weight.

And in Pinker's 1997 book,
How The Mind Works,

he caused uproar
when he described music

as merely auditory cheesecake,
before expanding.

"Compared with language,
vision, social reasoning

"and physical know-how,
music could vanish from our species

"and the rest of our lifestyle
would be completely unchanged."

But can that really be true?
I'm not convinced.

Surely music means more than
mere pudding for the ears.

This is a brain. I mean, this is a
real... This used to be a person.

One of my graduate students
gave it to me

and managed to purloin a brain.

Again, I didn't ask...

So can I convince Steven
and his rather imposing brain

of music's great importance.

I am very envious of the outrage
that has been caused

by your dismissal
of music as cheesecake.

And I'm hurt to my core
by this, of course.

I know that people get offended
by this comparison

and it will probably
follow me to my grave

and be listed in my obituary,

but cheesecake is just
a human invention

that manages to press
a number of pleasure buttons

that have evolved in the brain
for other reasons.

What would you say that the
purpose of music actually is?

The purpose of music
is to give us pleasure.

That's the main reason
we listen to music.

We enjoy it. It gives us joy,
it gives us pleasure.

I find it odd that people
consider that to be a dismissal.

What's so terrible about that?

Now, that is easy to confuse
with the question

of what is the biological
function of music?

Is it an adaptation in Darwin's
strict sense of something

that led our ancestors
to have more babies?

It's not clear that it has
an adaptation

and it's none the worse for it.

There are some things that are
definitely not Darwinian adaptations

that are among our most glorious
accomplishments, like reading.

But thank heavens for reading.

But I would go a little further.

I would say that it has a profound
effect on our behaviour.

It's very potent.

Do you have any explanation for why
music is so deeply embedded

and why it has such
a profound effect on us?

Yes. It's interesting that music
has so many different functions.

In synchronised work or marching

it can rally people together
prior to a battle.

It can be used by shamans
to try and heal the sick.

It can be used to calm babies.

And it can just be used
to give us pleasure.

All very convincing, in that way
that famous academics often are.

But I want to show Professor Pinker
something that I think proves

that music is for more
than just fun.

How would you explain the fact
that music, melody,

both rhythm contour and pitch
come first, come before language?

I don't know if babies can carry
a tune before they can speak.

They can. My grandson,
who can't form a sentence,

but can sing 16 bars
of the alphabet song.

# A, B, C, D, E, F, G. #

Rhythm.

# H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P. #

He knows where the gaps are.
Yes. No, the beat, the...

Most of the pitch is right.

# W, X, Y, Z

# Now I know my ABC

# Next time won't you
sing with me. #

Bravo. I think that's 16 bars.

He can't form... A sentence.
..a sentence of two or three words.

He can't do that.

And yet he's able to articulate
a complex... Well...

You know, hitting pitches,
understanding the gaps
to get the rhythm right,

as well as where
it goes up and down.

Would you say his singing that song
is the process of learning language,

which enables him
to then form a sentence?

And would you not consider that
to be pretty important?

I think it is.
Beyond cheesecake even.

I don't see anything so
terrible about cheesecake.
It's better than gruel.

But you can take cheesecake out of
humanity and we would be unchanged.

But it's hard to imagine that
that very sophisticated ability

that that two-year-old has,
it's pretty important.

Doesn't that indicate
that it must have

some kind of purpose
beyond the fact that we like it?

Maybe. But no-one has really
put their finger on what it is,

which is why I'm still sceptical.

The honest answer is we don't know.

I think people have
a strange kind of functional,

utilitarian approach to music.

It's got to be good for us
for it to be truly worthy.

And I'm saying, why do you
have to think of it that way?

What's so terrible about music being
a creation of the human intellect,

the human creative spirit
in order to uplift us,

to inspire us or even
to give us pleasure?

What's so terrible about that?

Why, nothing of course.
I'm a big fan of pleasure.

It's just that I think
that music is for more

than simply triggering our brain's
reward system.

It's essential equipment for being
human

and deeply embedded in all of us.

Welcome to Philadelphia,
city of brotherly love,

and special kind of sing-song
with a very special kind of teacher.

Students and families, we have two
very special guests for you today.

Please give it up for Mr Bobby
McFerrin and Mr Stewart Copeland.

THE AUDIENCE CHEER AND APPLAUD

MUSIC: Don't Worry Be Happy
by Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin is the creator of
this '80s classic.

# Here's a little song I wrote

# You might want to sing it note for
note...

# Don't worry

# Be happy... #

But you might be less familiar
with what he did next.

# When you're worried your face will
frown

# And that will bring everybody down

# Don't worry, doo-doo-doo...

# Be happy. #

Since Don't Worry be Happy cheered
us all up in 1988,

Bobby, a ten time Grammy winning
Jazz vocalist,

has become an acclaimed conductor
and advocate for the idea

of innate human musicality.

Let's stand up and get in a circle.

BOBBY SINGS TO HIMSELF

This is the dividing line, here.

So, I'm going to give each group a
part to sing

and we're going to sing some
harmonies together, OK?

This is an entirely improvised
musical performance

that encourages the audience to bond
over what Bobby believes

is there shared musicality.

SINGS: Don't be shy, dee-dee-dee.

THE AUDIENCE SING WITH HIM

SINGS: That's a really nice shirt
you're wearing.

Got your frying pan with you?

Once we overcome the initial
shyness,

singing in harmony in a room full of
strangers

feels all tingly and nice.

SINGS: Sing a solo.

SHE SINGS IMPROVISED DOOS

SINGS: Doo-doo-doo, thank you, thank
you, thank you, doo-doo-doo.

Stop.

SINGS: Do you have any questions
you'd like to ask us?

How did you get to know that you
can do this?

Cos we sort of suspect that music
is doable by everybody

and there's more music in us
than we know,

but how did you land on actually
being able to make it happen?

I'm a graduate of MSU...

..which stands for
"Making Stuff Up".

I learned that by just doing it on
stage.

How did you know that little girl
also has this gift?

And the little boy sitting
next to her, too?

Because I just assume that everyone
has an inner flame...

..that likes to express itself
in some way, some creative way,

so I have all the confidence
in the world

that not a single person will...

Fail. Fail, that's a good way
to put it. Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

Bobby believes that a basic
understanding of the language

of music is
an instinctive human trait.

Sing this note.

And he's got a great method
to prove it...

Baa!

AUDIENCE REPEATS NOTE

By demonstrating
one of the deep mysteries of music,

the pentatonic scale.

MUSIC: Superstition

The pentatonic scale
consists of five notes

that share a unique relationship.

They're in natural harmony
with one another

and play nicely together
in any order.

# Very superstitious

# The writing's on the wall

# Very superstitious

# The ladder's 'bout to fall... #

This riff by Stevie Wonder is
all pentatonic.

Want to be a musician?

Just hit the black notes
on a piano in any order.

# Seven years of bad luck... #

But this is the scale
that this flute plays too.

What is so fascinating
about the pentatonic scale

is how universal it is.

It's what links
this refined performance

of traditional music from China...

..to Motown soul from Detroit.

MUSIC: My Girl
by The Temptations.

And 50 years after The Temptations
used the scale in My Girl,

so did Ed Sheeran in Shape Of You,
number one single in 34 countries.

# I'm in love
with the shape of you... #

It's a musical pattern
that unites us all

because it just sounds right
to pretty much everyone,

whatever your opinion of Ed Sheeran.

# Last night you were in my room

# And now my bed sheets
smell like you

# Every day discovering
something brand-new

# I'm in love with your body. #

HE SINGS A NOTE

AUDIENCE REPEATS NOTE

So if the pentatonic is
a natural phenomenon,

then these ordinary folks should be
able to find the other notes

of the scale without his help.

AUDIENCE SING SCALE

See?

LAUGHTER

HE SINGS NOTE

HE SINGS DEEPER NOTE

AUDIENCE REPEATS NOTE

AUDIENCE SINGS HIGHER NOTE

AUDIENCE SINGS SCALE

# Doo-la-la-la-la

# Doo-doo

# La-la-la-la

# Doo-doo

AUDIENCE SINGS SCALE
RELATIVE TO HIS POSITION

INCREASINGLY DEEP NOTES

He didn't tell you those notes,
but you know them.

Scales and rhythms are musical
systems that allow musicians

who have never met before
to get together

and play together
in common understanding.

Well, more or less.

I only met this guy minutes ago,

and although we clearly need
way more rehearsal time,

we CAN rock out
in a basic, shared music language.

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin
is the bestselling author

of This Is Your Brain On Music.

Good jump!

DANIEL LAUGHS
DRUMS CLATTER

Now what's the science
behind all that shit?

People ask me,
"Why do you study music?

"Aren't you afraid that you will...

"..take some of the mystery
away from it?"

And in my life as a musician
and as a scientist,

all I can say is that each time
I think I'm on the verge

of uncovering the answer
to one musical riddle,

five more pop up

and they're even more glorious
than the last.

I have this overwhelming sense of
the beauty and complexity of music

being far more interesting
than I ever thought it was

before I started
asking these questions.

And Daniel is sure of one thing -

musicality is innate,

it's not just a feeling
or an instinct,

it's hard-wired
into our body chemistry.

There's this interesting hormone

that has been called
the love hormone, oxytocin.

When people play music together,
or listen to music together,

oxytocin causes us to feel trust
and bonding

towards those that we're with.

So if you've got
a neurochemical system

that is supporting musicality...

Or that is lit up by music.

Yeah, it suggests to me some kind of
ancient evolutionary basis for that.

ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
CHEERING

Listening to music
also releases dopamine,

a second chemical in the brain

associated with
our most primal urges,

and the average nightclub is
swimming in the stuff.

Modern electronic dance music has
taken over the world

in recent times,

but it's part of a tradition
that goes way back -

inducing people to dance together

by tapping into
the hidden sexual power of music.

And I'm kind of curious
about how that works.

But this is not exactly
my natural habitat.

Yes, hard to believe
when you see my moves,

but I don't spend a lot of time
in nightclubs,

so I'm going to consult
with an expert who does.

Mr Copeland! Welcome to Berlin.
Well, hello.

Oh, my God,
this is such a lovely surprise.

Honey Dijon is
one of the world's top DJs.

Born in Chicago, resident in Berlin,
she has a reputation

for channelling a carnal,
hedonistic spirit in her sets.

A close friend of mine asked me
what was the role of a DJ,

and I had to really think
about that,

and I think, for me,
it's bringing together people

through sound and vibration
and sort of trying to channel

shamanic, ritualistic
sexual energy in people,

and I try to do that through music.

Shamanic, ritual, sexual...
Energy. Yes.

I am a facilitator of debauchery.
Mm-hm.

I'm a facilitator
of people's good time.

For me, the music is the star
of the show

so I wanted to do a party
where people dance with each other

and to celebrate and had a laugh
and tried to get laid

and make out in a corner

and be in the dark where they can
unleash all of their inhibitions,

and that to me is
what a proper nightclub is like.

What is it about music that
makes them release their inhibitions

and start thrusting their pudenda
at each other?

Oh, you know, cos I think real life
is complicated,

I think we all need dreams
and fantasy

and release from the everyday,

and I think music brings people joy.

I think it helps you not only find
your tribe of people

but it also helps you find yourself.
Mm-hm.

What is any of this stuff?
I recognise that, that's round...

That's a round table. Yep.

Is that what these are? These are...

MUSIC STARTS
Oh! Oh, you just... Whoa, whoa!

Well, that was easy, I'm a DJ.

What did I touch that made that
happen? You pressed a button.

Don't get too excited.
No, no, it doesn't work like that.

Beats per minute.
How fast is this record going?

This record is going
125 beats per minute.

125, that's fast.
Well, not for the dance floor.

That's your heartbeat, that's
your heart rate. I thought 120...

Well, it depends on
what kind of heart you got.

SHE LAUGHS
Mine is about 110.

110, that's a sexy tempo. OK.

That's after hours tempo.

That's the sultry grooving kind of
tempo. Yeah, that's a groovy tempo.

Do you recognise this song?

# Voices... #

I recognise the lyric.

Believe it or not, this is a remix
of Voices Inside My Head

by my old band The Police.

See, the first thing they do...

Maybe this is why
I have not really delved... OK

Cos the first thing they do
when they do a dance mix... Yes.

..they get rid of... The song.

No, they get rid of the drums.

Oh, right. They put new drums to it.
It's OK, it's OK.

It's OK, it's fine.
No, but, you know...

I had my fun with it. Oh, I think
you're a little bit sensitive.

You discerned that,
you're very discerning.

Well, we had to make that
for the dance floor, you know?

Yeah, that's true.
But we love your drums. Thank you.

They're legendary. Thank you.
You're too kind. I know,

but your drums are legendary.
I'm actually having a moment.

You're in my house
and I'm playing a Police record

that was made for the club and...
This ain't a Police record!

Ut-sy, ut-sy, ut-sy.

It's a fragment of one

repurposed with only one aim
in mind -

making people dance.

Honey is an expert at inducing
a communal shared experience

of build and release, using music

to trigger not just mental
but physical hormonal responses.

So now I'm going to mix in
another record.

So what I do a lot of times is
I'll take a riff...

Oh, that's another element.

Bum-boom-ba-dum-bum. So I'll just...

And then I can make it
an eight bar loop.

Oh, so you have a visual
representation of it here. Yes.

And then if I want to just use that
part...

OK, then it goes around. Yeah,
and then I mix in another record.

She's the master of what scientists
call the anticipation phase.

An exercise in delayed gratification
that can really bond a dance floor

before unleashing
what my kids call the drop.

So then you just build things up
from there,

a lot of tension and anticipation.

OK, got the tension.
OK, OK, what are you going to do?

What's the...argh! Well...

SHE LAUGHS
Argh! Argh! Argh! Argh!

Well, you can't blow your load
too quickly,

you've got to wait a little bit.

That's where we add effect.
That whole relaxing thing,

I'm not very good at relaxing. You
have to relax! No, I'm here, now.

Sometimes...

..yeah, you just add
a bit of tension with some reverb.

Boy, you like that tension.
Yeah, I love it.

Because people are waiting.
Release the monster!

No! You need the tension!

Relax, relax, relax, relax, relax!

Strangely, it's this build-up
and not the actual climax

that causes our brain to unleash
the highest waves of dopamine.

TRACK BUILDS

Ready?

TRACK DROPS
Oh!

That drop part, that's the part
I like. Oh, you like the drop.

That is a skill, you have to know
when exactly to do that,

otherwise it becomes cheesy.

There's always tension and release
on the dance floor as a DJ...

Yes, very much so.
..just like a musician.

So there's a point when
you build it up and you drop it,

you bring it down,
you move it around... Yes.

..so there's actually...
But how do you know?

I mean, are you sensing... Yeah.
Cos it looks like you're not looking
at the audience

but I know you're looking
at the audience. So as
a fellow musician, as an artist,

when you connect to the crowd,
it's a mutual give and take,

so you just get into a groove
and its symbiotic

and everything's moving together
and everyone's flowing

and vibing together and so when
you start to feel it yourself,
you sort of...

..it just gives the audience
and they go with you on a journey.

So I'm going to play one of
my favourite records and its...

MUSIC: Relax
by Frankie Goes To Hollywood

# Whoa-ho-oh... #

It doesn't get into it until
almost nine minutes. OK.

It's amazing. How many minutes
are we into the record now?

# Relax, don't do it

# When you want to go to it... #
So sexy.

# Relax, don't do it

# When you want to come... #

You can still play this record now
and people just lose their minds.

Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood
has a slower beat

than Honey normally uses.

But the same rock-solid
four-four rhythm

where less is apparently more.

Again.

THEY PLAY RELAX

Wow!

Release!

Ah! Ah-ah!

But the third time it does it,
instead of going...

..it goes...

Oh. Cool.

Drummers! Here we go -
two, three, four.

You might be better off
playing the hi-hat.

CYMBALS CLATTER
Yeah, that's it.

Primal music that speaks to our most
basic instincts is big business.

Pop supremo Trevor Horn
produced Relax

which sold a reported
2 million copies in the UK alone.

And his secret? Keep it simple.

But I, for one, am just not cut out
for the simple thing.

A couple of single crashes.
I'm going to do it!

I'm going to do it!
I'm going to do it!

Do I have to play through that
as well? Can't I do something...?

He gets to do something fancy.

Unfortunately, there's
no snare drum on Relax.

You know, I too am a human.

Well, this is for the greater good
of the record.

You have to stay simple.

For the greater good of the record.

Have I heard that before?
THEY LAUGH

I think I have.

So we're here at the session,

this is a Trevor Horn
recording session.

Whatever we do today is
going to sell a gazillion records.

The minute this track comes
on the dance floor,

immediately, all these
nice, well-behaved humans

will be performing
overt sexual display,

and I want to get in on this.

So guide...produce me here.

Well, for a kick-off, you know,

in order to get people
into that sort of motion,

you need
a very straightforward beat,

you know, like, for instance...

That won't do it? No, no, you need
more of that sort of feeling.

Hang on a second.

Yeah, that's pretty close.

I love music.

Some beats are kind of sexier
than others, I guess, really.

And it's all related
to body movement. How so?

I think it is... Well, yeah,
or something. Like a walking rhythm?

If Relax had been this fast...

HE SINGS FAST
# Relax, don't do it

# When you want to go to it... #
HE LAUGHS

..it wouldn't have been sexy,
would it? No.

You know, I mean, maybe people
make love that fast sometimes,

I have no idea. Teenagers.

THEY LAUGH

But it's mating, isn't it?
I mean, music accompanies mating.

MUSIC: Let's Get It On
by Marvin Gaye

To evolve, us humans must reproduce.

And for proof that music is the mojo
that makes that happen,

just visit any nightclub.

Once that dopamine and oxytocin is
triggered by the music,

our eyes dilate,

pulse and blood pressure rise,

and the cerebellum lights up,

giving us the urge
to move our bodies and mate.

In the modern era, sex and music
may be inextricably linked,

but as long ago
as the mid-nineteenth century,

no less than Charles Darwin began
to explore these very connections,

expanding his idea
of natural selection

to look at sexual selection...

..by studying songbirds

and trying to understand the links
between their calls

and the way in which they selected
a mate from eligible suitors -

why is this mate preferable
to that one?

And so this is
what the governor himself says.

"The true songs of most birds
are chiefly uttered

"during the breeding season

"and serve as a charm
to the other sex.

"I conclude that musical notes
and rhythm

"were first acquired by the male
or female progenitors of mankind

"for the sake of charming
the opposite sex,

"thus musical tones became
firmly associated

"with some of the strongest passions
an animal is capable of feeling."

So music is human plumage,

it's like a human display
of superiority,

and whoever can sing
most beautifully

clearly has better genes.
BIRDSONG

Shut up, bird.
BIRDSONG STOPS

Daniel Levitin thinks that
some of what Darwin had to say

about music was probably
right on the money.

Darwin began the more modern
scientific exploration

into why music,
why do we have it,

and, you know, sexual selection is
an interesting and intriguing idea.

You mean, there's something going on
beneath the surface

of why I'm attracted
to somebody else?

There are these hidden strings
pulling our behaviours

that we're not aware of.

Now, in music,

I guess the story would go that
those of our ancestors

who were musical
by some random mutation -

maybe we're all musical
but some were more musical, right -

were able to communicate
their physical fitness better,

that you were neurologically intact,
that you've got good genes,

that you've got enough resources

that you could actually devote
a certain amount of time

to practising
this otherwise useless thing

because you already have food,
enough supply,

and you've got shelter
and all of that.

It's this showy display
that indicates physical fitness,

neurological intact-ness,
creativity,

things you might want to pass on
to kids.

MUSIC: Foxy Lady
by Jimi Hendrix Experience

In other words,

musical virtuosity can be attractive
to potential mates...

..as proven by Jimi Hendrix
and countless others.

# Now, you know you are
a cute little heartbreaker... #

Some of music's biggest
attention-magnets have built

entire careers
out of wanton complexity,

and the science seems to back it up.

# Sweet little love-maker. #

In 2014, British scientists wanted
to test Darwin's theories

linking music to sexual selection.

In what sounds like
a very strange test,

1,500 female volunteers were played
compositions of varying complexity,

and the women in the most fertile
phase of their cycle

were more drawn to the composers
of the most complex music.

COMPLEX GUITAR SOLO

Perhaps nobody illustrates
the phenomenon better

than this gentleman, Franz Liszt,

one of Charles Darwin's
direct contemporaries

and arguably
the first modern music superstar,

more than 100 years before Hendrix.

Liszt was born in Austria in 1811

and by the time he was a teenager,
he was on tour

playing gigs all over Europe.

But then, on December 27, 1841,

he played this venue,
the Sing-Akademie in Berlin,

and mass hysteria erupted
known as Lisztomania.

Brought to life vividly
by Ken Russell

in the movie of the same name,

this fevered fandom exploded

in a way more commonly seen
with rock stars...

..which is why it was such
an inspired idea to cast one,

Roger Daltrey, in the title role,

because in a way, Liszt was one too,

just way, way ahead of his time.

So what exactly did Liszt do

to bewitch a veritable army
of potential mates?

Perhaps music historian
Katy Hamilton can explain.

SHE PLAYS ETUDE NO. 3 UN SOSPIRO
BY FRANZ LISZT

Beautiful.

Where is the part
where it gets sexual?

That's the part
I'm kind of interested in,

that it kind of goes beyond

just appreciation of the beauty
of music

to the libido.

I think it's a combination of,
firstly, Liszt was very...

..he was very handsome,
he was very beautiful.

He had that X factor.

But the thing that is so special
about what Liszt is doing

is that he basically completely
takes to bits how you play the piano

and puts it back together again.

There's this kind of element
of musical fireworks

that Liszt builds
into the way that he plays.

Are you suggesting
that it was technique

that inflamed the passions
of those women

and made them desire
his handkerchief?

I think the important thing is that
because he's got the technique,

if you add the technique
to the showmanship,

that's the winning combination,
right?

It would be no good
if Elvis was a rubbish singer -

he's got to be able to sing,
as well as be the heart-throb.

It's one of the slightly funny
things about the way Liszt writes,

he breaks a lot of rules

that were previously thought to be
the way you HAD to play the piano.

This particular piece, which is
described as a concert study -

so it's a particular technique
that you're using

but you're showing off -

every other note you play
with your other hand,

so you're constantly crossing
from one hand to the other.

And he starts by doing it
one note at a time

so that you're just going one hand
and then the other hand,

and then when it comes back
the second time,

it's in octaves
which makes it harder,

it means you've got to play two
notes for each note of the tune.

So he then put in all of the stuff
that's going on in the middle...

..which is this nice,
rolling accompaniment,

what you end up with is this...

And as the piece goes on,
it gets more and more complicated

and he sends you right to
the very extremes of the piano

and back again,
so it's about your whole body.

It's not just about your fingers,

it's about how you're moving
your whole body,

and, of course, that's
very compelling to watch

if you kind of make something of it.

But because it begins quietly -

and, again,
this is all about crowd playing -

you start with something
that's quiet and soft,

you build it up
into something that's harder,

it gets harder and harder,
louder and louder,

and then it comes back down again

so that you have this kind of
fever pitch in the middle

and then you reduce it
so that by the end you've reached

this lovely calm place
that you were at the beginning.

Whip them up, calm them down.

Sounds familiar?

It's what all the world's greatest
musicians do on stage,

and it's also what DJs do as well,

because we like to be manipulated
by music,

especially when surrounded
by other humans.

It's the foundation
of a live music industry

worth more than £1 billion a year
in the UK alone,

an industry that depends
on musical shamanism.

I saw this first hand for years from
behind a drum set with The Police -

the power of our front man
to focus and unite a crowd

armed only with his music...

..and my drums.

# I feel it, I feel it, I feel it,
I feel it, I feel it, I feel it... #

Stingo!

Oh, my gosh, Stew!
Are you having a serene moment?

It's over.

We'll fix that. How are you, buddy?
Great to see you.

Despite being friends
and collaborators

since the early days of The Police,

this is probably the first time

Sting and I have ever really talked
deeply about music...

# Oh, I've tried before to tell her

# Of the feelings I have for her
in my heart... #

..or what Steven Pinker
described as "cheesecake".

Cheesecake,
it's much more than that.

Anyway, I like cheesecake, but...

No, it's a basic language
that is important.

What do you think we have music for?
What do we have language for?

Music is just a form of language,

and it's a common language
that we all share -

all races, all creeds,
everyone on the planet,

everyone is communicating
through music,

which is powerful.

Very.

I love it when the audience
joins in.

You know, like 100,000 people

singing the words that you might
have written in your bedsit

in Bayswater in 1975,

they're resonating
with me as a young man.

They're all singing it,
that's a miracle.

I can't hear you, where are you?

CHEERING

# Message in a bottle

# Message in a bottle... #

This sense of a shared experience
that music can create is

a part of its power,

as satisfying for performers like us
as it is for the audience.

It's interesting, the best praise
you can get as a songwriter is

when someone says, "Oh, I fell
in love to that song you wrote"

or "We got married to that song"
and "We buried Uncle Charlie..."

And you realise that by accident
you've given these people a...

..a sort of touchstone
for their emotional memory.

So, when they hear that song,

they remember something
important in their lives,

and that's a huge praise.

It's a fantastic thing to hear.

You have the power of the shaman,
you have made that connection.

Yeah. You have to resonate,

you have to be empathetic,

and that's music.

You know, when you're in harmony

with somebody's wishes
or somebody's anger,

you can communicate better.

You know, we resonate
as human beings, all of us -

we're resonating right now,
you and I resonate.

In our way. Sometimes.
THEY LAUGH

# Roxanne

# Roxanne

# Roxanne

# Roxanne... #

Music may have brought us together,

but we haven't always
been in perfect synchronicity.

# Roxanne. #

I wrote that song...

..and it was originally
a bossa nova.

Until somebody came along.
So you messed it up.

PLAYS ROXANNE
IN BOSSA NOVA STYLE

# Roxanne

# You don't have to
put on the red light

# Those days are over

# You don't have to
sell your body to the night

# Roxanne

# You don't have to wear
that dress tonight

# Walked the street for money

# You don't care if it's wrong
or if it's right

# Roxanne

# You don't have to
put on the red light

# Roxanne

# You don't have to
put on the red light. #

You're playing it fucking wrong!

STING LAUGHS

Ah, what are friends for?

Speaking of our long-standing
friendship, you know,

when we would have one of our...

You know, I'm not talking
out of school here,

it is known that we have had
the occasional screaming match...

Dialectic. Dialectic, there you go.

And I come and I find you

and I'll find you, generally,
with an instrument in your hand,

staring off into space

with just heartachingly beautiful
something coming out,

and that isn't writing a song,
that is music...

..that's music as a purpose for you.

It soothes me. Yeah.

If I'm upset about something
or anxious about something,

if I just sit and play three notes
over and over again,

it's kind of therapy, you know?

I often wonder where I would be
without music.

It's actually unthinkable
what it would be like without music,

like a fish without water,
I suppose.

It's my...currency.

It's... You know,
it's my environment.

SIREN WAILS

You know, I can't imagine a life
without music either.

And I don't think I'm alone
in feeling this way.

HONEY DIJON: Well, I will say
music for me can do

what religions, governments
can't do,

and that's bring people together
from all different walks of life.

It doesn't matter how much money
you make, what you do in life,

who you sleep with,
what race you are,

what country you come from,

it is, to me, a place of really
the driving force of love

and celebration
and bringing people together.

From an evolutionary point of view,

the fact that
all human groups have music,

every single group of living people
have music in different forms,

sometimes multiple forms,
suggests to me that it's something

that's been selected because
it works and helps people coexist

and harmonise with one another.

We can't prove definitively
why we make music

or why we just like it so much,
especially when shared in a group,

but I believe it's helped us
to become who we are now

and will continue to define us
in the future.

In a world that is
increasingly atomised,

and a city like New York,

it's all too easy to feel alone.

Thank goodness we can fall back on
that stuff that has always joined us

since man first played flute
made of bone - music.

An invitation to join in

and permission to be simple
primates together

because that's
what we all need once in awhile.

# Ah! #

So this is one
of the learning videos.

We split the audience
into 19 different parts.

Welcome to the Public Theatre
in Manhattan

and a new performance
by Choir! Choir! Choir!.

Does everyone have a lyric sheet?

Wave your lyric sheet
if you've got it.

If you don't, you need it.

So this crowd is going to go
like this.

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh... #

First, they take
a much-loved pop song,

break it down and then teach it
to an audience like this

to turn them into
a lean, mean, singing machine.

# Ooh-ooh-ooh. #

That sounds pretty good.

OK, let's try it again from the ahs.
We want to hear the ahs.

One, two...

# Ah, ah, ah, aah

# Ah, ah, ah, aah

# Ah, ah, ah, aah... #

But there's a twist.

On special occasions,
they're joined by a surprise guest

to lead the throne in a rousing
life-affirming performance.

# Hallelujah... #

They've had Rufus Wainwright.

# Hallelujah. #

And David Byrne has dropped in,
amongst others.

# And we can be heroes
Aah-aah

# Just for one day
Aah. #

But always at the helm
are Daveed and Nobu,

the brains behind
Choir! Choir! Choir!.

# Just for one day
Aah. #

I think we have tried hard
to blur the line

between what is an audience
and what is a performer.

Music is, in its simplest form,
is meant to be participated in.

# Oh, we can be heroes. #

I think that people, even if
they seem closed and seem distant,

they really do want to connect.

I think music just, like,
if you let yourself go with it,

whether you're by yourself
or with hundreds of people,

it has the ability to
really take you to a special place.

# Oh. #

The 250-strong choir has limbered up
in anticipation of the arrival

of tonight's special guest,
Patti Smith.

CHEERING
Patti Smith, everybody.

CHEERING CONTINUES

With yours truly on frying pan.

Tonight's song is
one of Patti's finest,

the rather appropriate
People Have The Power.

I wrote this song with
my late husband Fred Sonic Smith,

and this is exactly why he wrote it,

so that we could all sing it
together, so it's awesome.

# Ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh

# I was dreaming in my dreaming

# Well, of an aspect bright and fair

# And my sleeping, it was broken

# But my dream, it lingered near

# In the form of shining valleys
Ooh-ooh

# Where the pure air rarefied
Ooh-ooh

# And my senses are newly opened
Ooh-ooh

# I awakened to the cry
Ooh-ooh

# That the people
That the people

# Have the power
Have the power

# To redeem
To redeem

# The work of fools
The work of fools

# Upon the meek
Upon the meek

# The graces shower
The graces shower

# It's decreed
It's decreed

ALL: # The people rule

# People have the power

# People have the power

# People have the power

# People have the power

# Believe it

# Ooh-ooh... #

To me, this is a metropolitan return
to the campfire...

..the singalong in the cave,

and I love it

because 40,000 years after
we first started making music,

what performances like this remind
me of is that for bonding a tribe,

there's no better glue than music.

# And the shepherds and the soldiers
People have the power

# Well, they laid beneath the stars
People have the power

# Exchanging visions and laying arms
People have the power

# To waste in the dust
People have the power

# In the form of
In the form of

# Shining valleys
Shining valleys... #

Yet I just can't believe
that all this glorious sound
is just for kicks.

It's our wavelength,

it's our song...

..it is us.

# People have the power

# To dream

# People have the power

# To vote

# People have the power

# To strike

# People have the power

# To love

# The power to dream
People have the power

# To rule

# People have the power
To wrestle the work from fools

# People have the power
To dream

# People have the power
To rule

# People have the power

# One, two, three, go!

# Aah!
Don't forget it, use your voice! #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You are the people!

CHEERING DROWNS SPEECH

One more time, guys!
CHEERING