Summer Jam: The Science of Music

Summer Jam: The Science of Music runs at the Discovery Centre on August 22 and 23, two days of hands-on music and science in the heart of downtown Halifax. It's a weekend-long event rather than a single show, so you've got two chances to drop in.

The theme is exactly what the title says: the science of music. Instead of just listening, the whole thing is built around getting into how sound actually works. It's the kind of thing that works well at the Discovery Centre, where the exhibits are meant to be played with rather than looked at from behind a rope. If you've ever wondered why some notes clash and others blend, or how a speaker actually moves air to make a sound you can hear, that's the kind of ground this covers. It's as much about the physics of sound as it is about the music itself.

Because it's spread across two days, it's easy to fit around whatever else you've got going on that weekend. You can spend a whole afternoon there or just pop in for an hour or two. It's a good one for families, too, since the hands-on side of it means kids can get stuck in without needing to sit still and listen to a lecture. If you're more of a music person than a science person, it's a decent way to see the other side of things; if you're the opposite, it's a way to hear the music you already know from a different angle.

Both days run from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, so it's a daytime thing—nothing that'll keep you up late. You'll find it at the Discovery Centre, 1215 Lower Water Street, right down by the waterfront. It's open August 22 and 23, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.