Wood, Glue, Gut and Varnish

A project developed for the Cheltenham Music Festival

In 2009 I was the ‘warm up act’ for the Halle Orchestra on the last night of the Cheltenham Music Festival – not the usual science crowd!

I shared the stage with a friend of mine, Kai Thomas Roth, a violin maker, and we talked about science and musical instruments – the physics of sound, the biology of wood, the chemistry of glue, and all sorts of stuff.

We had the whole audience gluing bits of wood together, doing listening experiments, and generally getting involved and asking questions. A great gig!