
Instant Genius Podcast: The science of learning music, with Adriana Barton
How do we learn music, and is it ever too late to pick up an instrument? We speak to cellist turned health writer Adriana Barton to find out.
Instant Genius is a bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. In this week's episode, we talk to Adriana Barton, cellist turned health writer.
She is the author of Wired for Music: A Search For Health And Joy Through The Science Of Sound (£18.99, Blackwells)
In this episode of Instant Genius, Barton delves into the science of how we learn music, addressing whether its best to learn an instrument as a child, if its ever to late too learn, and whether learning music is innate.
Find Instant Genius on your preferred podcast platform here: instantgenius.podlink.to/Podcast
Listen to more episodes of Instant Genius:
- Instant Genius Podcast: The future of self-driving cars, with Jack Stilgoe
- The heart, with Sian Harding
- Spider season, with Prof Adam Hart
- Dung Beetles, with Sally-Ann Spence
- Artemis's first launch, with Libby Jackson
- The science of crabs, with Peter Davie
- Meteorites, with Dr Tim Gregory
- Drought, with Kevin Hiscock
- Future of artificial intelligence, with Kate Darling
Authors

Jason is the commissioning editor for BBC Science Focus. He holds an MSc in physics and was named Section Editor of the Year by the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2019. He has been reporting on science and technology for more than a decade. During this time, he's walked the tunnels of the Large Hadron Collider, watched Stephen Hawking deliver his Reith Lecture on Black Holes and reported on everything from simulation universes to dancing cockatoos. He looks after the magazine’s and website’s news sections and makes regular appearances on the Instant Genius Podcast.
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