How Art Works

Standing in front of a large orchestra, a conductor can isolate and focus on the sound of a single violin or bassoon, refining a talent we all possess.

How can some singers pull a perfect “A” out of thin air — and why does it sometimes drive them crazy? Producer Jeff Lunden explores one of the most mysterious natural musical abilities, the phenomenon known as perfect pitch.

How can some singers pull a perfect “A” out of thin air — and why does it sometimes drive them crazy? Producer Jeff Lunden explores one of the most mysterious natural musical abilities, the phenomenon known as perfect pitch. (Originally aired: June 16, 2001)

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes without cutting or gluing. Now, this ancient art is going high-tech. The emerging field of computational origami uses computers and mathematics to figure out just how much you can do with a single sheet of paper. Gregory Warner caught up with origami artists and their […]

Beeee-de-be-de-be-pode-e-ba-da-bah. No one’s sure exactly how scatting — the art of singing improvised gibberish — began. But as Sarah Fishko reports, this purely American musical device took on a life of its own as each of the great jazz vocalists took a shot at singing free-for-all.