Fred Astaire and Jane Powell star as a brother and sister dance team that is invited to England to perform at the same time as the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth.

During the era of the silent film, movies were never really silent. Hidden in plain sight behind the films that made figures like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton into cultural icons, were the musical giants whose compositions defined the very films that captivated a generation of movie-goers. "HOLLYWOOD'S MUSICAL MOODS" is an intimate conversation with some then-living legends from a bygone golden age of Hollywood, a freeze-frame of an era where music exemplified the magic of the movies as much as any leading lad or lady. At a time when new technologies were shaping a rapidly-changing film industry as a whole, musical inventions such as the mighty Wurlitzer organ and the ethereal Theremin made the job of these geniuses a true exploration in creating emotion. Directed with an unobtrusive eye, this hour-long feature lets these masters of mood and music, as well as some of their iconic works, speak for themselves. Sincere interviews are intercut with nostalgic clips and classic scenes to showcase the sheer power with which these scores could command the films for which they were written.

Probe the ongoing research into the effects of musical training on the microstructure of the brain, which points to cognitive benefits in areas such as speech processing. Focus on how learning to play a musical instrument influences language acquisition and reading ability in children..

What brain processes lead people to hear certain intervals as more consonant and others as more dissonant? Evaluate the major theories, one of which traces the phenomenon to the acoustic quality of the human voice. Then examine the structure of musical scales..

Begin your study of musical rhythm by distinguishing periodic from non-periodic rhythmic patterns. Periodicity can be thought of as beat; non-periodicity involves expressive techniques such as timing variations and phrasing. Close by asking whether composers write music in the rhythmic patterns of their native language..

Use neuroimaging to investigate the ways that brains of musicians differ from those of non-musicians, asking whether the differences are due to nature or nurture-whether they are inborn or the result of experience. Pinpoint brain structures involved in such musical skills as absolute pitch..

We may be the only animal that uses words, but we are not the only animal that sings. Survey music-making among other species, from fruit flies to gibbons, whales, parrots, and songbirds. Analyze the sound structure of their song to learn how it differs from ours..

Focus on two processes that are fundamental to musicality: the perception of pitch and timbre. Pitch allows us to order sounds from low to high. Timbre lets us distinguish two sounds with the same pitch, loudness, and duration. Both pitch and timbre are constructed by the brain and have deep evolutionary roots..

The videos of the Hugo Zemp Ethnomusicology Collection cover a span of over 30 years, and document the musical customs and practices of peoples all over the world. Zemp's expansive body of work includes films on musical traditions in Africa, The Republic of Georgia, Siberia, and Switzerland.

HAM captures Sam Harris's critically acclaimed, multiple-award winning live stage show in which Harris plays himself at various ages as well as ten other characters. After being discovered on Star Search, fame ensued for Harris: Broadway, TV, platinum records, Carnegie Hall. But through the highs and lows of a life in show business, Sam must confront the merciless question: what is enough?