The Wonders of Physics
Theme Music

In February of 1992, Professor James H. Latimer of the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Music, director of the Madison, Wisconsin Capital City Band, and long-time supporter of The Wonders of Physics composed a musical theme, "Clint", for The Wonders of Physics. The piece was first performed publicly by Professor Latimer on February 16, 1992 on the vibraphone, accompanied by Joseph D. Tobiason on the synthesizer keyboard. The music has been used for the opening and closing of all subsequent presentations of The Wonders of Physics. A digitized version of the piece taken directly from the soundtrack of videotape #9 (see 39:00 of "Physics of the Weather") is available as an AU file:

Theme music (AU instrumental version) from The Wonders of Physics (387,100 bytes, 48 seconds)

The same piece is also available in a slightly higher quality WAV format:
Theme music (WAV instrumental version) from The Wonders of Physics (531,9040 bytes, 48 seconds)

The same piece is also available in highly compressed, real-time RealAudio format:
Theme music (RA instrumental version) from The Wonders of Physics (48,422 bytes, 48 seconds)

[Krista and the Semitones]
Krista - Renee - Paul

In February of 1995, Paul Fontana, a graduate student of the University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Physics wrote lyrics to accompany the theme music. The vocal (acappella) version was first performed publicly on February 12, 1995 by Krista and the Semitones (Krista Mullman, accompanied by Paul Fontana and Renee Nesnidal). A digitized version of the piece taken directly from the soundtrack of videotape #12, (see 35:30 of "Physics of Energy") is available as an AU file:

Theme music (AU vocal version) from The Wonders of Physics (488,487 bytes, 61 seconds)

The same piece is also available in a slightly higher quality WAV format:
Theme music (WAV vocal version) from The Wonders of Physics (671,018 bytes, 61 seconds)

The same piece is also available in highly compressed, real-time RealAudio format:
Theme music (RA vocal version) from The Wonders of Physics (61,105 bytes, 61 seconds)

Here are the words for the vocal version of the theme music:

Do you wonder?
Do you wonder?

Listen, oh do you ever wonder?
Wonder why oil and water don't mix?
Wonder why sunshine makes a rainbow?
It's the wonder that makes people study physics.

Stars way up in the Milky Way.
Quarks smaller than anything.
Have the same physics that they all must obey,
And that just makes me want to sing!

Listen, oh do you ever wonder?
Wonder why iron likes a magnet?
Wonder about how your TV works?
It's the wonder that makes people study physics.

Wonder.


A later version of The Wonders of Physics Theme was arranged by Frank Ferriano and premiered by the Madison Marimba Quartet on December 26, 2010. This version is available as an mpeg video clip (502 MB).


Yet another version of The Wonders of Physics Theme written by Jim Latimer and arranged by Frank Ferriano was premiered by the Capitol City Band on July 14, 2011. This version is available as an mpeg video clip (195 MB).

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