The Story of Music Question Time

Sue and Tom welcome music psychologist Adam Ockelford to the studio to tackle your questions about music and the brain - and discuss whether all humans are innately hardwired to appreciate music.

If you could ask BBC Radio 3 one question about music, what would it be? Sue Perkins and Tom Service are here to unravel everything you've ever wondered about music - but were too afraid to ask... Send YOUR questions to [email protected], tweet with the hashtag #r3qt or post them on Radio 3's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bbcradio3.

Who created the first piece of music? Why does music have such a powerful effect on us psychologically and emotionally? And how do you define what music really 'is', anyway...?

Comedian Sue Perkins joins Tom Service for the first in a new series of Radio 3's "Question Time", as part of the BBC's "Story of Music" season - every Monday evening in the interval of "Radio 3 Live In Concert".

They're here to unpick YOUR questions about everything musical - with a host of musical examples from Mozart to Motorhead, the Ancient Greeks to the English Pastoralists, from violin sonatas to big band jazz and Indian ragas...

Over five episodes, Sue and Tom will be looking at questions like why music makes us dance, why we divide it into 'major' and 'minor', and why there are eight (or should that be twelve?) notes in a scale...They'll be covering everything from from music history (why do people revere JS Bach so much?) to psychology (how can a simple sequence of notes stimulate our brains to feel emotion?) to music's global reach (does every culture use the same notes and rhythms?).

And they need YOUR questions to answer throughout the series! Send in your queries about anything musical to [email protected], tweet with hashtag #r3qt or post them on Radio 3's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bbcradio3. We'll be looking out for them!

In the first episode, Sue and Tom discuss who created the first piece of music, argue over how you can define what music 'is', anyway, and debate why so many people find contemporary classical music 'difficult'...

In the final episode of the series, Sue Perkins and Tom Service field more of the questions you've sent in about music. They also wrap up some of the issues that have provoked the most discussion amongst listeners, including more debate on the future of contemporary music. Join the conversation online by tweeting with hashtag #r3qt or visit the BBC Radio 3 Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bbcradio3.

Sue and Tom debate one of classical music's most divisive issues: why does opera turn off so many music lovers? They also revisit why so many listeners find contemporary music 'challenging', and ponder whether classical music is too obsessed with sounding 'progressive'.

If you could ask BBC Radio 3 one question about music, what would it be? Sue Perkins and Tom Service are here to unravel everything you've ever wondered about music - but were too afraid to ask... Send YOUR questions to [email protected], tweet with the hashtag #r3qt or post them on Radio 3's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bbcradio3.

Sue and Tom wonder why so many national anthems sound the same, argue over why orchestras need conductors at all, and look at famous composers' "guilty secrets" - the compositions they'd rather you forgot...

If you could ask BBC Radio 3 one question about music, what would it be? Sue Perkins and Tom Service are here to unravel everything you've ever wondered about music - but were too afraid to ask... Send YOUR questions to [email protected], tweet with the hashtag #r3qt or post them on Radio 3's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bbcradio3