PRINTDr. Chordate's lyrical experiment
Learn about furry critters and healthy livers with Jeff Moran, singing science man
March 16, 2006 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Ah, the sweet sounds of science. With a
12-string Yamaha guitar and the theory that bad songs are good teaching tools, Jeff “Dr. Chordate” Moran spins old tunes into new hits. He is a singing, songwriting scientist.
As Dr. Chordate, Moran, 55, writes and records educational songs such as “Why You Look Like Your Father” and “The Ballad of Sir Isaac Newton & the Three Laws of Motion,” using humor and his knowledge of the biological and physical sciences. Moran’s stage name refers to the animal phylum Chordata, which includes animals with hollow nervous systems, such as humans.
With a doctoral degree in zoology and post-doctoral training in biochemistry and pharmacology, Moran is more than qualified to write science songs.
Moran, who lives in Fulton, recorded his music in Columbia at Pete Szkolka Productions, where owner Szkolka played guitar on the instrumental tracks. “There is a big market for education-based music production, and Dr. Chordate has a funny little way of exposing students to science topics and issues,” Szkolka says.
Music is an effective teaching tool because it engages the whole brain: One side processes the music while the other soaks up the lyrics. Dr. Chordate originals stimulate listeners’ brains and teach a little science.
“Back in the old days, the really old days, everything was poetry and music, and that’s how everybody learned,” he says. Despite having developed other ways to disseminate and pass on knowledge, music remains critical to learning. “Kids still learn their ABCs and other elementary information through music. It isn’t meant to replace traditional lectures; it’s just another doorway.”
Although Moran has written songs for most of his life, Dr. Chordate was born more than a decade ago. His children’s homework has been part of his inspiration. “My kids would come home with assignments to rewrite things in their own words, so often they’d just rearrange it. I thought about how much better it would be if they had to write a poem, song or short story.”
When writing songs, Moran finds humor effective. People remember the funny stuff, he says. The lessons in “Born to be Mild” are a good example: “A sloth sleeps about 20 hours a day / And every sloth I know thinks that’s OK. / Just hanging from a high tree branch / Upside down is my normal stance.”
His son, Brent Moran, a music composition major at Truman State University, agrees. “You can remember a song longer than you might other things,” he says.
Not all of Moran’s songs are for children, though. “My understanding of the sciences is a little more sophisticated,” Moran says, so he also writes music geared toward adults.
Children might not understand songs such as “Thermodynamics,” but they’ll likely groove to the Elvis-inspired “Ain’t Nothin’ but a Groundhog,” the title track of his second album, released in 2001.
Many of his songs parody widely familiar tunes. “If left to my own devices, everything would be in the key of D and 4/4 time,” Moran says, referring to a basic and predictable song structure.
He uses “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel for his “The Sound of Science.” Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” inspired Moran to write “Fifty Ways to Love Your Liver,” which also led to a T-shirt of his own design, featuring a picture of a human liver and lyrics to the song.
“I figure I owe Paul Simon five or six dollars,” Moran says, based on copyrights and his return on the adaptations. “If he wants it, I’ll write him a check.”
Moran’s two albums, Dr. Chordate Sings: Ain’t Nothin’ but a Groundhog, Songs of Biology, Plus... and Dr. Chordate: Parts is Parts, More Songs of Science are available for sale at his Web site and from cdbaby.com. He says he has plenty of material for a new album, and his son is working on some of the music.
Having sold only 200 hard copies of his first album, Moran is keeping his job as an editor at the Assessment Resource Center, an office of MU’s college of education, where he designs and reviews tests and research surveys.
“At my age, it’s hard to think you’re going to make it as a musician,” Moran says. “But if I could get on David Letterman or Jay Leno, it might be different.”
Moran’s favorite trait about being a science songwriter is that it’s still unique, he says. He cites his song about turkey vultures as an example. “I don’t really have any competition for that one.”
— Leslie Yingling
