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Tapping the Brain’s Electric Music

At a meeting of Brooklyn’s Secret Science Club, neuroscientist and composer Dave Sulzer explains how our brains compose music — even when we’re completely unaware of it.

By Christopher Intagliata, posted March 26th, 2008.

Join me for an evening at the Brooklyn Philharmonic with Brooklyn’s very own Secret Science Club. At the event, Columbia University neuroscientist and composer Dave Sulzer (aka Dave Soldier) explains how our brain waves are constantly making music, even without our effort. Using his computer and a primitive electroencephalogram (EEG) headband, Sulzer demonstrates this music to participants at the event and explains how we can consciously alter our brain waves to modify the cerebral symphony. Following Sulzer’s demonstration, watch the Brooklyn Philharmonic unleash the suggestive powers of music played by fingers and lips with a performance of “Dharma at Big Sur,” a piece for electric violin by American composer John Adams.

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4 Comments

Haydn Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 10:23 am

I find it very interesting that Dr. Sulzer views our brain activity in a musical context, and that one can compose unconsciously. It just seems that these unconscious events are independent of creativity and more importantly intention. my question is then, without these elements, can we label this as composition or even music? Your thoughts?
dave soldier / sulzer Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

Haydn, good point.

I would say we have the possibility for both “prosthetic” EEG music where you try to operate the EEG is an instrument, for example by thinking of moving your arm or pinching yourself or shutting your eyes (classic move to increase alpha wave amplitude) and “unconscious” music where you don’t control the sounds on purpose. I’ll put examples of both on my website. In the “unconscious” approach, I guess it is shares some aspects to playing a CD, - in both cases you decide if you are going to initiate music or not - which I’m not clear is the same as whether it is music or not, or making music or not.

The best way to test if it is music could be an “Adapted Turing Test” where you play it for listeners who don’t know what it is and ask them if it is music or not.

I wrote an article about these points, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” that you can download from http://davesoldier.com/writing.html
Seems that the unconscious has now joined malevolent forces with kids and animals.
Dr. J. Semo Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 am

Dear Prof. Soldier

Have you checked the difference in the music generated by the brain between nREM and REM sleep?

Thank you for your reply

JS

PS Could it be a Bach versus an Eric Clapton?
dave soldier / sulzer Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm

hi JS

We haven’t yet, but just as you suggest, we should get slow adagio events (from one every two seconds up to three a second, known as “delta wave”) during normal sleep, and much faster and more intricate events during REM. In the meantime, you can hear a composition by brainwaves that laughter produces - has some nice effects depending where you are in your cortex- while I was reading Stephen Colbert’s book: I’ve put that piece and a couple of others at

http://davesoldier.com/experimental.html#EEG