cognitive musicology & MUSIC consciousness

DANA and FENS Award Public Program, Neuroscience Ireland Brain Awareness Week, online event, 20th March 2021

Music Consciousness: How visual we are compare to synaesthetes?

In this journey through the senses and music emotion, we are going to offer insights into the diversity of perceptions and consciousness on the example of music performance of Schuman Piano Quintet Op. 44.   

Consciousness is the most fundamental neuro and biological process of the mind, providing our survival in the existing world, awareness of self and and our reality. What if the reality is a fantasy? Music and Arts are associated with higher states of consciousness. We are going to investigate how musicians use their senses in creating  “imaginary reality” and how artist-synaesthete can capture music expression in colour. The discussions will be edited into a short documentary film with introduction by neuroscientist Dr Richard Roche, Trinity College Dublin & Maynooth University, author of the book “ Why Science Needs Art”.

Dr Svetlana Rudenko, TU Dublin post-doctoral researcher on Synaesthesia, Co-director of Music Consciousness Lab Maynooth and a concert pianist , is joined by RTE Quartet in residence, Contempo Quartet: Bogdan Sofei (violin 1), Ingrid Nicola (violin 2), Andreea Banciu (viola), Adrian Mantu (cello) http://www.contempoquartet.com   As we are still in pandemic time and events are virtual, the performance of Shuman Quintet would be recorded and send for painting to New York artist-synaestehtete  Carol Steen, Co-founder of American Synaestehsia Association(since1995) http://synesthesia.info/aboutus.html  Carol will record short Interview about her perception of sound in colours and shapes, chromaesthesia.

To play musical instrument musicians have to control tone by touch, extend imagination to comply with musical narrative and in case of chamber music match their instrument voice with others. How subjectively we feel music and what emotions we experience in collective playing? Do musicians use the visualisation of senses? Do they experience cross-modal associations when the memory triggers subjective experiences to relate to the emotion in music?

Federation of European Neuroscience Societies FENS2020 Virtual Forum

Synaesthesia, Creativity & Consciousness: Music and Arts

Abstract - Synaesthesia is a relatively rare condition characterized by cross-communication between the sense modalities wherein a sensory experience in one modality (e.g. an auditory stimulus) automatically elicits a concurrent perceptual experience in another (e.g. a visual percept). Some synaesthetes utilize these cross-modal pairings for creative purposes, as in the case of Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, and Olivier Messiaen, all of whom appear to exhibit chromesthesia, where sounds are converted to colors. Here we report the contents of interviews with three synaesthete artists who all experience auditory stimulation in the form of visual experiences. Each of the three describes the nature of their synaesthetic experience and the process by which they produce their artistic output in response to specific musical compositions. We highlight some examples of sensory transposition by artists, including visualization of musical texture as “landscape”, a 4D digital model of musical-space synaesthesia, the type of synaesthesia symbolist composer Alexander Scriabin possibly had. We discuss what these cases reveal about the nature of synaesthesia, as well as how visual digital applications may benefit from considering aspects of multi-sensory design based on synaesthetic sensory pairings.

Public Outreach Concerts: Dr. Svetlana Rudenko is a researcher and concert pianist who performs in concert with accompanying visuals, demonstrating how sound and music can be perceived with other senses, including visual, tactile, potentially aromas, and even taste. Awareness of sensory experiences elicited by music broadens our understanding of the processes of imagery, mind, and consciousness. Some of the performances include a Synaesthesia Concert in Maynooth University, 2020; a Music & Consciousness event in University College Dublin, 2020 (both postponed due to Covid-19), Cognitive Musicology via Synaesthesia and Cross-Modal Associations at the BNA Festival of Neuroscience in Dublin, April 2019, and at the IASAS Synaesthesia conference Moscow, October 2019. Collaborations with visual artists Maura McDonnell, Timothy Layden, Ninghui Xiong, Sofia Areal, Geri Hahn, Ann le Pore, and others, have pushed the boundaries of how audio-visual art could be assistive to classical music analysis. Some performances were Svetlana’s improvisations on Art, translating visual experiences into the musical genre. These projects have the potential of developing into AR digital environments for therapeutic purposes, and potentially the prevention or reduction of dementia via the stimulation of brain plasticity mechanisms.

British Neuroscience Association Festival BNA 2019 in Dublin

Cross-modal perception in synaesthetes during art and music practices

I am very honored to present a Poster for British Neuroscience Association Symposia! Convention center, Monday, 15th April and a concert, Tuesday, 16th April, “Cognitive Musicology via Synaesthesia”.

Pre-concert talk by Prof. of Neuroscience Anil Seth, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, the University of Sussex. TED Talks page Anil Seth’s presentation on “How your brain hallucinates your conscious reality”.

Studies on Synaesthesia and cross-modal perception can open alternative methods for piano teaching and music education, using innovations of computer technology and advances in Science!

Cognitive Musicology & Social Interaction Concert, Trinity College Dublin, 24th May 2019