Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Lena Clemente
Ten years ago, in a small, dim-light concert hall,
in a village, on an alpine plateau in Switzerland,
there was a spark of creativity.
Two pianists, who just met one another set behind these two pianos,
for an improvisation that was unplanned.
While they bounced notes back and forth, two professors did the same with ideas;
the neurobiologist pointed out that their creation was a perfect example
of our brain's capacity to forge new neuroconnections
by the process of neuroplasticity.
The psychoanalyst remarked
that their performance was a great example of our ability to channel the unconscious
and to create new outcomes for ourselves
by escaping the shackles of repetitive behavior.
Inspired by this unexpected encounter,
we created a project that we would later call
"Music and brain in the unconscious waves,"
or "The birth of creation."
In this project, we use improvisation as a tool
to probe into the creative process and celebrate it.
We perform research and work across the disciplines
of the arts, science, psychoanalysis, society and culture
in order to try to bring it all together
and look at creativity from multiple angles.
This is where I come into the picture;
not only am I a neuroscientist and a computer scientist
I'm also a musician and a DJ.
I am captivated by the challenge of trying to bridge
the instinctive mystery of the arts
and the rigorous structure of the sciences.
This project deals with creativity and the creative process,
but what is creativity?
Is it some mystical talent that's reserved for these two pianists?
Are you creative?
Before discounting yourself, let me give you a possible definition,
"Creativity is your ability to respond to your present environment
in a new and meaningful way."
When you think of creativity in this way, it's a fundamental human ability.
You all escape from the shackles of your repetitive behavior
every now and again
in order to surprise yourself in the moment,
to whatever the moment is offering.
This is actually the power artists exploit and take advantage of;
what they allow themselves to do
is to play with this forbidden fruit of unpredictable surprise;
they just apply it
to putting another stroke on the canvas or strumming a guitar,
but at the roots, it's all the same.
Take a moment and think of the last time you sat down
at a dinner table for a conversation;
would you describe that conversation as spontaneous or as daring?
Let me ask you a different question:
how many of you fully planned in advance every conversation you have?
OK.
I didn't think so, but that's actually what's amazing.
Every time you enter a conversation,
you enter an unscripted and an unplanned improvisation
no different than these two pianists.
After every note and every word,
you're faced with an endless and dizzying space of possibility;
you're faced with the endless abyss of the unknown,
and yet, though you can't know what's coming next,
the present is constantly breathing down your neck.
In essence, we all improvise all the time, but what is it that permits us to do so?
The obvious answer is it's our brain.
Your brain is composed of about 85 billion neuro cells called neurons;
and these are structured in a way, in a highly-interconnected way,
that actually, permits us to make associations
across incredibly disparate concepts.
Not only is your brain structured in this way
but it's wired to be rewired;
through the process of neuroplasticity,
your web of connections is dynamically updated
by all of your new experiences.
Remember, every single moment is a new experience.
So, neuroscientists have also measured the improvising brain,
and they found that while musicians improvise
as opposed to simply repeating previously learned material,
your brain is activated and deactivated in specialized regions.
Activity goes up in an area called the medial prefrontal cortex;
whereas it goes down in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,
the orbitofrontal cortex, and the limbic system.
If we cut through all this anatomical jargon,
what this means is that your brain is activated in regions
that support decision-making and association,
and it's deactivated in regions that support things
such as time perception, conscious control,
and basic human emotion regulation, such as fear.
Of course, these regions support a number of other functions,
but I select these particularly, because coincidentally,
when I create,
I enter into an alternate state of consciousness,
and in this trance,
I feel like anything is possible, I completely lose track of time.
So, is there a way to honor
this instinctive and beautiful subjective quality of improvisation
while simultaneously dissecting it into scientific fact?
We believe so,
and we've created the following artistic performance
in order to tie it all together.
In it, these two pianists will improvise from scratch,
and we're going to be recording their electrical brain activity,
and transferring that through some wireless magic
in order to turn this into visuals
which will be projected above them.
In these visuals, what you're going to see on the left-hand side,
is a representation of each of their brains
and the activity of each electrode placed on their head.
On the right-hand side, you'll end up seeing
something that corresponds to circles and squares
which represent each of the two pianists,
and then, we try to highlight those special moments
where the two pianists' brains are firing in synchrony,
and I'll let you see how.
Now Richard will explain to you how we're going to continue.
Richard Rentsch: As you all know, in the Western, occidental music,
we have only 12 notes.
Unfortunately; not 13, not 11 - 12 notes
so I will take five notes
out this hat,
and we will create a small melody;
and from there,
we will create a piece of music.
I hope you'll enjoy it.
OK, so ...
OK, the first note is a D.
D sharp - so I have to show this to the camera.
(A D sharp note is played)
D sharp.
OK, the second note; the second note is a D; wow.
So ... yeah ...
(Laughter)
Maybe I should ...
(Laughter)
Oh, yeah, OK.
Please, a G! G! No.
OK, the third one is a C.
(A C note is played)
C.
And you can, of course, hear the note.
OK, two more.
The forth note is an E.
Yeah; an E. I'm sorry, OK?
E.
(An E note is played)
And the last one
OK,
- it could take a few weeks for me -
the last one is a G.
G.
(A G note is played)
Wow.
So ...
Good luck, Richard; that's OK.
(Laughter)
I hope you enjoy it.
(piano notes)
(Improvisation music starts)
(Music ends)
(Applause)