Our Monday Noon Lecture Series Returns!
The Festival’s popular BAM!! (Brain & Music) series returns with leading researchers exploring the science behind our musical minds. This year’s lineup includes Petr Janata (UC Davis) on how melodies become memories, Robert Zatorre (McGill University) on the neuroscience of why we love music, John R. Iversen (McMaster University) on the rhythmic roots of human musicality, and Michael H. Thaut (University of Toronto) on music and rehabilitation. Each talk reveals cutting-edge science, with an inspiring look at how sound shapes memory, emotion, and healing.
In a statement about his motivation for creating and curating this lecture series, Festival Artistic Director Marc Neikrug said:
“I’m a firm believer that music communicates to us on a biological level and that the cutting-edge scientific research being done by these brilliant speakers will lead to a more thorough understanding of the immense power exerted by these beautifully organized sounds on our very being. I encourage everyone to attend these presentations to cultivate a better understanding of the cognitive and health benefits that music provides in addition to, or perhaps exactly because of, the pleasures.”
Each BAM!! presentation is held at noon over the course of one hour at St. Francis Auditorium in the New Mexico Museum of Art.
The Presenters
Monday, August 3
FROM PERCEPTION TO PLEASURE: The Neuroscience of Music and Why We Love It
Robert Zatorre, PhD
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience
Co-Director, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS)
Monday, August 10
RHYTHMIC ORIGINS OF HUMAN MUSICALITY
John R. Iversen, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University
Monday, August 17
THE APPLIED NEUROSCIENCE OF MUSIC IN REHABILITATION
Michael H. Thaut, PhD
Professor, Faculty of Music and Faculty of Medicine
Director, Music and Health Science Research Collaborative
Senior Canada Research Chair in Music, Neuroscience, and Health,
University of Toronto