Sunday, November 5, 2 - 4 pm
| Age | Adult |
| Event Type | Workshop |
| Department | Theory and Improvisation, Health |
| Day | Sun |
| Instructor | Bradley Vines |
| Status | online event |
Explore the fascinating neurobiology of musical creation. Through the lens of cutting-edge neuroscience research, this workshop offers valuable insights to enrich your approach to improvisation and creativity.
Workshop Highlights
The State of Flow: Discover the neural correlates of the flow state – a realm of heightened creativity. You will learn research-based methods for entering into and maintaining this profound and euphoric state of mind.
The Varieties of Creativity: Delve into various creative strategies, including convergent and divergent thinking, and their neural correlates.
Creativity and Health: Learn about the relationship between a creative mindset and health as well as how the generation of new ideas balances self-evaluative brain processes with those associated with emotional expression.
Fusing Theory with Practice: Engage in musical “experiments” that bridge neuroscience research with your own artistic practice. Whether you play an instrument or sing, this is your chance to apply insights from the neuroscience of improvisation and creativity firsthand.
Who Should Join: Inquisitive minds, musicians, artists, and aficionados who seek a deeper understanding of the creative mind. Regardless of your background, this workshop invites you to unravel the processes and strategies that underpin musical ingenuity.
About Dr. Bradley Vines, PhD, MBA
Dr. Vines is a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in music emotion, perception, and performance, and a saxophonist. He holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from McGill University, an M.B.A. from the University of Oxford, and a B.A. in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley. He has postdoctoral research training in the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, and has been a Research Associate and Lab Director at the Institute of Mental Health in the University of British Columbia Department of Psychiatry. Bradley has received competitive grants for his research from the GRAMMY Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NINDS), and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He has 26 academic publications to his name, which have been cited in the literature more than 2,700 times and referenced in major media outlets including the New York Times, US News and World Report, and Businessweek. His published work includes research on music for stroke recovery, the epigenetics of music learning, multisensory integration in the perception of music, neuroplasticity in fine motor coordination, and pitch memory. He led research on music for psychedelic therapy as Chief Science Officer at Wavepaths and conducted research on music in advertising and sonic branding as Director of Neuroscience at Nielsen. He currently teaches Music Cognition for Berklee College of Music Online and hosts The Neuroscience of Improvisation, which is a program exploring the experience of improvisation from the perspective of neurobiology.
As a saxophonist, Bradley studied jazz improvisation in the William Paterson University Jazz program and privately with Gary Smulyan, Paul Nedzela, Knoel Scott, and Allaudin Mathieu. He has also studied South Indian Carnatic music with several prominent musicians in that tradition, including Dr. Vijaya Bharati, Ghatam Suresh Vaidyanathan, and Prasant Radhakrishnan. Bradley has contributed to music for psychedelic therapy as a Wavepaths artist and has performed with musicians such as Eddie Gayle, CK Ladzekpo, Mel Martin, and Steve Turre, in a variety of venues including Yoshi’s Oakland and Zellerbach Hall.