Week 1: Knowledge

"You can’t control what you discover in research, you go in looking and find something out."
Melody Ellis - Week 1 - Knowledge Presentation

​The quest for knowledge
"Different arrangements of thoughts emerge from different thoughts putting them together...making a safe space for stupidity..."‘in praise of productive procrastination" Lecture Notes – William Kentridge – Drawing Lessons one on praise of shadows. ‘The Norton Lectures’

The following are a series of notes, annotations and exercised from class:

Word mapping: Rhythmn and Effect Experiences

Questions at 3am

Sleep specialists and neuro-scientists suggest that during twilight morning hours the pre-frontal cortex switches off. Thus opening up the mind to creative ideas, as neurons make new neuron links... Is the brain but giving birth to stars as other galaxies die and fade away? 

As I sit and ponder about my research topic, what am I actually goin to write a thesis about, and have I actually picked the right topic, the following questions rise up within:

Can the speed of activities determine optimum functioning?
Do certain tempos have differening mental affects?
Do certain tempo, rhythmn, acccents and pulses have different psychological and physiological affects on a music listener?
Can different music tempos and rhythmic choices affect mood in a music listener?

Rhythm

As a percussionst, composer and sound designer, one of my biggest interests is what is the physiological and psychological affect of rhythmn. For over 15 years I have witnessed the transformative affect/effect rhythmn has had on people during musical performances as a drummer, from my own personal experience, as a composer and in other people playing drums in drum circles. This is where my initial inspiration for the topic of rhytmic affect started. 

This paper in particular talks about Affect as a neurological process, the concept to me is fascinating - as is the surrounding psychological research about emotions and music. I also really appreciate the structure of the article, the questions it asks and its strong emphasis on research and other's findings (it has over 200 references!)
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