BioMusic
- BioMusic Science Exhibition and Public Programs Project
- BioMusic Formal Education Initiative
- BioMusic/Bonobo Music Research
- BioAcoustic Sound Archive Acquisition
- Wired for Music
- UBEATS and BioMusic Fellows Updates
BioMusic Science Exhibition and Public Programs Project
Dr. Patricia Gray, Clinical Professor and Senior Research Scientist
In 2004, the National Science Foundation awarded $2.7 million for the development and premiere of the BioMusic Exhibition and Public Programs, "Wild Music: Sounds and Songs of Life", for informal science centers nationwide and their communities. Created to explore the 'music of nature and the nature of music' - the science exhibit, including multi-cultural music performances, and new commissioned works, premiered in 2007 and is touring for the next 6 years to 18 major metropolitan areas including Minneapolis/St. Paul, Raleigh, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, and Boston, providing families and students with opportunities for integrated music and science experiences. Collaborative partners include National Musical Arts, the Science Museum of Minnesota, Association of Science-Technology Centers, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. For more information, go to http://wildmusic.org.
BioMusic Formal Education Initiative
Dr. Patricia Gray, PI; Dr. David Teachout, Co-PI
The MRi and the North Carolina State University's Kenan Fellows Program received $374,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation for an exploratory 2 ½ year project titled, UBEATS. The project incorporates BioMusic into 2 modules for elementary math and science curricula and enables science and music teachers to collaborate to teach students about biodiversity, physics of sound, human evolution, and cultural diversity. The inquiry-based curriculum aligns with National Science and National Music Standards and interfaces with "Wild Music," the BioMusic Science Exhibition and Public Programs Project. The modules and supporting materials are accessible here: http://ubeats.uncg.edu.
BioMusic/Bonobo Music Research
Dr. Patricia Gray, PI; Mr. Philip Wingfield, undergraduate research assistant
This multi-year research project focuses on the music making capacities of our closest primate cousins, bonobos (Pan paniscus), and represents a path-breaking integration of scientific inquiries about the primal roots of language and music. Working with a group of language-competent bonobos at the Great Ape of Trust of Iowa, several whom have recorded with Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney, and compose melodies using synthesizers, and in collaboration with renowned scientist, Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh, the research focuses on both empirical and theoretical inquiries in music cognition and perception, origins of culture, and theory of mind.
BioAcoustic Sound Archive Acquisition
Dr. Patricia Gray & Dr. Donald Hodges
The BioAcoustic Sound Archive Project will create a major resource for recorded mappings of the world's sonic resources at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This BioAcoustic Archive Project will initially focus on The Roger Payne Sound Archive, the lifetime work of Dr. Roger Payne, internationally renowned whale song researcher and expert. This archive represents an invaluable collection of sound recordings of the ocean's largest inhabitants and is one of the largest and most comprehensive whalesong sound libraries. The collection includes spectrograms, raw data, and recordings, which are analyzed musically and scientifically, and integrated with ongoing BioMusic research centered on the evolution of musical communication systems. The Archive also actively seeks to inspire new, imaginative uses of its sounds through music and multi-disciplinary projects.
Wired for Music Pilot Project
Wired for Music was a BioMusic education project in an after-school setting for Middle School Students at Ferndale Middle School in High Point NC, a Title One School. The project, a collaboration of the Music Research Institute, WUNC-TV, and the North Carolina Museum of Science, was an extension of PBS' The Music Instinct: Science and Song, and funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from the Burroughs-Welcome Fund and the NC Center for Science & Math supporting a series of UNC-TV broadcasts about the project.
Wired for Music inspired kids (grades 6-8) to explore the science of music research from a variety of fields by using techniques that reveal new connections between music and the human mind, the body, and the world. Through an array of musics from rock and rap to jazz and classical, students put music under the microscope. The workshops presented during AY09/10 were led by a UNCG Ph.D music candidate and a UNCG science teacher alumna and explored topics ranging from rhythm, emotion, pitch, memory, and harmony. The project culminated with a visit to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences where the students made public presentations about their discoveries.
