The Power of Music Thinking

Our guest today is both an accomplished musician and a fascinating researcher. Dr. Sandra Garrido is a pianist and violinist who holds a PhD combining the worlds of music and psychology. Her work focuses on a question that touches all of us: how can music regulate our mood and improve our mental wellbeing? What's truly unique is that she explores this not just today, but through a historical lens, uncovering how music has always been used to help people feel better.  In our conversation, Sandra gives us fascinating insights into the paradoxical appeal of sad music. We discussed why the same Adele song might comfort one person while sending another into a negative loop. Sandra also shares how music can be a powerful tool for young people with depression and its surprising role in dementia care. This makes this a conversation you won't want to miss, with practical tips like how to organise your summer playlist (or the winter one if you are down under). Show notes Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandramgarrido/  University profile: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/marcs/about/our_people/researchers/dr_sandra_garrido MoodyTunes website: https://www.moodytunes.com.au Dementia resources: https://www.musicfordementia.com.au Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.  

Our guest today is Dr. Maya Ackerman, a world-renowned AI expert who has been at the forefront of generative AI since 2015. She holds a PhD in Computer Science, is a professor at Santa Clara University, and has authored over 60 research publications.  As the co-founder and CEO of WaveAI, one of the earliest generative AI startups, she specialises in creating systems that elevate AI from a novelty to an essential tool for millions. A recognised 'Woman of Influence' and sought after for her expertise by outlets such as NBC News and New Scientist, her perspective is truly unique. In our conversation, we explore the delicate balance between human and machine creativity. It's a relationship that requires trust, improvisation, and a deep understanding of what you could truly call the dance of leading and following. And that perspective is exactly what we explore today. This is a conversation that bridges worlds: from learning to play the piano and sing opera to becoming a CEO in AI.  We get into the very nature of creativity itself, discussing improvisation, hallucination, imagination, and what Maya refers to as 'computational creativity.' We even touch on science fiction, asking how these humble creative machines might elevate, and not replace, us in the near future. Show notes Connect with Maya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackerma/  LyricStudio: https://lyricstudio.net/  MelodyStudio: https://melodystudio.net/  Creative Machines Book (available for pre-order, releasing in Oct) https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Machines-Future-Human-Creativity/dp/1394316267  Mentioned in the talk, speculative fiction books by Annalee Newitz, check out Terraformers and Autonomous:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/191888.Annalee_Newitz  Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.  

This is a personal story about my first online interview at the end of the 1990s. It is a trip back in time with original sound snippets from the interview with famous conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim in the Opéra Royale at Versailles. Find out how we did this technically and what questions the maestro was asked that came from the internet. This is another special episode where I experiment with different kinds of storytelling.  This time, it is also about pioneering the internet and music thinking. You hear original sounds from 1997 that might sound a bit bumpy but have historical value. It shows unreleased material from a great musician, an empathic, sympathetic person in a relaxed, collegial atmosphere. Show notes Europa Concert 1997: https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/europakonzert-1997-chateau-de-versailles-paris-daniel-barenboim-conductor-and-piano-berliner-philharmoniker-ravel-mozart-beethoven Daniel Barenboim Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim  Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​  

What can people and organisations learn from science and music? Why should we care? Are there universal mechanisms that are valid all over the world to all human species? Or is everything an individual experience?  Today, we talk with Hauke Egermann, Professor of Systematical Musicology at the University of Cologne. We speak about universal mechanisms that are valid all over the world; we learn from research with an isolated culture in Congo, the Pygmies from Mebenzélé, that refuse to practise negative music and have different songs to regulate their emotions. Songs against fear, anger, or, among others, music to protect hunters in the rainforest. How do they respond to music they have never heard or connected with? What does it evoke, and how does this relate to Canadian Indigenous people and the listening patterns in the Western world?  Hauke also shares the Music Date concert with us, where the audience's emotional reaction is tracked in the first tutti part of a concert to then separate and assign them to eight different mini-concerts around one emotion based on their responses.   Show notes Connect with Hauke: https://musikwissenschaft.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/en/mitarbeiter-innen/professoren-innen/hauke-egermann  Mentioned paper about universal emotion-related psychophysiological responses: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01341/full Google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=de&user=aSSMPDoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate    Related podcasts:  A love letter to sound with Nina Kraus: https://musicthinking.com/a-love-letter-to-sound-with-nina-kraus/ Standing still with Alexander Refsum Jensenius: https://musicthinking.com/standing-still-with-alexander-refsum-jensenius/

A few episodes ago, I asked the question What is Orchestration? This was because I saw a lot of different orchestrators, nota bene, non-musical orchestrators with job titles like Design Orchestrator, Value Network Orchestrator, Data Orchestrator and Innovation Orchestrator, just to name a few. This is an ongoing research, and I am writing a paper about what people do when they say they are orchestrating.  But today, we flip the side and talk with a music orchestrator, or, shall I say, an original orchestrator? We speak with Robin Hoffmann, a prize-winning composer, arranger and orchestrator from Berlin. We talk about orchestration in music and the difference between composing, orchestrating, arranging and conducting in Hollywood films, games and concerts.  This is a deep dive into the music industry and all its facets and an inspiration for everyone orchestrating something. Robin shares with us many insights and a great story.   Show notes Connect with Robin: https://www.robin-hoffmann.com/  Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​    

Let’s talk about books today. What was the last book that inspired you? Was it a novel, a non-fiction book, a design book, a music book or a cookbook?    In this episode, I share three books that inspired my sound way of thinking, experiencing the world with an open ear and what has led to developing music thinking, the framework, the jam cards, the book and the podcast.  I will briefly discuss Nada Brahma by Joachim Ernst Berend, The Soundscape by R. Murray Schafer, and The Glass Bead Game, the prize-winning novel by Hermann Hesse. These three books directly and indirectly influenced the ideas in The Power of Music Thinking.  But my book also influenced another author, and he used parts of the music thinking framework described in the book to explain his idea of rebels in digital development in Belgium.  Today I speak with Geert de Mol, a CDO for the leading Belgian Bank for 16 years, during their development of ‘the best app in the world’. Geert is a music lover of rock and pop, and he shares with us how music thinking and the book helped him to pen his story.   Show notes Connect with Geert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geert-van-mol-1779812/  Music from the world of Anathem: https://soundcloud.com/ztutz/sets/iolet-music-from-the-world-of-anathem    Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​

Today we speak with Willemijn van Hussen - a trained concert pianist, strategy consultant - co-founder and owner of Sonic Branding agency TAMBR. We talk about the power of our senses and how sound can make a difference in recognising a brand and what it stands for. Willemijn shares with us insights from an audio branding project, with a sonic logo, brand anthem and different sound assets that are used strategically.  Among others, we hear the brand anthem of Lazy Vegan and how this might be different from other brands in the industry. Willemijn gives tips for students who work on sound assignments and for brands that want to make a start with sonic branding. Show notes Connect with Willemijn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willemijnvanhussenfuhring/  TAMBR Sonic Branding Agency: https://www.tambr.nl/en/ Steve Keller Audio Alchemist: https://musicthinking.com/blend-sound-science-with-sound-art-to-make-sound-decisions-with-steve-keller/  Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​  

We end this year with Leonoor Opstelten, a young researcher who used improvisation and music as an experimental approach for her thesis on forest and nature conservation.  With this approach, she won the Birgit Elands thesis prize just a few weeks ago. In her thesis, she included five piano pieces accompanying five different storylines - patterns and themes that resulted from her research. Let's listen to the research, its story, and the beautiful music. Show notes Connect with Leonoor: www.linkedin.com/in/leonoor-opstelten-088957297  Download her thesis: https://edepot.wur.nl/657505   Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.  

Christof Zürn talks about music thinking, the music thinking framework, and JAMMIN’ before SCORE and what this means in the context of co-creation in the business. How does this sound?  It sounds marvellous; we hear a lot of musical experts from the new (digital) album of MRZ - an ambient improvisation trio - and get an explanation of how this relates to the music thinking practise. Show notes Thinking Music Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0yITUGcz4pH8qU0FbN4vhc?si=bdb26633538a4495  Download Music Thinking Framework: https://musicthinking.com/download-music-thinking-instruments/  MRZ on Bandcamp: https://mrznl.bandcamp.com/album/improvisations-in-an-ambient-space  Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​  

What is orchestration? And What is an orchestrator? What do they do? Is everybody now a musician or music thinker? Is it important? And Why should we care?     What challenges around orchestration are there in different fields and can music, music thinking or the grandmaster of orchestration, Rimski-Korsakov, help? In this short episode, I discuss a pre-research concerning orchestration in different fields. If you are an orchestrator or use orchestration to explain your work, please fill in the form below. Show notes Please fill in the Pre-Research Survey about Orchestration: https://forms.office.com/e/MJchG9yEgP  Principles of Orchestration by Rimski-Korsakov on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/33900/33900-h/33900-h.htm#rimsky1  Prize-winning orchestrator from Berlin: https://musicthinking.podbean.com/e/everything-about-orchestration-with-robin-hoffmann/    Show support Please choose one or more of the ‘three ways to support the show’: Subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a review — even one sentence helps! I appreciate your support; it helps the show! Tell your friends about the podcast and musicthinking.com Buy the book The Power of Music Thinking and/or the Jam Cards at a 20% discount using musicthinking20 at the check-out of the BIS Publishers website only.​​