Jamie Gillett
https://neuroharp.bandcamp.com/releases
My current work explors the dexterity of the electromagnetic signals that pass through our brains, while testing the creative limitations of the brain. I aim to further separate the cognitive processes required to play an instrument – through the brain instructing external parts of the body to move in a certain way, alongside an instrument that actually uses those signals to manipulate the sound of an instrument directly. Mostly these instructions are stored in muscle memory, and each tiny micro-process is rarely consciously recognized.
I am driven by the newly discovered mysteries of consciousness – theories that suggest that every action, thought or sensory output is comprised of many processes that require many parts of the brain, working simultaneously to achieve what we perceive as one thought, movement or image. In this project, I aim to represent this by attempting to present further separation within the brain by simultaneously demonstrating alternate uses for the brains activity, in order to achieve the same outcome of a controlled manipulation of sound.
To achieve this, I am working with EEG sensors and live instruments to create an instrument that allows the performer to create melodies, which rhythmically and melodically will work differently, compared to conventional playing methods. We are so used to what our hands, feet and mouths present to us in that way, and so by using the brain, the at first unpredictable nature of the composition will hopefully reveal new ways of interpreting and executing the feel and expression in its music.