Catastrophe & Heritage: An experiment in EEG-generated music composition

Music, sound and brain activity share similarities in how we can measure or create them, namely as combinations of time-dependent processes (repetition and history) and time-independent events (discontinuous, nonlinear or catastrophic processes). Furthermore, time is fundamental in how we measure both brain activity and sound objectively, and how we define relationships e.g. between notes as well as brain regions. In a sense, therefor, music and neuroscience present us with unique ways to explore time. In this article we combine these two different perspectives on time by using EEG to generate a musical composition. The purpose of this article is to propose a two step procedure that allows further systematic explorations. In an initial generative step, EEG is analyzed and converted to normalized values for composition, which we coined proto-duration and proto-pitch. In a second step, these values were transformed into a musical score before re-arrangement for performance by hand. The results are then discussed and future developments proposed.