The action potential of a neuron as a music composition on tension and release

Featuring

• Jayeeta Basu (Neuroscientist)
• Kevin Serra (Musician)

Overview

Serra "loosely sketched all the pieces and movements to showcase a variety of sounds developed from the same note and brought these loose ideas into Mozart Street studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to improvise with jazz drummer Liev Golowasch from Hunter College. I used improvisation and juxtaposed areas of tension and release. The song includes audio samples of prior experiments from the lab."

The resulting piece, "Action Potential", is dedicated to the memory of PUai-32.

Bios

Jayeeta Basu

http://basulab.us

Jayeeta is a Neuroscientist investigating the molecular, synaptic and cellular events that underlie changes in the flow of information in neural circuits. Her goal is to understand how sensory experiences trigger activity in functionally linked neurons to generate learned behaviors and encode salient features of the environment. The focus or her lab is on describing how the logic of inherent circuit design, diversity of neuron types and spatio-temporal dynamics of synaptic activity amalgamate in the cortico-hippocampal network to organize and store information as memories. She utilizes electrophysiology, imaging and genetic manipulations in brain slices and awake behaving mice to explore links between mnemonic and plastic circuits, associational learning and adaptive behaviors.

Kevin Serra

https://soundcloud.com/cloudseeding/kaleidocycle-ii

https://soundcloud.com/cloudseeding/the-light-feat-nadine-carina-1

Guitarist and member of the band, This Ascension, Lot 49. This Ascension is a gothic ethereal band from Southern California, which formed in 1988 and released four albums. This Ascension toured the United States three times and the west coast prolifically, sharing the stage with bands including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Chris Issak, The Wolfgang Press and the Pixies. Kevin records music for a singles project with guest vocalists under the name, Cloud Seeding, conceived as a space for collaboration to showcase vocalists he admires. There is no one-signature sound, no fixed or preconceived notions, just a space for improvisation that is free to change.