Music & the Mind: The Magical Power of Sound

Speakers

Featuring

Jamshed Bharucha, PhD

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Jamshed Bharucha is the twelfth President of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. A cognitive neuroscientist, he has published extensively on the cognitive and neural underpinnings of music. More recently, he has written and lectured widely on the challenges facing higher education, emphasizing the need for bold innovations in learning and global engagement.

President Bharucha received a bachelors degree in biopsychology from Vassar College, a MA in philosophy from Yale University (1979) and a PhD in cognitive psychology from Harvard University (1983). Bharucha began his academic career at Dartmouth College, where he was named the John Wentworth Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and served in several leadership positions, including Associate Dean, Deputy Provost and Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences. A signature accomplishment of his administrative work at Dartmouth was the creation of the nation's first brain imaging facility for the study of cognitive neuroscience outside of a clinical setting. In 2002, Bharucha was appointed Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University. Under his leadership as Provost, annual sponsored research doubled to $175 million, revenues from the transfer of technology increased eight-fold to $8 million, and the University launched an international strategy focusing on Mexico, India and China.

President Bharucha is a classically trained violinist, having received an Associate's Diploma in Violin Performance from the Trinity College of Music, London, in 1973.

Vijay Iyer, PhD

Composer & Pianist, New York City

Composer-pianist Vijay Iyer is described by Pitchfork as "one of the best in the world at what he does," by The New Yorker as one of "today's most important pianists... extravagantly gifted... brilliantly eclectic," and by Los Angeles Weekly as "a boundless and deeply important young star." His most recent honors include a "quintuple crown" in the Down Beat International Critics Poll (winning Jazz Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Group of the Year, and Rising Star Composer categories), as well as the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and the Greenfield Prize, all awarded in 2012. Last spring the Vijay Iyer Trio released Accelerando, "an early front-runner for jazz album of the year" (The New York Times). Iyer earned an interdisciplinary PhD in music perception and cognition from UC Berkeley. His research and creative work focuses on embodied and situated cognition, rhythm, and improvisation.

Charles J. Limb, MD

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Charles Limb is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where he specializes in neurotology and skull base surgery. He is also a Faculty Member at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He received his undergraduate degree at Harvard University, medical degree at Yale University School of Medicine, and completed surgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also completed postdoctoral research fellowships under Dr. David Ryugo and Dr. Allen Braun. His current areas of research focus on the study of the neural basis of musical improvisation and creativity (in jazz and freestyle rap) as well as the study of music perception in deaf individuals with cochlear implants. His work has been featured by CNN, National Public Radio, TED, National Geographic, Scientific American, PBS, the New York Times, the Library of Congress, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institute.

Concetta Tomaino, DA

Institute for Music and Neurologic Function

Dr. Concetta Tomaino is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function and Senior Vice President for Music Therapy at Center Light Health System, where she has worked since 1980. She graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook with a BA in Music Performance in 1976 (her instrument is the trumpet), a minor in psychology and sciences, and a commitment to the emerging field of music therapy. She received the Masters and Doctor of Arts in Music Therapy from New York University.

Dr. Tomaino is internationally known for her research in the clinical applications of music and neurologic rehabilitation. She has lectured on music therapy throughout the United States and in, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Italy, England, and Canada. She is past president of the American Association for Music Therapy and received the Award of Accomplishment from Music Therapists for Peace at the United Nations. In 1999 she received a Touchstone Award from "Women in Music" for her visionary spirit. In 2004 she received the Music has Power Award from the IMNF and the Zella Bronfman Butler Award which is given by the UJA-Federation of New York in partnership with the J.E. and Z.B. Butler Foundation to professionals in the UJA-Federation agency network for their outstanding work on behalf of individuals with physical, developmental, or learning disabilities. She was honored with the 2010 Professional Practice Award from the American Association for Music Therapy and also as one of "Three Wise Women" by the National Organization of Italian American Women.

Her work has been featured in national programs including 48 Hours and 60 Minutes; in international programs including the BBC; and in books on health and healing, including A Matter of Dignity, by Andrew Potok; The Mozart Effect, by Don Campbell; Age Protectors (Rodale Press); Sounds of Healing, by Mitchell Gaynor, MD; and An Anthropologist on Mars, by Oliver Sacks, MD. Dr. Sacks book Musicophilia is dedicated to her.

Dr. Tomaino is on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the ATTP II team of the National Parkinson's Foundation and the New York State Geriatric Education Consortium. Dr. Tomaino is a founding board member of the International Association for Music and Medicine. She has been a Super Panelist for the GRAMMY in the Schools program and has served on the Certification Board of Music Therapists, the Journal of Music Therapy, and on the advisory boards for the Center for Alternative Research at the Kessler Institute, and the International Journal of Arts Medicine.

Moderator

Steve Paulson

Executive Producer, Wisconsin Public Radio's nationally-syndicated program To the Best of Our Knowledge.

Steve Paulson is the executive producer and an interviewer with To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Peabody Award-winning radio program produced at Wisconsin Public Radio and syndicated nationally by Public Radio International. Paulson has written for Salon, Slate, Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Independent and other publications. His radio reports have also been broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His recent book, "Atoms and Eden: Conversations on Religion and Science," was published by Oxford University Press.