Super interesting. I did something similar once in writing a string quartet based on respiratory data relating to anxiety attacks and recovery breathing patterns. I did find, eventually, that being too strict with the data as I initially applied it limited the dramatic effect of the music a bit too much. However, the data structure provided a marvelous organizing principle and generated a lot of compelling material. From the experiments I’ve undertaken with data and math, I’ve found that combining a respect for the data with a dash of “prejudicial” intervention yields the most satisfying works :).
This channel is amazing! I have been looking at your videos since Arvo Parts composition analysis and there is always so much to learn and a new perspective to discover. Deep and fresh at teh same time! Congratulations!
I really appreciate the amount of thoughts, love and care that goes in to your analysis. It is thought provoking and intellectually unparalleled - I don’t think many people have the capability to draw the connections between biological activities and music. I hope you write a book one day and I am in that queue to shake your hand. Peace and love!
So kind thank you. As it happens I am on sabbatical to write my first book on such translations: 'Hidden Music' for Cambridge University Press ETA 2023, thanks for the encouragement and support!
Me too! There are many avenues for exploration: letter frequency to note frequency, evolution of language/words to motivic development, grammatical construction etc…
This video is fascinating, however I have one massive critique. As someone with ADHD, I'm having a difficult time listening to the narration _and_ trying to hear the musical examples set forth when they overlay each other. This is clearly breakthrough scientific discovery, and I'm very keen to hear what your research has unearthed, but please...verbally set up your examples (most notably the section showing the differences between a "normal" sleep, a sleep disturbed by apnea, and a sleep disturbed by restless legs) and _then_ let us listen to the example in full without interruptions. Alternately, if you simply _must_ bring attention to a particular point of interest in the musical representation of the data, use subtitles. Simply put, this video is not overly accommodating to those of us with executive processing difficulties, which is unfortunate. The subject matter is amazing and honestly brilliant in its conceptualization. Just too bad I can't properly hear the examples Mermikides is giving us because of interfering narration.
Thanks for the comment and feedback. This was a presentation introducing the project but you can watch and listen to all the examples directly here: www.miltonline.com/hm-compositions/sound-asleep/ - thanks to your suggestion I’ll add this to the video description. Cheers!
@@miltonline I hope I didn't come off as too critical! It's very likely a me problem, as my partner (who also happens to be autistic) had no problems distinguishing between your narration and the audio examples. On a slightly unrelated note: I can't help wondering what Oliver Sachs would have thought of your research. Absolutely brilliant.
Hi Milton, I had the pleasure of working within a sleep unit in Oxford over the last year and found this fascinating! Regarding the sleep study, it would be interesting to hear the airflow difference between those with Central Sleep Apnoea (CSA)and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), specifically how Cheynes-Stokes Respiration (indicative of CSA) would appear as sound. Secondly, I always thought that the SpO2 data of those with confirmed OSA looked like a sawtooth wave, whereas those with CSA are frequently more sinusoidal in nature; another parameter perhaps to explore as a way of conceiving sound if mapped onto a synthesiser?
