Mutational Music Project
Reginald Bain and Jeff Dudycha
Welcome
Welcome to the Mutational Music Project website!
The Mutational Music Project is focused on the development of music and software that helps students understand genetic mutation concepts. To explore the possibilities, University of South Carolina (USC) professors Jeff Dudycha and Reginald Bain created a new interdisciplinary undergraduate research experience that involves biologists working in teams with electronic composers. The teams use established approaches in data sonification to design projects that address the following problem:
In what way(s) can basic processes of genetics and evolutionary biology (especially mutation) be effectively represented through musical processes?
We have offer the undergraduate research experience four times, and over 50 USC student biologists and composers have participated in project. More information is available below.
Project News & Activities
The ongoing research and creative activity associated with this project has been shared via the courses, concerts, talks, presentations, and publications listed below.
Spring 2024 Course
During the Spring 2024 term, the students enrolled in biology professor Jeff Dudycha's BIOL 599 Topics in Biology: Chords & Codons and selected students in music professor Reginald Bain's MUSC 540/(737) (Advanced) Projects in Computer Music teamed up in a unique beyond-the-classroom experience that focuses on interdisciplinary research/creative activity that lies at the intersection of biology and electronic music composition. Three undergraduate biologists and four undergraduate/graduate composers created the following three projects:
Group 1
Sonification of EEGs from a burn patient receiving music therapy
Biologist: Roberto Ornelas Saldiva
Composer: Shupeng Cao
Group 2
Convergent evolution of echolocation in bats and dolphins
Biologist: Greyson Sherman
Composers: Ian Schwalbe and Carter Stanton
Group 3
Feather development and flight in owls
Biologist: Mya Williams
Composer: Jaden Bowers
ATMI 2022
Bain gave a paper presentation at the 2022 Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI) national conference in Long Beach, CA titled Teaching Algorithmic Composition through Genetic Data Sonification. ATMI's mission is "to improve music teaching and learning through the integration of current and emerging technologies into the music learning environment." The paper discussed pedagogical software Bain built for the Mutational Music Project using Cycling ‘74’s Max, an interactive multimedia programming language and real-time composition environment, that allows students to explore basic principles of algorithmic composition in the context of genetic data sonification.
Genetic Variations (2022)
Composed for the Mutational Music Project, Bain's electronic composition Genetic Variations (2022) received its world premiere at the:
USC Computer Music ConcertUniversity of South Carolina
School of Music
Recital Hall, 7:30 pm, FREE
Spring 2022 Course
During the Spring 2022 term, the students enrolled in biology professor Jeff Dudycha's BIOL 599 Topics in Biology: Chords & Codons and music professor Reginald Bain's MUSC 540/(737) (Advanced) Projects in Computer Music teamed up in a unique beyond-the-classroom experience that focuses on interdisciplinary research/creative activity that lies at the intersection of genetics and algorithmic composition. Eight undergraduate biologists and eight undergraduate/graduate composers created the following four projects:
Group 1
Sonification of Bird Migratory Patterns with Progressing Climate Change
Biologists: Priyam Bhardwaj and Vin Sullivan
Composers: Evan Farr and Zacob Zirbel
Group 2
Sonification of MAO gene VNTRs
Biologists: Scott McManus and Anna Thamasett
Composers: Rachelle Armstead and Aidan McCarty
Group 3
Sonification of Invasive Sea Lamprey and Lake Trout Abundance in Lake Superior {YouTube}
Biologists: David Abdulrahman and Oliver
Malatich
Composers: Shupeng Cao and Ashley Stewart
Group 4
The Sounds of Alzheimer's Disease
Biologists: Ashutosh Arora and Brandon Jolley
Composers: Max Feltes and Garrett Lee Fuller
ICAD 2021
The third movement of Bain's computer-generated composition Double Helix (2019), titled "Seed," was performed at the 2021 International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD 2021) Sonification Concert. ICAD is a forum for presenting research on auditory displays and sonification. Bain's paper (pdf) is available in the conference proceedings. A recording of the performance is available on YouTube.
Evolution 2021
Dudycha and Bain gave a joint talk at the Evolution 2021 conference. The Evolution conference is the joint annual meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Society of Systematic Biologists. The presentation, titled Chords and Codons: Musical simulations of evolutionary processes in an interdisciplinary undergraduate course, discussed the scientific side of the interdisciplinary research experience.
ATMI 2020
Bain gave a paper presentation at the 2020 Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI 2020) national conference titled Integrating Music and Genetics through Sonification and Data-Driven Music Composition. The presentation discussed the musical side of the interdisciplinary research experience. The revised online handout for the presentation is available on Bain's website.
Spring 2020 Course
During the Spring 2020 term, the students enrolled in biology professor Jeff Dudycha's BIOL 599 Topics in Biology: Chords & Codons and music professor Reginald Bain's MUSC 540/(737) (Advanced) Projects in Computer Music teamed up in a unique beyond-the-classroom experience that focuses on interdisciplinary research/creative activity that lies at the intersection of genetics and algorithmic composition. Ten undergraduate biologists and ten undergraduate/graduate composers created the following five projects:
Group 1
The Harmonic Balance of Eat or Be Eaten
Biologists: Libby Davenport and Patrick Lawson
Composers: Ian Jones and Jacob Wylie
Group 2
Algorithmically-derived jazz from amino acid data
Biologists: Kate Bothe and Michelle St. John
Composers: Bryce Owens and Graeme Rosner
Group 3
Mutations Sonified in a Fugue
Biologists: Jacob Brock and Dexter Reasons
Composers: Elizabeth Greener and Hunter Vowell
Group 4
SoniPhylogenies: Cytochrome B Sonification using BLOSUM
Biologists: Rishi Suresh and Frank Webb
Composers: Andrew Gretzinger and Peter
Underhill
Group 5
What Does Parkinson's Sound Like?
Biologists: Abby Askins and Jack Gabel
Composers: Te-Wei Huang and Jesse Kaiser
USC Today Article
The sound of genetics
Music, biology professors team up for inventive class to turn gene mutations into sound
by Page Ivey, in USC Today (October 11, 2019)Double Helix (2019)
The 2019 USC Computer Music Concert was presented in lecture-recital format. Bain gave a lecture titled the Mutational Music Project, a talk for the general public on music, genetics, and sonification. The talk was designed to increase public understanding of genetics and genetic processes through analogous musical processes. The lecture was immediately followed by the world premiere of Bain’s computer-generated composition Double Helix, which was composed for the Mutational Music Project.
USC Computer Music ConcertMonday, April 8, 2019
University of South Carolina
School of Music
Recital Hall, 7:30 pm, FREE
Undergraduate Research (2018-19)
- Joelle Strom, B.S. Biology
- SC Honors College (SCHC)
Sonification of Epigenetic Processes, SCHC Senior Thesis
- Matthew Waller, B.S. Biology
- SC Honors College
Waltz Toward Disaster: A Representation of the Accumulation of Mutations Over Time, USC Discovery Day Presentation
A New Interdisciplinary Research Experience (Spring 2018 Course)
During the Spring 2018 term, the students enrolled in biology professor Jeff Dudycha's BIOL 599 Topics in Biology: Chords & Codons and music professor Reginald Bain's MUSC 540/(737) (Advanced) Projects in Computer Music teamed up in a unique beyond-the-classroom experience that focuses on interdisciplinary research/creative activity that lies at the intersection of genetics and algorithmic composition. Eight undergraduate biologists and six undergraduate/graduate composers created the following four projects:
Group 1
A genetic sequence is directly mapped to a chord progression while implementing the properties of various mutations
Biologists: Lauren Huffmire and Kathryn Metts
Composers: Thomas Palmer and Morgan Soard
Group 2
Waltz Toward Disaster: A Representation of the Accumulation of Mutations Over Time
Biologists: Zach Spicer and Matthew Waller
Composer: Ryan Williams
Group 3
A familiar melody is altered according to the rules of genetic mutation
Biologists: Rachel May and Joel Strom
Composers: Michael VanBuhler and Robert
Wilkinson
Group 4
Hearing the Silent: Musically Expressing Intronic Mutations
Biologists: Lexi Dickson and Olivia Harris
Composer: Jacob Wylie
Mutational Music Talks
To provide regular reports on the ongoing research and creative activity associated with the musical end of the project, Bain has delivered the following public talks in the Composition Area's weekly Composition Seminar:
- October 21, 2016
Generative Music
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- September 15, 2017
Music, Biology and Sonification
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- September 21, 2018
Data-Driven Music
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- February 1, 2019
Generative Rhythm
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- March 29, 2019
Science, Music and Metaphor
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- September 6, 2019
Sonification and the Auditory Sublime
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- February 7, 2020
Microtonal Spaces for Sonification: Part 1: The Harmonic Series
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
- October 23, 2020
Microtonal Spaces for Sonification: Part 2: EDO, JI, and Beyond
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Virtual
- January 22, 2021
Composition and Sonification
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Virtual
- October 29, 2021
"Seed," from Double Helix
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, R210
- February 25, 2022
Musical Analogies for Genetic Mutation
Composition Seminar, 2:30 - 4 pm, Music Building, Room 210
Acknowledgements
The Mutational Music Project is the broader impact component of the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant project Mutational variance of the transcriptome and the origins of phenotypic plasticity (NSF award #1556645). Jeff Dudycha is the principal investigator and Reginald Bain is the other senior person on the grant. The investigators also wish to acknowledge the generous support of the University of South Carolina, Dean of the School of Music Tayloe Harding, and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences Johannes Stratmann.
