Biofeedback Music: Your Heart as a Drum Machine and Sweat as a Melody

Participants will learn about live representation of biological data through video and sound, and develop an understanding of the challenges of this hybrid art-science practice. Then, they will build a small emotion biofeedback system using galvanic skin response (GSR). Students will process the data from the GSR device and map it to music/visual changes using Max/MSP. Participants may choose to work solo or in small groups of 2-3 people. The session will conclude with an open discussion of the participants’ experiences and results of the workshop; those willing to share their work will be offered an opportunity to present their biofeedback pieces.

Upon completion, attendees will have a basic understanding of the main concepts of biofeedback music and sonification techniques for their GSR devices that they can also apply to working with other types of biofeedback data – sourced from heart rate (EKG), brain electrical response (EEG), or respiration frequency…