[applause] >> thank you. >> questions? >> thank you for that. that was great. i have a question, two-sided. when you play a piece like that, when we feel -- hear music, we feel the emotion. why does music trigger in motion? what is going on? let me take that -- >> let me

take that. that is an interesting question. that is really the big question in cognitive neuroscience. it is not at all sounds are music. we do not put on records of chickens clucking, waterfalls falling, some of us do, but the real music come from this arrangement of organized sound we call music. i have to say, we do not really know. the closest we have got is music appears to be metaphorical for movement and instruments sometimes sound like a mother singing, crying. and the only thing we know for sure is that music is activating a lot of regions in the brain. i think the best explanation that i will propose now, tentatively, as it has to do with expectation and release. when we hear a piece of music, because it has a pulse, we

almost always know when the next bibelot be, but we do not know what it will be. the job of the composer is to reward us by playing what we expect, but violating those expectations just often enough of the time to keep us interested. when the composer can violate those expectations in an interesting way and give us a resolution that we would have never predicted, then they have got us for life. the brain love learning new things, taught something, and music is, in effect, teaching us something. there is another way to finish this phrase. that may get that burst of dopamine that goes -- yeah! >> earlier, you said that when we listen to music we activate a pleasure center in our brain. what is happening when we listen to music that we dislike? >> there is a structure called the amygdala, which is the fear

center of the brain. that is activated when we hear music that we do not like. one of the people -- things that people report most that they hate most is when they hear music that they do not like and cannot change it. it is high on the list of most noxious stimulate. we find a subversive, the amygdala kicks in, and it makes you want to run and scream. like the 20th time you heard that brittany -- britney spears song. >> you talked about going from a more intuitive style to more analytical, conscious. was that intuitive on its own? could you flesh that out a little bit? >> i think that was a bit of necessity. i was asked to put together a collection of my transcriptions

in 1990. it was the first time that i had to sit down and transcribe all my music. until then, i had done it in my head. i learned things so fundamental that i did not know i was doing. sometimes i did not realize that there were extra beats, i would change the meter for two bars. in that process, i learned a lot. also, of teaching. when you start to teach, you have to think about what you're doing so you can explain it to somebody else in a meaningful way. i think it was that process of having to write and transcribe music that made me aware that you can analyze something, to benefit, but one needs to be careful that the analytical side does not wipe out the initial impulse to write music. >> there is that famous story where a music ecologist told

john lennon that he ended a song in an alien cadence, and he says, i did? this program is provided by the commonwealth club in forum. tonight we are presenting music. i am here with alex degrassi, a grammy award winning guitarist. we will continue with audience questions. >> you mentioned in your book, and right now, music has a pulse. i wonder what you think or know happens in the brain when music is disjointed, bad. how about classical music? >> one of the things -- whether you know it or not, whether you are a musician or not -- your brain is trying to predict what is or to come next, just like in speech.

if i was going to say, the pizza was too hot to sleep, your brain is surprised because it had a prediction of what was going to come. a skillful physician will break it up harmonically, totally, or rhythmically, and when it becomes hard to predict, it becomes a game. what is your feeling about that? you do a lot of rhythmic changes. >> one of the things that i do a fair amount of -- maybe the question is asking, for example -- you have a piece of music, there is a rhythmic feel, maybe there is a break, a cadence, maybe it is played differently for a certain period. there is still a flow, as a musician, that you're looking for, to convey. sometimes it seems abstract. i would imagine the brain is

also starting to calculate what that flow is. if i am playing along going -- 1, 2, 3, 4 -- >> the brain has to recalibrate. >> the brain is trying to figure it out. >> it is just like in gauging the audience. when i lower my voice like this, i am engaging you because you have to work harder to see what is going on. composers have a variety of tricks in the tool box, and that is one of them. >> thank you. i would like to acknowledge this book, thank you for doing the research, putting into written form. the chapter that deals with anticipation, which you have been talking about, reflects a particularly western approach. the eastern, buddhist -- a

different approach, the genre of music that i have been involved, developing some brain wave research with that -- seems to solicit other kinds of responses. have you looked at other types of music that gets into these spaces between the tones, opens up that quantum field aspect? >> the question about other music is an interesting one. one thing i can say about music of other cultures, each of us is exquisitely attuned to the conventions and rules of our own culture, such that we can hear a chord sequence, we can pretty much nail down what the motion is intended to be. but if i put on chinese opera, indigenous music of the ural mountains, i will probably not have a clue about it, and they will not have much of a clue about our music. things that we take for granted.

major accord being happy, minor chords being said. it is the same as language. we understand the ones we are exposed to. there is a critical period during the first 12 years of life, one needs to be acculturated to those types of music. there are people in the field -- stay tuned -- we will have news about them soon. >> my question is how our brain remembers music. is it processed differently, stored differently than other types of memories? i ask that because, i can remember songs that i sang in second grade but i cannot remember my teacher's name, my friends. >> a lot of that have that experience. women go to old age homes, some of the last member is preserved in the elderly, even with alzheimer's, other decay, they

remember songs from their childhood when they cannot even remember their spouse's name, what year it is. music has thiese musically reinforcing views. in a good piece of music, you have the elements of rhythm, pitch, harmony, meter, articulation, timbre, all working together, so that you may not remember every note, but the ones you do remember inform the missing ones. it becomes a pattern of multiple queues. that is one thing. the other thing we found interesting from girl imaging studies -- narrow imaging studies is when you are remembering a piece of music, it activates almost identical circuits as when you are hearing it. so much so when you compare the bring activation of someone in imagining music, remembering, to

someone listening, it is virtually indistinguishable by looking at the brain scan. i wonder -- and brings up the question, how did it would you say your musical imagery is? when you imagine music, is it like a little tape playing in your head? >> yes, it is. and it works the other way, from the point of view from the composer, trying to compose something. i might be sitting on an airplane and i will remember some experience. let's say running with anticipation, or something you saw. maybe you saw something spectacular, an illusion of light or something, and it creates an image. i will try to read something done quickly because i am trying to capture one that is.

and of course, that stuff is very fleeting. the other thing, musicians who played the guitar, something with your fingers, they feel as if they are remembering in their fingers. oftentimes, you play a passage and you cannot think your way through it. your fingers have to play the way through it. muscle memory. from a scientific standpoint, if i were to scoop your brain out of your head, your fingers would not remember, but there is a motor cortex that remembers the sequence. there is a whole field that studies the sequence, how one movement is remembered in a succession of a sequence. >> the process of creating, trying to start creating music is not that different for me that it is remembering music. it is revoking some kind of image or movement. -- evoking some kind of image or

movement. >> can i ask, i am a musician, do you have any advice -- often have trouble losing -- moving away from my everyday and getting into music. do you have any recommendations on how to speed up that context switching? >> i am assuming that as a professional musician, he doesn't have to do with complicated problems. >> you would not want me doing that. believe me. >> still, you have the context switch of being creative, non creative. >> that is true. sometimes you need something to wipe the slate clean. it could be taking a walk. these days, disconnecting.

i have a studio. when i go there, is a place to work, i did not need to take my cell phone out there. having a physical location you can go to -- this is where i do this -- even just a quarter of your room. >> from a cognitive neuroscience standpoint, if you dedicate a place, if you are religious about it -- or clock 30 i am going to spend an hour -- 4:30 i'm going to spend an hour here or there. that contextual aspect helps. inform is now wrapping up all of our events by asking our speakers, ourselves included, the following question. alex, what is your 60-second the idea to change the world?

>> i think everybody should listen to music from other cultures. even daniel has said that, you know, we need to have that in printing when we are young to understand balinese monkey chants or something to put it into context. i travel a lot. i just came back from asia. i was given a lot of career in music, a lot of ethnic music -- a lot of korean music. even though you may not have a cultural context, if you give it a little bit of a chance, it is an opportunity to open up your mind a little bit. when you do that, it may on sub -- some subconscious level give you a better understanding of why people are the way they are in different parts of the world and who they are. i think we should all be listening to each other's music and all try to play a little bit

of music or sing. i think it is -- yeah. 60 seconds there? [applause] >> and you, daniel, what is your 60-second idea? >> as an educator and teacher, i think my 60-second idea to change the world is better education. if we could teach the next generation of kids to be critical thinkers, just not accept what they are told but to decide for themselves, to give them the tools to make informed decisions about what is right and what is not, about what has been established and what is just here say, what really has a grounding in fact versus rumor, i think the world would be a much safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous place. [applause] >> let's get a big, final round

of applause for this nice, informed foray into neuroscience and music with myself, daniel levinson, and the great guitarist and composer, alex degrassi. now, this meeting of in forum and the commonwealth club is adjourned. [applause] >> i am the executive director of the san francisco film commission, and really wonderful to have you all here tonight. it is a great turn out. nice to see you all here. you can't hear me. sorry. can we turn up the volume on that? thank you. i really want to thank you all for coming tonight. it's a great turn-out. i want to thank our commissioners for coming tonight. they are instrumental in having

this be what it is. without their endorsement, about wouldn't have had it. marlene, one of our commissioners is here. if you could say hello. thank you for coming tonight. we appreciate it. [applause] i am grateful to have the honor to introduce a very special guest tonight. we have our newly elected mayor, ed lee, joining us tonight and introducing the film collective. [applause] and without his support this woot not be possible -- would not be possible. he is a big backer to filming in the city. we are thankful for your support, and thank you very much. we are very excited that you are going to be our mayor for the next four years, and we intend to keep the momentum going of the film commission under your leadership. please welcome mayor ed lee. [applause]

>> thank you. good evening, everyone. we are in a celebration mode. so before i begin, i want to make sure you know it is suzanna's birthday yesterday. i want to celebrate our wonderful director. [applause] >> we won't talk age. we will just talk celebration. but i want to congratulate her. i want to congratulate the san francisco film commission for starting this wonderful collective in the middle of our tenderloin in our city. i have had a chance to work with her briefly as the city administrator and got excited about her new directorship still and things that gavinned talk todd me about. we need to get back to the wonderful film history we have in the city. that is one of those things i want to make sure we do, to resurge that ever.

so i am going to be a big supporter of the film industry and particularly this type of innovation here, this thing baitor where you have independent film makers and documentaries coming together. the city can come together here, and we have helped to find space and worked with a land leonard named craig. is craig here tonight? if anybody says he is craig, we thank him because he has given us a great deal here. and also doing it in a way in which it compliments the district here in the tenderloin. i want to thank the v.b.d. are you here? where did you go? >> here. [applause] >> ok, thank you. i am excited about revising and

resources and making sure we support our independent film makers, our documentary film makers. we have a lot to talk about. i am also excited about some of the ideas that have already been on the books. but now that we have the space, we have a great -- production crews have already started here. i understand there is pot luck productions. cob great -- congratulations for being here. [applause] >> there is stampede productions here. >> [applause] >> there is ecopoise here. [applause] >> and then there is a production company, and i will have to admit to you when i heard this name, i thought they were engaged in horror films. scary cow. [applause] >> having learned what they do, and what their reward system is and how they incentivize by

rewarding the great initiatives that some of the film has, and when their popularity grows, they get rewarded to get their next film. i love that concept. i have an entry for you. it is something called too legit to quit. [laughter] anyway, i had a little bit of fun watching the producers of that come out as well. that should indicate to you there should be a lot of fun, a lot of information to share with the rest of the world, postseason. one of these days i am sure somebody is going to do something about occupy san francisco. i know that is going to happen. please better view me. i've got some opinions. but we are working closely about that. but there is just -- in san francisco when you're a film maker, i know there are a lot topics you can cover, a lot of lines, a lot of precious stories. this is a hot bed for opinions, for postseason and for film

making. and i want to make sure that that story-telling, that ability to show the postseason, the ability to educate our world and our own communities thrives and success in our great city of san francisco. and that we are also an international city. so that my hope is that when these offices are filled and the real energy of this innovation and spirit that is already reflected here, when these production companies find their gems to produce, that you get international attention. because these stories probably will have international themes to them and will resonate all over the world. congratulations, i will be a background supporter. we will be working with the commission to support it as much as we can, and you may see

something in the budget. [applause] >> thank you, mayor. just a couple of notes before we get started. for those of you that don't know about the collective, in is a space that has four minimum making grooms at this point. we have six other offices still available. there is information on how big they are and how much they cost. but we welcome you to submit an application if you are interested. we would love to have more film makers in here. it is a great environment for collaboration, sharing ideas and just getting your work done. i think it is a pretty beautiful space. we are very fortunate to have this space here tonight. before we get started, i wanted to give thanks to pressure island wines. they are donating the wine for tonight, and it is really delicious, wonderful, and we are thankful to have their donations. let's give them a hand. [applause]

i also want to acknowledge the hard work of christine monday, who is from our film office. really, this film collective is her idea, and she has put a lot of energy into it. thank you, christine, for all the work you have done. [applause] >> and again thanking our film commission for supporting this. they have really put a lot of support behind it, letting us have it to start with. and then also giving us the go-ahead to put funds toward connecting this to high speed internet. right now we have tapped into the city's broadband network, so we have 25 up and 25 down, which not being a tech person, i don't really know everything that means. a file used to take 30 minutes to upload, and now it takes three minutes to upload. that is fantastic. in the rent, that is included.

utilities and john torle are -- jantorial are included, and a common area and your own space. it is great a good deal for film makers if you are interested in participating. craig larson is the owner of the building. he has worked with us, and he has been so generous to make it where we could afford this space and where we could give it to you at an affordable rate so. thank you, craig, even though you're not here. i think that's it for now. christine, if you would like to come up and introduce the next

[applause]

[cheers and applause] >> they were all telling me how excited they were to do an inauguration last year. but it was just for that local mayor of san francisco.