Speaker: Niels Christian Hansen, AIAS Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain

Participate online via Zoom: https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/67215252700

Abstract

Despite music’s omnipresence in cultures across time and space, it remains a mystery why we seem bound to invest valuable time and resources on crafting and listening to organized sounds. In this talk, I draw on recent results from a global research network to demonstrate how corona-themed music was created and consumed to cultivate collective connections and seek solitary solace during pandemic isolation. Throughout human prehistory, topical musical innovations may thus have served to build psychological resilience when faced with societal crisis.

Short bio

NIELS CHR. HANSEN is an assistant professor at Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies & Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University. He is a member of the Danish Young Academy and co-founded the #MUSICOVID research network. With degrees in psychology, neuroscience, music theory, and classical piano, he uses behavioural experiments, neuroimaging, computational modelling, and musical analysis to investigate the cognitive and neurobiological foundations of human musicality.

Read about Niels Chr. Hansens project at AIAS here

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English.