This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Elaine Chew, who is a Professor of Digital Media at Queen Mary University of London’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, where she is affiliated with the Centre for Digital Music. In addition to her several advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford, Dr. Chew is a pianist, and has performed internationally as soloist and chamber musician. Her work has been featured on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Inside the Music series, and in an exhibit on Beautiful Science at the Huntington Library in California.

Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Elaine Chew.

Highlights:

• Definitions of consciousness can change over the course of a consciousness conference
• Doctors make it easy: you’re either conscious or unconscious
• More reflexivity
• Music results from human consciousness. The very act of creating music is a consciousness
• Music helps us explore our consciousness and truly be conscious
• Can music take on its own consciousness or create a collective consciousness?
• Consciousness, music and multiplayer games!
• Conscious torture with unresolved musical phrases
• Music, comedy, and expectations
• You’ll never see the task of listening to music the same again! And, you might hear Pink Floyd’s Echoes with a new level of consciousness
• Deconstructing analysis of music and from there, consciousness

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