SoundWaves
Professor Daniel Grabois created the SoundWaves series in 2012 as a way to bring scientific knowledge and music to the Madison community. SoundWaves events take a theme (past themes have included sequences, measurement and tools) and explore it through different scientific and musical lenses, ending with a live performance that also relates to the theme. The lectures are brief and are geared to the interested layman. All speakers avoid jargon and formulas. As curator of the series, Professor Grabois creates a flow for the lectures and performances that leads the audience to see how our world is interconnected. SoundWaves audiences have grown to almost 300 attendees. All events are free and open to the public, and are widely publicized.
Outcomes
Each SoundWaves event's theme sheds a window of light onto how researchers consider that theme. Scientists or humanities researchers spend much of their time out of the public eye, doing complex research that is opaque to the layman. SoundWaves opens the door of the lab, metaphorically, and invites the public into the scientific mind. The same applies to the series' treatment of music: musical works are not just performed. In some cases, Professor Grabois elucidates the music itself, but in others he describes the process of learning a complex work, or the process of developing a particular technique. The benefit of all this: the public gains a deeper knowledge of the work that goes on at UW-Madison.
Focus Areas
Project Leader
Daniel Grabois
Assistant Professor Of Horn
- Department/Unit
- Mead Witter School of Music
- School or College
- College of Letters & Science