Lullabyte is a European MSCA doctoral network project that brings leading researchers from musicology, sleep research, neuroscience, and computer science together to investigate the effects of music on sleep. Within the project, ten Doctoral Candidates, from 10 institutions from different European countries, are trained in an interdisciplinary research field and acquire profound skills relevant to industry and the health and cultural sectors.

At the Music Technology Group (MTG), the work of the Doctoral Candidate Tinke van Buijtene is focused on studying the potential effects of sound stimulation on brain waves during sleep and exploring how music helps to relax, induce sleep, and improve sleep quality and overnight memory consolidation. The Lullabyte project is led at the MTG by Sergi Jordà and Perfecto Herrera.

From June 28th to July 5th, the MTG hosts the Lullabyte summer school, which will gather Doctoral candidates and their supervisors. The summer school includes one week of lectures, meetings, posters, and concerts. In total, there are about 20 activities, most of them for the project members only, but the following activities will be open to everyone.

Open activities

Free entry

Lectures

Saturday June 29th, 11:30AM – Room 20.017, UPF Campus Ciutadella

"Did you get it? What sort of information does music encode and how?", by Dr. Félix Pastor, composer and professor at ESMUC.

Abstract: Music is a sort-of-language. It makes sounds but it has no words. We can listen to it, we can speak it, and most of the time even write it. But what sort of information does it encode and how? How do we know 'we got it'? What did we get? By diving into three examples from the Classical and Avantgarde repertoire, we'll get a sense of the role that pitch, melody, harmony, rhythm and form play in creating a musical piece and what views of the world are encoded in it.

Monday July 1st, 10:00AM – Room 52.S25, UPF Campus Poblenou

"Consciousness in the electrical brain", by Dr. Aureli Soria-Frisch, Director Neuroscience BU at Starlab Barcelona SL. 

Abstract: Inspired by recent developments in neuroscience and the potential role of fundamental concepts such as information, complexity, emergence and the electrical brain we aim to study, model, quantify, and eventually alter observable aspects of consciousness.  Our vision is that consciousness will someday be electromagnetically measured and altered, and that the associated needed insights will prove crucial to the development of cognitive sciences and clinical applications.

Tuesday July 2nd, 6:00PM – Room 52.S25, UPF Campus Poblenou

"The Thermodynamics of Mind", by Gustavo Deco, professor and director of the Computational Neuroscience group at the UPF.

Abstract: Finding precise signatures of different brain states is a central, unsolved question in neuroscience. The difference in brain state can be described as differences in the detailed causal interactions found in the underlying intrinsic brain dynamics. We use a thermodynamics framework to quantify the breaking of the detailed balance captured by the level of asymmetry in temporal processing, i.e. the arrow of time. We also formulate a novel whole-brain model paradigm allowing us to derive the generative underlying mechanisms for changing the arrow of time between brain regions in different conditions. We found precise, distinguishing signatures in terms of the reversibility and hierarchy of large-scale dynamics in three radically different brain states (cognition, rest, deep sleep and anaesthesia) in fMRI and electrocorticography data from human and non-human primates. Overall, this provides signatures of the breaking of detailed balance in different brain states, reflecting different levels of computation.

Reactable Concert

Monday July 1st, 6:30PM – Sala Aranyó, UPF Campus Poblenou

Suhit Chiruthapudi and Alex Vilanova (SMC master students) will offer a Reactable concert.

The Reactable is an electronic musical instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface that was developed within the MTG in 2003-2005. In this brief (45’) concert Suhit Chiruthapudi and Alex Vilanova will demonstrate the creative capabilities of this instrument.

Sleep Concert

Thursday July 4th, 9:00 PM – Sala Aranyó, UPF Campus Poblenou

Join us for a unique concert-experiment from 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM, featuring live all-night music designed to facilitate sleep. The event begins with an introduction to the Lullabyte project. Doors close at 10:00 PM, followed by a 2-hour live electronic music piece by Natasha Barrett for the duo "Dream Divers" (aka Natasha Barrett live electronics, Miriam Akermann flute). The work is composed specifically for the occasion and utilizing the Aranyó 3D Audio System. This is followed by a 6-hour instrumental improvisation featuring Miriam Akermann (flutes), Haize Lizarazu (piano and zither), Ángel Faraldo (live electronics), and Àlex Reviriego (double bass), performing non-stop music intended to comfort sleep. Coffee and a light breakfast will be served at 7:00 AM.

Admission is free but very limited. Reservations can be made at [email protected].

Sleep Concert

Thursday July 4th, 9:00 PM – Sala Aranyó, UPF Campus Poblenou

Admission is free but very limited. Reservations can be made at [email protected].

See more details and abstracts here.