At the Willy Brandt Center, Jerusalem - "Bach and the Brain" - Dr. Keren Avirame talks about our appreciation of Bach's music via the ways our brains function

Dr. Keren Avirame (photo courtesy KA)

 

With the anniversary of J.S.Bach's birth date on March 21st, March 2022 has been alive with many and various concerts of the composer's music. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) has often been referred to as the "greatest composer of all time". Talking of Bach's music, South Korean composer Unsuk Chin, today residing in Berlin, claims that Bach’s music "displays great emotions and fiery temperament, while being the highest conceivable summit of composition as an intellectual art." 

 

Taking place on March 30th at the Willy Brandt Center (Jerusalem), "Bach and the Brain", a talk by neuroscientist/neurotherapist Dr. Keren Avirame, was certainly a very different Bach-oriented event. Prior to the lecture, Dr. Avirame wrote in a Facebook posting: "This event will merge two loves of mine, Bach and the brain. It will take place… just before the holiness of the month of April this year (Ramadan, Passover and Easter)” and “it encourages me to publicly ask those who love Bach and those who don't: What is Bach for you?" Introducing speaker and guest artists, WBC project coordinator for social art Petra Klose welcomed those drawn to the center to hear about Bach from a very different angle.

 

The evening opened with Bulgarian pianist Dimitrina Milenova taking the audience into the Bach mindset and sound world with a pleasing, well-crafted and contrasted performance of three of the Two- and Three-Part Inventions. Then to the lecture, in which Dr. Avirame covered much ground. She spoke of cognition, of how differently the brain functions nowadays in processing information, of the brain being multimodal, having several networks. She spoke of perception and prediction, about the analytical left brain, as opposed to the more emotionally-oriented right brain, of the fact that the nervous system is a rapid learning system and that we have very different levels of processing. Referring to "From Bacteria to Bach and Back", about the origin of human consciousness, she mentioned how philosopher Daniel Dennett talks of different levels of intelligence, choosing Bach's music as the highest of 4th-level thinking. She spoke of music as stimulating emotion and spirituality, of how brain waves synchronize to rhythm and how musical experience enlists the brain, heartbeat and nervous system to join in teamwork.

 

Keren Avirame has asked friends (scientists and musicians) what Bach means for them. She said there is something about Bach that scientists love, that Bach was a "mathematician", that the brain creates order from chaos and that Bach understood the brain. In addition to providing much scientific information, Avirame wished to share her own personal journey with Bach - that, in listening to- and thinking about Bach, she hears structure, that its distinct patterns clear her mind, unveiling- and reminding us of creation.

 

Accompanied by Dimitrina Milenova, we then heard young German soprano Julia Binek, currently a member of the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio, in a performance of "Blute nur, du liebes Herz!" (Bleed out, you loving heart) from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

 

Following the talk, we adjourned to a terrace to enjoy some excellent vegetarian/vegan cuisine prepared by young chef Izzeldin Abdul Aziz Bukhari from the Old City of Jerusalem. Owner of Sacred Cuisine, a company that collaborates with local organizations and businesses to organize thought-provoking Somi food events that bring people together around food experiences, Izzeldin Abdul Aziz talked of his family roots in Sufism. “In Sufism,” he explained, “feeding others is considered to be the highest form of worship.”

 

Taking place in the intimate salon of the Willy Brandt Center, this was indeed a unique and interesting event, sending us home with much food for thought!