Neurodiversity and Creative Collaboration: Notes from the Music Field

CASY Cultural Autism Studies (ethnography project led by Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes) is delighted to welcome the return of Dr. Michael Bakan, who will speak about “Neurodiversity and Creative Collaboration: Notes from the Music Field” on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at 7pm EDT (4pm PDT). Dr. Bakan is author of the book Music and Autism and has spoken extensively about the topic earlier this year. For a brief refresher, please visit https://tinyurl.com/3cxtpd6t
There is no cost to attend, and international participants are invited to join. RSVP here to access Zoom link.
DESCRIPTION (as written by Dr. Bakan): I have been fortunate in recent years to have opportunities to collaborate on both musical and musicological projects with world-class autistic musical artists, including jazz pianist Matt Savage and singer-songwriter Jennifer Msumba. In this presentation, I first reflect on those experiences and share video footage from concerts, then turn to deeper considerations of processes of neurodivergent creative collaboration, both within and beyond the sphere of musicking.
BIOGRAPHY: Michael Bakan Ph.D. is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Head of the World Music Ensembles Program at Florida State University, where he directs the Sekaa Gong Hanuman Agung Balinese Gamelan. His more than 100 publications include the books Music & Autism: Speaking for Ourselves, World Music: Traditions and Transformations, and Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World of Balinese Gamelan Beleganjur. As a drummer and percussionist, he has performed with George Clinton, Tito Puente, Rudolf Serkin, Johnny Rawls, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Players, and leading gamelan groups in Bali, Indonesia.
About CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (ethnography project led by Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes). An ‘ethnography’ is an exploration of how a group of people express themselves in a cultural way. Autistic people have a growing kind of culture, and each autistic experience is a vital part of it. Dr. Dawn Prince-Hughes is an anthropologist, ethnographer, primatologist, and author who is autistic. Join her for an exploration of the importance of autistic self-expression and the culture that grows from it. Those who wish to share their content are free to do so on our private Facebook group (see below), organically contributing to a growing autistic culture.
Links to online events will also be shared on these private Facebook groups: SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY FOR AUTISM (http://tinyurl.com/mrxnxmnc) or CASY Cultural Autism Studies at Yale (http://tinyurl.com/4ckbyut7).
CREDITS: The preparation of this material was financed under an agreement with the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities (CTCDD). CASY Sparks membership, activities and events are free. CASY Sparks is sponsored in part by The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Adult Autism Research Fund, and a generous gift from the Rosen family, and the research of Dr. Roger Jou.