The relationship of music & one’s body

After having visited The Mind Museum at The Fort, Taguig late last year and having been completely blown over by this Science museum that could stand side by side with the very best in the world, there was no way we would miss its latest exhibition billed BIO-RHYTHM, Music and the Body.

In the company of Wivina Ferrer, Masscom teacher at St. Scholastica’s College; young chef Jayvee Macatangay, model and actor; and Gabbi Buencamino, singer, band and choral member; we visited the BIO-RHYTHM exhibition courtesy of The Mind Museum and had differing reactions to what we found there.

My companions Jayvee Macatangay and Gabbi Buencamino trying out the Sonic Bed with sounds

BIO-RHYTHM is the first traveling exhibit brought to the Philippines from the Science Gallery of Dublin, Ireland. The exhibition held in a special hall separate from The Mind Museum presents 14 interactive installations that demonstrate and explain the unique relationship between music and the human body. We tried Head Space, Sonic Bed, Chains of Emotion, Emotion in Motion, Contacts, the Lego musical game Heart ‘N’ Beat that kids love and the most popular Reactable that our Mind Mover or guide Pecier Decierdo says is used in European bars.

Maria Isabel Garcia, curator of The Mind Museum said, “Music is at the core of Philippine culture and our lives are animated by music. The Mind Museum will further enrich your experience of music by revealing to you aspects such as how your brain reacts to music you thought you hated, how your whole body can literally feel music, how your skin can make music.”

Michael John Gorman, founding director of the Science Gallery of Trinity College at Dublin, is an experienced cultural leader at Trinity responsible for strategy, brand, marketing, financial planning, fundraising, finance, recruitment of team with a focus on cross-disciplinary innovations, bringing scientists, artists and designers into creative conversations.

One interesting project they have been supporting since 2007 is the Crash Ensemble, described by New York Times as “the Irish new-music band that plays with the energy and spirit of a rock group.”

Gorman also thanked The Mind Museum for welcoming the Science Gallery. “We look forward to exploring the relationship between music and the people of Manila,” he had said. 

Pecier, a 25-year-old BS Physics from UP, assigned as our mind mover told us that The Mind Museum chose BIO-RHYTHM as its first traveling exhibition because Filipinos are great lovers of music. “People who come to BIO-RHYTHM are usually the more ‘refined’ of the museum guests. Other museum guests enter the museum with an ‘I want to be entertained’ mentality — an amusement park mindset.”

Dad and son with our mind mover Pecier Decierdo and Jayvee at the Lego music machine

However, Pecier continued, “The age demographic that enjoy BIO-RHYTHM the most are, predictably, the teenagers, the 20-somethings and the 30-somethings. These are the young people who grew up in a culture of barhopping and clubbing. What they like about BIO-RHYTHM is how it incorporates this culture to science and art.”

Another group enjoying the exhibit are musicians who love the experimentation involved.

We discussed our experience on the way home. Gabbi said that she experienced both the power of music and the body when the BIO-RHYTHM exhibition made her realize how one affects the other through the many interactive exhibits within its gallery. “My favorite exhibit would have to be Contact because apart from encouraging sharing a musical experience, it also celebrates the power of the human touch.”

On the other hand, Jayvee shared, “I enjoyed the Reactable the most. It’s like this DJ turntable, only cooler because it uses sensors to produce sounds. It’s very user-friendly and once you start playing with it, you’re hooked and it just looks so awesome.”

Wivina said she liked Reactable since it showed how one could create sound and music by using simple cubes, light, a camera and a computer, and also another involving the use of two hands, light waves and an electronic device. “We were shown a video on the mobile phone of a man who was able to play the Beatles selection of A Long and Winding Road through the motion of his hands. I wouldn’t mind going back to re-experience it again.”

BIO-RHYTHM is open daily except Mondays until Feb. 15. Before coming to the Philippines, it was presented in 2011 at the World Science Festival in New York and the Science Centre in Singapore. For details, call 909-6463.

(Send comments to the author at bibsymcar@yahoo.com.)