In this series, we explore the intersections between jazz music and science, from how we experience sound and rhythm, to musical memories and the creative process. Join multiple Grammy nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón for an intimate online performance combined with a conversation with scientists from Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, where Zenón is currently jazz artist-in-residence.

Music is a social endeavor. In this month’s program, we explore the links between music and how our brains process social interactions, and why music is such a powerful way for us to socialize.

​Miguel Zenón​ represents a select group of musicians who have masterfully balanced and blended the often-contradictory poles of innovation and tradition. Widely considered as one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a composer and as a conceptualist, concentrating his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between Latin American Folkloric Music and Jazz.

Jennifer Scribner is a neuroscientist and percussionist who grew up on a farm in the Catskills. She received her BA in psychobiology from Yale University where she was an active participant in the local music community. Before making the return to neuroscience, Jennifer enjoyed careers as a percussionist, an orchestra manager with the American Composers Orchestra (NYC), and as a project manager in the financial sector. She is currently a graduate student research scientist in the lab of Dr. Richard Axel at the Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University, where her research focuses on social behavior. In particular, she is interested in how sensory cues influence our social actions and motivate learning. How do external cues help us remember and recognize someone that is important to us? Jennifer is thrilled to have found so many fellow music lovers in the neuroscience community.

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Sound Waves and Brain Waves is a collaboration between Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance and Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute.