Presentation: Memorization and the Brain
Tuesday, January 8th, 10am, UCF Music Building Rm. M150
Performing from memory is something all musicians will have to do at some point in their careers. For some, this prospect can be terrifying, whereas others seem to embrace the challenge with ease. This presentation will approach this topic from the view of neuroscience, looking at the neuroscience of memory in general, strategies for memorization, and specifically how musicians can improve their comfort with and mastery of performing from memory.
Violist Molly Gebrian has distinguished herself as an outstanding performer, teacher, and scholar throughout the US and Europe. Her love of contemporary music has led her to collaborate with many composers, often in premieres of works written for her. She has worked closely with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Boulez for performances at the Lucerne Festival and she spent the 2011/2012 academic year in Paris to undertake an intensive study of contemporary music with violist/composer Garth Knox. Her other principal teachers include Peter Slowik, Carol Rodland, and James Dunham. Molly completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in viola performance from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and also holds graduate degrees in viola performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, and Bachelor’s degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, in both viola performance and neuroscience. She served as the Assistant Director for two interdisciplinary conferences on music and the brain while at Rice, has published papers dealing with music and neuroscience in the Journal of the American Viola Society, Frontiers in Psychology, Flute Talk Magazine, and The Strad. Her background in neuroscience gives her unique insight into how the brain learns and how musicians can best use this information to their advantage in the practice room. Given this expertise, she is a frequent presenter on topics having to do with music and neuroscience at conferences and universities in the US and abroad. Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Viola and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
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