Concentric: Enter Altered States Through Sound

Across cultures and centuries, humans have used rhythmic sound to enter altered states - through drumming, chanting, dance, and ritual. Snell's project Concentric explores these transcultural sound practices using concentric, nestled rhythms structures: ""I focus on how entrainment techniques (such as theta brainwave-inducing sound designs) are used in Vedic, Buddhist, Indigenous, and techno cultures to induce shared states of perception and physiology,"" Snell explains.

Alongside this anthropological and sound design research, Snell has developed a musical neurofeedback software system that renders real-time brainwave (EEG) and heart (PPG) data into soundscapes. This system has been used in collaborations with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (for their Tibetan Mandala exhibition), the Smithsonian Hirshhorn, and in public schools and hospitals to explore the therapeutic and educational potential of listening to one’s own brain.

At MW:M Research, Snell will present both the Concentric project and a live demo of my neurofeedback software as a hybrid talk, bridging music cognition, cultural sound practices, and human-computer interface design. Questions addressed include:

- What can be done with entrainment (listening to rhythms) versus neurofeedback (shaping the rhythms with your internal states), and what are use cases for each?

- What are the shared sound designs across cultures and how might this inform next-generation music interfaces or therapeutic tools?

- Could a networked musical instrument, driven by brain activity and designed for group synchrony, help reconnect counteract the division and isolation of most current day technology use?

- ""I am seeking collaborators in ethnomusicology, neuroscience, and immersive performance, as well as partners interested in expanding music-based educational and wellness tools. I also welcome dialogue with curators, researchers, and companies developing embodied technologies or working at the intersection of sound, emotion, and collective experience,"" Snell says.