'A Matter of Life and Death' (AMOLAD) is a 1946 film by Michael Powell and Emerich Pressberger. Peter Carter, a bomber pilot is returning from the last raid of the war. His plane and parachute are shot up so he decides to 'jump rather than fry' and has a last conversation over the radio with June, an American radio operator before jumping, as he expects, to his death. He doesn't die but washes up on a beach and as a love story unfolds between him and June he is menaced by recurrent episodes (clinically, complex partial epileptic seizures though the words aren't mentioned in the film) during which a 'conductor' from the afterlife tries to persuade him to return with him as he shouldn't really have survived. The film culminates in a realistically staged neurosurgical operation on Peter whilst in the afterlife his case to go on living is put on trial trial. Ian explains why this is his favourite film of all time (as it is Ken's),their conversation ranging over origin and influences, forebears and progeny, design and music, the clincial neuroscience that underpins it and much more.

Participants:

Ian Christie, Professor of Film and Media History, Birckbeck, University of London. www.ianchristie.org

Ken Barrett, artist and writer, retired neuropsychiatrist http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

For more about 'A Matter of Life and Death': https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038733/ (SEE IT!)

https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/b58b75d7-e9e2-5a1f-a448-afa92a35462d/a-matter-of-life-and-death

In the UK it is currently (on 21.6.24) On BBC Iplayer.

Ian's book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matter-Life-Death-Film-Classics/dp/1839023899

The other book mentioned, on the neuroscientific background of the film, is by Diane broadbent Friedman: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/jbctv.2010.0013

This is the the book by Frigyes Karinthy which was part of the inspiration: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_Journey_Round_My_Skull.html?id=trCxtdw5OHcC&redir_esc=y

Opening music, extract from the prelude to Brainland by Stephen Brown.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

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Susan Tomes is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning pianist specialising in chamber music as well as solo repertoire. Here she talks to Stephen Brown about her musical origins in Edinburgh, what it was like being the first woman to read music at King’s College Cambridge, how she built her performing career starting from a single room in Crystal Palace, and the transformative influence of working with the violinist Sándor Végh at the Prussia Cove seminars in Cornwall. She talks about sensitivity and reciprocity in ensemble playing, about communicating with audiences and the mysteries of how a musical phrase sometimes sounds exactly right. She has written seven books to date. The latest, "Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives" was published in March 2024 by Yale University Press.

Participants:

Susan Tomes, pianist and writer https://www.susantomes.com/.

Stephen Brown, composer, cellist and former neuropsychiatrist http://www.cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm.

Amazon link for Women and the Piano

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Piano-History-50-Lives/dp/030026657X

The recording of the Faure Piano Quartets has been reissued by Hyperion and is available here.

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA30007

Music: Extract from Faure Piano Quartets, with permission, reissued by Hyperion and available here.

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA30007.

Brainland the oepra website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

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In this podcast academic and clinical music therapists, musicians and friends Helen Odell-Miller and Penny Rogers discuss their life work – music therapy. They define and outline the varieties of music therapy, discuss their journey from training as musicians to studying music therapy and cognitive psychology (Penny) and psychodynamic psychotherapy (Helen). Penny talks about her clinical work in various settings and Helen her career at the forefront of research into the positive effects of music therapy (ameliorating conditions as varied as agitation in dementia to PTSD). They also talk about how their continuing musical practice in group settings (Helen singing, Penny cello) enriches their day-to-day lives and improves their professional practice.

Participants:

Helen Odell-Miller OBE, Professor Emeritus, Anglia Ruskin University; Founding Director of Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research; Chair of The Music Therapy Charity; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

https://www.aru.ac.uk/people/helen-odell-miller

Penny Rogers, music therapist; Deputy Director, Safeguarding & Public Protection at Devon Partnership NHS Trust; Trustee, British Association for Music Therapy; 'cellist.

https://www.bamt.org/bamt/people/penny-rogers

Stephen Brown, musician; composer; retired professor of neuropsychiatry

http://www.cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Resources and further reading:

Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy (CIMTR):

https://www.aru.ac.uk/cambridge-institute-for-music-therapy-research

British Association for Music Therapy

https://www.bamt.org/

Royal College of Psychiatrists Introductory Module at E-LEARNING hub:

https://elearninghub.rcpsych.ac.uk/products/Music_therapy-an_introduction

Some recent research papers:

Thompson, N et al.(2023). Investigating the impact of music therapy on two in-patient psychiatric wards for people living with dementia: retrospective observational study. BJPsych Open, 9(2), e42. doi:10.1192/bjo.2023.20

Odell-Miller, H et al.(2022). The HOMESIDE Music Intervention: A Training Protocol for Family Carers of People Living with Dementia. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 12(12), 1812-1832. Doi: 10.3390/ejihpe12120127

Odell-Miller, H., (2021) Embedding Music and Music Therapy in Care Pathways for People with Dementia in the 21st Century—a position paper. Music and Science. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F20592043211020424

Hsu MH et al.(2015). The impact of music therapy on managing neuropsychiatric symptoms for people with dementia and their carers: a randomised controlled feasibility study. BMC Geriatrics. 15:84 doi:10.1186/s12877-015-0082-4

Music: Opening and closing music to the opera 'Brainland', composed by Stephen Brown

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

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This is another in the Vital Spark series exploring facets of creativity with a range of artists and academics. In this conversation Italian director, actor and teacher Chiara D'Anna speaks about her work and creative process, beginning with images, physical and emotional atmosphere before involving words. We discuss her acting in film, particularly with Peter Strickland (Duke of Burgundy and Berberian Sound Studio) and her training and teaching in commedia dell’arte, an Italian tradition of theatre she outlines for us. We talk about her evolving one woman show and the differences in performing in Italian or English, particularly in relation to humour and comic timing. She also speaks about her major upcoming project. co-directing Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos in Budapest.

Participants:

Chiara D’Anna, director, actor, teacher and Commedia Dell’Arte specialist. https://www.chiaradanna.com/

Ken Barrett, artist and writer, retired neuropsychiatrist http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

For more on commedia dell'Arte this is Chiara's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@movementactortraining

Music: Prelude to the opera 'Brainland' composed by Stephen Brown.

Sketch by KB.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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The Vital Spark’ is an occasional series delving into aspects of creativity. For this podcast Stephen Brown travelled to the far west of Cornwall for a conversation with novelist, screen writer and fellow cellist Patrick Gale. Patrick talks about his unusual childhood, his journey from musician and singer to becoming a successful writer, the life events that help enliven his novels and the research that underpins them. He speaks about his writing process, including the need to leave self behind and inhabit characters. Other aspects of the creative process are also touched upon and good editors get a mention. They discuss the similarity between composing music and writing to commission and, as a case in point, Patrick talks about his recent stage adaptation of his novel ‘Take Nothing With You’ and his hopes for a multipart screen adaptation of ‘A Town Called Winter’.

Participants:

Patrick Gale, novelist, screenwriter, playwright and musician https://galewarning.org/

Stephen Brown, musician, composer and retired neuropsychiatrist. http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm

Music: Prelude to the opera 'Brainland' composed by Stephen Brown.

Sketch by KB.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this special extended edition of the podcast, we take a deep dive into the life and work of Hans Berger, the German psychiatrist who discovered the EEG a century ago this year, the inspiration for a major character in the opera Brainland. Cornelius Borck is a leading German historian of medicine and science and an expert on Berger and his work. In a wide ranging conversation he describes the scientific backdrop to Berger’s discovery, his early career and personality, how the discovery came about, why it took him 5 years to report his findings and why he was denied the Nobel Prize. We also discuss his eugenic sympathies and relationship with the Nazis, his decline into depression and the post-war mythology that grew up around him.

Participants:

Cornelius Borck, Professor and Director of the Institute for History of Medicine and Science Studies, Lübeck University, Germany. https://www.imgwf.uni-luebeck.de/

Ken Barrett, artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist. .http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Cornelius’s book on this subject: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781315569840/brainwaves-cultural-history-electroencephalography-cornelius-borck-ann-hentschel

Music: Stephen Brown’s depiction of the alpha rhythm of the EEG, from Brainland Act 1, scene 2.

Sketch by KB.

Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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Why do we respond to puppets? That's what this episode explores, with the help of Pia and Ana, academics who approach the question from different perspectives. We discover what is meant by the 'uncanny valley' and how it links puppetry to robots (and zombies!) and discuss if 'concptual blending' might be useful. Does the old notion of 'suspending disbelief' hold water? Ana talks about her project using a viewer's direction of gaze to explore this question in re;ation to puppetry.

Participants:

Pia Banzhaf, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, Department of Linguistics , Lanuages and Culture; Center for Integrrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities; Collaborations for Applied puppetry Research. Website: Kaleidoscopia

Ana Diaz Barriga, Doctoral Candidate, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Theatre & Drama, Northwestern University. https://www.anadiazbarriga.com/

Ken Barrett, artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist.http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Pia's chapter, 'The Ontology of puppets' is here: http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/dolls_and_puppets/dolls_and_puppets.pdf#page=9

More about the show Ana has been studying is here

More about the 'uncanny valley is here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/ai-uncanny-valley

and this image illustrates it: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6f/d2/2c/6fd22c3c6e5cc72c1e7f4f840c594c56.jpg

Music: Prelude to Brainland, Act 1, composed by Stephen Brown

Sketch by KB.

Brainland the opera: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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In this conversation poet and visual artist Andrea Mbarushimana and neurologist/poet Heather Angus-Leppan talk about their project exploring the value of chatbots to help people cope with and better understand their epilepsy. The project began by collecting over 1700 questions about the condition posted by people living with epilepsy. Heather describes how Andrea was integral to the project, facilitating workshops with people living epilepsy. Andrea shares poems written during the project, including two from the perspective of those chatbots! Heather also shares a moving poem about one of her patients.

Participants:

Andrea Mbarushimana, poet, visual artist.

www.andrea-mbarushimana.com

Heather Angus-Leppan, Neurologist, Royal Free Hospital, Professor of Medical Education, University of East London.

https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/services/consultants/dr-heather-angus-leppan

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer, former neuropsychiatrist.

http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk

Music composed by Stephen Brown: Extract from Act 1 Scene 2 of Brainland.

Portrait sketch by KB.

Brainland the opera website: https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

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