About this episode

Dr. David Bashwiner discusses the intersection of music, emotion, and neuroscience.

Music. Emotion. Brain waves. Whale songs. Toadfish. Distant moons. Loud apes. And why it’s worth it to practice piano. Brilliant and warm musician and assistant professor at Albuquerque's University of New Mexico, Dr. David Bashwiner is a theoretical, neuro- and biomusicologist. Settling into his office (with a baby grand) we covered everything from bird songs to aquatic echolocation, how scales work, major vs. minor keys and their impact on the brain, music therapies, white noise, binaural beats, mole crickets, fandom as identity, spider guitar strings, Baby Mozart, so-called perfect pitch, and so much more. Stay tuned for a bonus episode hosted by Podmother Jarrett Sleeper about getting more creative musically. Go bang on something. Hard.

People in this episode

Host: Alie Ward

Guest: David Bashwiner

Topics covered

• biomusicology
• music therapy
• neuroscience
• bird songs
• aquatic echolocation
• music and emotion

Keywords

• biomusicology
• music therapy
• neuroscience
• bird songs
• whale songs
• piano practice
• binaural beats
• perfect pitch

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of New Mexico

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• Conversational Psychology (CONNECTING WITH OTHERS) with Nicholas Epley · July 10, 2026 · 50 min
• Capsicumology (CHILE PEPPERS) with Paul Bosland · July 8, 2026 · 1h 27m
• Collapsology (SOCIETAL COLLAPSE, LOL!) with Joseph Tainter · July 1, 2026 · 1h 27m
• BONUS EPISODE Creating Music with Jarrett Sleeper and David Bashwiner · June 28, 2026 · 55 min
• Cnidariology (CORAL) Encore with Shayle Matsuda · June 17, 2026 · 1h 22m

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