“I would argue that science is actually a type of art. To do science, you have to be creative, you have to blend different ideas, you have to communicate those ideas by creating something. In many ways that’s what artists do.”
—Callie Chappell, Stanford University in Nature Careers Podcasts with Julie Gould, December 8th, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03394-8
Music, science, and engineering are seemingly distant disciplines that stand apart as separate discrete, divergent entities. In recent years, however, substantial collaborative research has been conducted on the effects of music listening and instrument playing on the human brain. For example, in her six-part Working Scientist podcast series about art and science, Julie Gould interviews Artists in Residence, scientists and engineers who are interested in collaborative research and experimental platforms for interdisciplinary projects (Nature Careers Podcasts). Science chief editor Holden Thorp recently stated that the interrelations between music and the mind prompt us to expand the spectrum and explore the role of music and art in science and engineering research (Thorp, 2024).
Music is a medium of abstraction that stimulates emotions, expands intellectual horizons, and helps develop strong motoric, spatial, and communicative skills. Scientific and engineering research, on the other hand, is expected to build on facts, testing ideas by experimentation, and attempting to generalize concepts. Does music play any role in a technology-based university? Would it make any contribution to research and education in science and engineering? In this blog post, we argue that the answer is positive. We focus on our institution; we invite other researchers to join our investigation.
The Technion is a leading science and engineering research university, ranked among the top 100 universities worldwide (Shanghai Ranking). In recognition of the importance of sports, art, and music to the education of its students, the Technion has fostered the study of these domains as part of its enrichment studies (Margalit and Hazzan, 2023). Two years ago, in 2022, the university established its Artist-in-Residency program; Orit Wolf, co-author of this post, was an artist-in-residence in the program’s first season. The interdisciplinary series called Music, Science, Inspiration, established by Wolf , is described in our March 15, 2024 post on The Artist’s Role on a Science and Engineering Campus. The series has included subjects such as Touching the Sounds: Manipulation of the Senses; Ethics in Science versus Ethics in Music; The Effect of AI in Science and Art; and The Power of Mistakes in Music and Science. Among the participating scientists have been two Nobel Prize laureates, Aaron Ciechanover and Dan Shechtman, faculty members at the Technion. Similar artist-in-residencies programs exist in (technology-based) universities worldwide, including MIT; Stanford University; Paris Polytechnique; University of Technology, Sydney; University of Minnesota; University of California-Berkeley; and Tennessee Tech University
Following the completion of two seasons of the Music, Science, Inspiration series, we wondered about the level of awareness of and willingness to integrate art and music into campus life, including in research and teaching. We sought to identify scientists and engineers who engage in art and music, and to examine their perceptions of the interrelationship between art and music and the world of science and engineering research. We sought to profile the scientists’ and engineers’ perceptions of the Technion’s position regarding combining art and music with science and engineering, and their levels of participation in the various art and music activities that take place on campus. We also asked whether researchers would consider incorporating music and art into their scientific research. Are they open to such interdisciplinary research? Furthermore, and even more essential, how many researchers are themselves involved in music and art, and how do they view their colleagues in that respect?
To address these issues, we distributed a detailed anonymous questionnaire (in Hebrew) to all faculty members and graduate students at the Technion, asking about Technion researchers’ perceptions regarding: The community involved in music and art at the Technion, and the activities offered therein; the significance of art and music to research being carried out at the Technion; and the potential effect of combining arts and music in campus life.
We received 246 responses: 148 graduate students (60%), 74 (30%) tenured (or tenure track) faculty members (out of the Technion’s approximately 600 faculty members), and 24 (10%) emeritus professors and research associates. The respondents represent all 17 of the Technion’s departments proportionally to their representation at the Technion. Among all respondents, 56.6% were males, 41.4% were females; the rest did not indicate their gender.
For the sake of simplicity, in what follows, the term art denotes both visual arts (painting/sculpting) and writing, as well as all performing arts (dance, theatre) and music (music, composition). This broader definition was explained explicitly in the questionnaire.
Two-thirds (65%) of the responders are currently involved in art. Among those, 42.3% indicated music, 24.5% indicated visual arts, 9.2% to writing, 7.4% indicated dance, and the rest mentioned a variety of pursuits such as carpentry, origami, design, and handicrafts. Several respondents mentioned more than one domain. A third (32.7%) devote up to one hour a week to art, and the rest mentioned that the time they devote to art during the week depends upon various factors, such as free time.
Despite this impressive range of artistic pursuits, 30.7% of the respondents estimated that less than 10% of their fellow faculty members are engaged in some artistic pursuit; and 52.5% estimated that only about one-quarter of the faculty engages in some artistic domain. That means that 83.2% of the respondents estimate that one-quarter or less of their fellow faculty members are engaged in some artistic pursuit vs. about 65% (faculty members and graduate students) who stated that they are engaged therein. Though it is reasonable to assume that we do not have exact numbers regarding the percentages of Technion researchers involved in some artistic pursuit, this gap between perceptions and reality raises several questions about exposure to art on campus.
Moreover, 46.8% of Technion researchers do not view art as a source of inspiration for their research (that is, they selected 1 or 2 on a 1-6 scale) and do not consider conducting research associated with art (only 5.9% stated they had begun such research, 73.7% stated “no,” 17.4% stated they considered this option but did not progress in this direction, and the rest provided various answers. Although engaged in both disciplines, some view them as two separate entities, seeing art more as an “escape platform” for relaxation (e.g., “It clears my head”; “It helps me control stress ”).
That said, over 30% view engagement in these seemingly disparate disciplines as an essential tool for improving their scientific research. Here are two illustrative quotes taken from open responses to the rating of the extent to which they perceive engagement in art as inspiration for the world of science and engineering:
- “Practicing art creates opportunities for multidimensional creativity, expressed in scientific creativity. Likewise, it develops diverse human abilities, which will also be reflected in scientific/engineering activity.”
- “Art is my fuel. If I had not engaged therein, I would never have become as successful as I am. Luckily, my current project is related to acoustics; I’m using the knowledge coming from both fields in each other. I’ve almost completed my Ph.D. in three years; I owe this to my trained ear thanks to music (I would not have made the breakthrough in my research if I had not heard the specific sound that my equipment made”).
Finally, over 81% of the respondents wish the Technion would take more active steps to communicate the importance of music and art on campus. Four main elements were selected to be at the top of such a list, all of which reflect a desire for interdisciplinary, art-based engagement: A. platforms for collaborations between scientists who are interested in interdisciplinary research between the sciences and the arts (58%); B. acquaintanceship with other scientists/engineers on campus who are engaged in a similar field (43.6%); C. musical spaces on campus with available instruments for daily practice (40.9%) and availability of musical instruments on campus (such as pianos, drum sets, and other percussion instruments) (37%); D. active platforms for scientists to play their instruments in public (30.4)%.
This initial exploration sheds light on the gaps that still need to be bridged between the arts’ integration into a technology-based university and their potential contribution to interdisciplinary research on campus. The number of scientists who are highly inclined toward art is remarkable; accordingly, offering art on campus can no longer be regarded as merely a creative addition, i.e., a “nice to have” supplement, but rather a necessity. We therefore propose that the grander the opportunities for such interdisciplinary implementation, the more surprising the results we shall discover in this era that calls for a disruptive outlook on processes and phenomena.
As the Technion promotes interdisciplinarity, we propose that art and music can serve as platforms for promoting interdisciplinary research. Art and music can connect people from differing domains at the Technion who may not have considered collaboration. In other words, art and music can form both a basis for fostering the incorporation of art and music into science and engineering, and a platform for fostering other connections between disciplines. This can be done by various means, as indicated by the researchers’ questionnaire responses regarding the kinds of activities that they indicated as being those that the Technion can initiate toward the development of their arts offerings.
The preliminary exploration presented herein illuminates the potential inherent in integrating art and music into the professional lives of scientists and engineers. We live in a disruptive era that calls for such a vital change: a change of thinking patterns toward integrating previously detached disciplines. Such a shift can bring about innovation and revelation in exploring the interrelation between the arts and the sciences.
References
Margalit, H. and Hazzan, O. (2023). A university’s organizational culture as expressed by its approach to physical education during COVID-19: The case of a science and engineering higher education institute, Journal of Higher Education Management (JHEM), Volume 38(3), 93-110. https://issuu.com/aaua10/docs/jhem_38-3_2023_
Gould, J. (2023). Nature Career Podcasts: Six-part Working Scientist podcast. Why we need an academic career path that combines science and art. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03394-8. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03394-8
Thorp, H. H. (2024). Editorial, Science 383(6689), 1271.
Orit Wolf (oritw@technion.ac.il) is an international concert pianist, composer, poet, and interdisciplinary Artist in Residence at the Technion. Her research focuses on music communication in general, and specifically in the context of science and engineering education. Additional details about Wolf’s professional work can be found on her website.
Orit Hazzan (oritha@technion.ac.il) is a professor at the Technion’s Faculty of Education in Science and Technology. Her research focuses on computer science, software engineering, and data science education, alongside the transformative and inevitable impact of artificial intelligence on the future of education. Additional details about Hazzan’s professional work can be found on her website.
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