Experimental Music

Music not played by traditional musicians, or created in unique ways.

The Thai Elephant Orchestra and Da Hiphop Raskalz get their own devoted webpages.

with children
with non-human animals
The People's Choice (with Komar & Melamid)
Brainwave (EEG) music

Music with unconventional collaborators: the People's will

The People's Choice Music
1997
with Komar & Melamid

From a poll of American musical preferences, lyrics by Nina Mankin, music by Dave Soldier. Komar and Melamid were making paintings determined by national surveys. I wrote the survey and wrote the Most Wanted Song and the Most Unwanted Song. Read the lyrics. See portions of the survey, or buy the CD and see them all displayed.

The most wanted song
The most unwanted song

Performers: Ada Dyer, Dina Emerson, Ronnie Gent- Vocals; Christine Bard - Percussion; Vernon Reid - Guitar; Andy Snitzer - Saxophone; David Soldier - Banjo, Violin, Drums, Keyboards, Liner Notes; Rory Young - Drums, Engineer; Lisa Haney - Cello; Norman Yamada - Conductor; David Watson - Bagpipes; Yuri Lemeshev - Accordion; Dave Grego - Tuba; Mary Bopp - Organ; Vitaly Komar & Alex Melamid- Bass drum

download the survey

Brainwave music (2008)
These collaborations with Brad Garton uses brainwaves (EEGs or electroencephlograms) to control music in real time: there are no overdubs.

The piecesare either "unconscious music", where you compose without being aware of creating the music , or "prosthetic music" in which you attempt to control your brainwaves (e.g., closing your eyes is a classic way to control alpha waves).

TV show (hour long) from WHYY in Philly (March 2009) featuring a version of Trio for Brainwaves and Percussion, a solo by Dave, and discussion
played by Chuckie Joseph, Rich Robinson, and Adwoa

Trio for Brainwaves and Percussion: original version at CUNY, 2008
Features Valerie Naranjo (gyil, an African mallet instrument), Barry Olsen (hand drums), Benny Koonyevsky (cajon, a musical box), each triggering brainwaves: this is all in real time with no overdubbing.
Part 1: the players move their hands to play the instruments, but don't actually touch them, but the cortical brainwaves trigger the notes
Part 2: the play their instruments at a range of tempos, and the EEG signals trigger sounds in part depending on their activity
Part 3: the players try to sync up with Benny's beats from his brainwaves
Part 4: the players imagine playing, and try to move their hands while sitting on them

Video of Trio for Brainwaves and Percussion at Cornell University (2009), another version

String Quartet #3, "The Essential"
First movement, Fourier Transformations:
brainwaves control all of the pitches in the scherzo of Schoenberg's 2nd quartet
Second movement, Breathe the air of other planets:
brainwaves advance through different sections of the same piece

Performed and thought by: Mari Kimura, Curtis Stewart, violins, Heve Bronimann, viola, Dave Eggar and Ha-Yang Kim, cello

an article in the Scientist about a live performance of this piece at CUNY

Alpha wave mix
"prosthetic" solo where I try to control samples from my string quartet by producing alpha waves from the back of my cortex: it's like playing the piano with boxing gloves

Reading Stephen Colbert
"unconscious" music that I'm producing by

reading a page from Colbert's book and listening to what happens when I laugh

Duo for sensory and motor cortex
"prosthetic" music where I move my hands or pinch myself and read brainwaves from the side of the cortex

a video interview on Scienceline with Dave at the Brooklyn Academy of Music about this project

academic lectures by Dr. John Krakauer and myself on music and brainwaves from the City University of New York concert (just the lectures, no music).