My attempt at writing in a more minimalist style. The dreamy music takes you above the clouds and into the stars (or something like that haha). I'm performing this on my outdated Roland keyboard so not as high quality sound as a real piano

Composed and performed by Derek Simon.

Reverie No. 1 for Piano

Primordial Soup Kitchen for Brass Quintet

Composed by Derek Simon
derek.p.simon.phd.@gmail.com
© Derek Simon 2014

Performed live and recorded at the National Opera Center of America, New York City
 November, 14, 2014

Program Notes (written by the composer):

“Primordial soup” was coined to describe the broiling mix of molecules that was the ocean some 4-4.5 billion years ago. And so this Molecular Gumbo introduces my piece (Part I). 

This first section is brief and chaotic but concludes with a foreboding climax that resolves into a bouncing harmonic line on the tenor trombone (present throughout Part I). This transition represents the eventual emergence of the first single-celled organisms, depicted as the spanish-esque trumpet melody. 

But for much of evolution on Earth, life changed little. Indeed, in this Single-Celled Stew (Part II), the harmonies wax and wane, key and rhythmic changes occur, but the original melody remains intact. Until a mysterious transition, represented as an extended trill and then bam! A new theme and tempo emerge. 

This represents the birth of the nucleus and the evolution of all plant and animal life (a Cream of Nucleus, Part III) in a short period of time (by geologic standards). The pulsating, fanfare-like theme (originally on the horn) and its harmonies change often, and is driven by rapid 8th notes (often in the bass trombone) that persist for nearly the entire section. 

However, new life does not discard important developments and the theme from Part II can be heard throughout this section including up until the final burst. 

This Soup Kitchen offers many Primordial delights.

01 Primordial Soup Kitchen

Shadow Dance: Duo for Violas
by Derek Simon

Performed Live by Folie à Deux (Nora Krohn, Nick Revel)
Flushing Town Hall, Flushing, NY
February 13, 2015

Program Note:
Imagine a dark, empty room in an old house on a cold night. A single candle is lit. The nascent, trembling flame casts a faint pallor, ever growing brighter. The flickering ember summons the shadows to dance. Initially gypsy-like then scherzo-like, the dance is always dark, mysterious…elusive. A breeze quickens the pace but the light and its servants are forced to submit to the cold; the dancers wax and wane in resistance. The flames crackle and the shadows leap into a tarantella-like dance. A burst of intensity as the candle burns low but soon the embers are extinguished, the shadows banished—they’re dance at an end—and the room once again empty and dark. 

For more information:
Derek Simon: drsimonsaysscience.org/dr-simon-says-music
Folie à Deux: www.fa2violas.com

Copyright Derek Simon 2015

Shadow Dance, for Two Violas

Neural Networks: The Nucleus Accumbens
Composer: Derek Simon 
Pianist: Derek Simon
© Derek Simon 2015
Website: www.drsimonsaysscience.org

Performed live at the National Opera Center in New York, NY on Friday May 29, 2015.

This piece is my musical interpretation of the neural activity within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region of the brain critical in processing the reward (i.e. pleasure) of a particular stimulus. Neurons in the NAc receive different signals from other neurons that release the neurotransmitter dopamine, represented as various motifs based on the notes D and A. However, the NAc also receives glutamate signals, represented by G, A, and E. Different types of dopamine neurotransmission help to encode the rewarding (either positive or negative) value of the stimulus and this in turn mediates how the glutamate signals are processed by the NAc. The brain can then determine how pleasurable the stimulus is, and how to respond to it. What you’ll hear is a series of DA “signals” and their effect on how the GAE “signals” are “processed”.

Derek P. Simon, PhD, truly exercises both halves of his brain. Since childhood, his two loves have been science and music. Although trained in piano since age seven, Derek made science his official profession, completing his doctorate in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan in 2012. He now researches drug addiction at the Rockefeller University. However, music 
has never been far from his heart and he still plays piano daily. He has secretly aspired to be a great composer since high school and now has the opportunity to mature as a composer and bring his ideas to fruition.

Neural Networks: The Nucleus Accumbens for Solo Piano

Bio
Derek P Simon, PhD truly exercises both halves of his brain. Ever since childhood, his two loves have been science and music. Although trained in piano starting at age 7, he made science his official profession, completing his doctorate in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan in 2012. He currently researches drug addiction at the Rockefeller University and hopes to move into science policy and science communication. However, music has never been far from his heart. He still plays piano daily and has been writing small solo piano works for years. He has secretly aspired to be a great composer since high school but now hopes to mature as a composer and bring his musical ideas to fruition. 
website: drsimonsaysscience.org 
Twitter: @derekpsimonphd.


Program Notes
Neural Networks is a musical impression of neurons signaling to—and those signals being processed by—the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain region crucial in processing stimuli as either rewarding or aversive and producing affective (emotional) states to react accordingly. The core of this neural network involves neurons in the VTA that project to and release the neurotransmitter dopamine—which I represent as motifs based on the notes D and A—onto the NAc. The piece opens with a competition of dopamine signals and the neurotransmitter GABA (motifs based on G, A, B, and A) in the VTA that culminates in release of dopamine: a descending figure in the strings. After receiving dopamine neurotransmission, the NAc subsequently processes glutamate signals—motifs based on G, A, and E–from many other brain regions. After this initial dopamine pulse, a grand statement of the glutamate motif is heard and from there the music tries to depict the dopamine/glutamate relationship in response to many disparate types of inputs: some rewarding, some aversive, some neither. 


Neural Networks For Orchestra

Nocturne for Piano.
Composed and performed by Derek Simon.

My first attempt at nocturne for piano. A short piece focused on a simple theme that I improvised. A nocturne is "night music" and this piece fits perfectly with that ethos. I'm the performer here.

Composition completed in 2015.


Pardon the mediocre sound quality (the piano is not the greatest).

In The Light Of The Pale Moon: Nocturne for Piano

Lyrics, music, and performance by Derek Simon. Apologies in advance for my crappy singing ;)

Snow! Composed and Performed by Derek Simon

Exploration into making electronic music based on piano themes with a more traditional classical-like horizontal structure. Improvised a theme on a keyboard. Took that theme, rearranged it and layered on some additional sounds in logic.

Composed by Derek Simon

Experimental electronic music project. Multiple synth sound sources.

Gamma Ascendant

Original, new comedy Christmas song about a rough Christmas eve for Santa...
Lyrics, Music, and performance by Derek Simon

Santa Is Stuck On The Can!

PhD scientist with a passion for piano, classical music, and creating my own.

Derek P Simon

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