BCMI 2015 - 1st International Workshop on Brain-Computer Music Interfacing

The idea of making music with brain signals detected with electrodes placed on the scalp or forehead dates back from 1960s, when composers such as Alvin Lucier, Richard Taitelbaum and David Rosenboom, to cite but three, looked into generating music with the electroencephalogram, abbreviated as EEG.
Those pioneers left an important legacy of concepts and practices. Yet, apart from very few sparse initiatives here and there, the idea seems to have faded into oblivion until the end of the 20th century. One of the reasons for this stagnation is that EEG equipment was not as widely available as it is nowadays. Moreover, techniques for analysing EEG signals were not as well developed as they are today, and consequently musicians lacked sophisticated handling and understanding of EEG.
In the meantime, within the last two decades or so, we have witnessed the emergence of the field of Brain-Computer Interfacing, or BCI (also referred to as Brain-Machine Interfacing, or BMI). Research into BCI has been aimed at the development of technology to enable people control machines by means of commands expressed by signals, such as the EEG, detected directly from their brain. Indeed, other brain scanning methods are also being investigated. Most of this research is aimed at giving severe paralyzed patients the ability to control artificial limbs, wheel chairs, robotic equipment, machines, and so on. But there have been initiatives to develop BCI for the entertainment industry as well.
Continuing progress in BCI research and the emergence of more affordable EEG equipment are fostering a renaissance of the idea of interfacing the brain with systems for music. The field of Brain-Computer Music Interfacing, or BCMI, is emerging and establishing itself as an important area of research linking music, engineering and the health sector.