A book of mutants
piano
Music from the worm farm was a research and development residency project, involving composer Keith Johnson and neurobiologist Dr Stephen Nurrish. Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the project culminated in a public performance of the musical works, performed by ensemble [rout] and pianist Philip Howard at the Dana Centre in the Science Museum in March 2009.
A book of mutants for the piano is made up of 18 mutated versions of the C major Prelude from Book 1 of the Well-tempered Clavier by JS Bach. It is a response to the use in the lab of deliberate mutations to their model organism, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. They use these to examine the internal workings of the motor neuron. I’ve made systemic changes at root level to various different musical parameters to generate mutations in my own model organism.
Performed here by Philip Howard (photo by Tony Wilburn)
