Tyreek Jackson

Mr. Jackson's area of focus is on the neural correlates of musicking: the active engagement with musical sounds and music structures. More specifically, he is interested in the dynamics of the default mode network and executive control networks while improvising. As a professional musician, he has learned that there is a balance between making conscious decisions and 'going with the flow' while improvising. As such studying  musical improvisation — through the decision making (executive control) and default mode (going with the flow) networks offers unique insight into the boundaries of our ability to utilize and manipulate sets of structures to achieve temporally-dependent goals; similar to language. Through this research Mr. Jackson hopes to broaden our understanding of improvisation as unique and dynamic part of performance, while diversifying our approach to teaching improvisation.