"Musical and genetic sequences unite to express the essence of life: sensations and feelings".
Aurora Sánchez Sousa
My name is Aurora Sánchez Sousa. I am a microbiologist/ Micologist and responsible for this MUSIC + SCIENCE fusion ("Genoma Music").
Anybody who knows me and wants to stress a certain character trait of mine, must without a doubt mention my love for music, so that it is easy for people close to me to hear me say at times that I cannot conceive life without it.
This work clearly reflects the fusion of the two areas where I move: first, the scientific area where I have worked for over 25 years, my professional responsibility. Here I find a source of information as well as the advice from experts in the field.
The second area is the musical area, my devotion, which takes up majority of my free time.
"GENOMA MUSIC-2 " is the result of adding up the scientific field plus the musical field plus a certain dose of creativity.
I want to thank my colleages in this work, musicians José María Chova, Otto caballero, Salvador Niebla and Bob Benozzo. Amparo Fernández, MD and Jorge Puente, MD have assisted us in the DNA collection. For the sequence genetic analysis we had the friendship and assistance from Concha Hernandez Chico (Unit of Molecular Genetics) of the Microbiology Department of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital. The graphic design was made possible through the artistic inspiration and creative strength of Gemma Martínez. The translation has been possible thanks to the good work of Patricia Sanchez. My special acknowledgement to Fernando Baquero, MD and Professor Cesar Nombela. They have great meaning in the contents of “Genoma Music-2”.

Just like a key can be transported an eigth higher or lower, the art of composing music means to me a state of transportation to other out of the ordinary sensory levels or dimensions. Music acts as a wonderful and healthy “elixir”, which raises and maintains the levels of happiness, and, as a result, may even boost the body´s immune system. Musical creativity serves as a means of communicating many sensations and feelings, which are then understandable to different people without the need for translation, such as love, sadness, desperation... hope.

Despite its evolution, science represents to me a world always awaiting to be discovered. An enigmatic, microscopic, revealing world, which requires a great deal of patience and calmness and which has always fulfilled me.
Bringing music closer to science in "Genoma Music", by using a scale of only four keys representing the letters that form genomic sequences, has posed a very pleasant yet surprising challenge.
The first person to use four keys (representing the four letters forming his last name) was Johann Sebastian BACH. These keys are sometimes by themselves, other times they cross, repeat, multiply, change harmonies, thus creating “variations”, and were later a source of inspiration for other composers such as Haendel, Mozart or Beethoven. This last composer gave the variations a musical value that nobody had achieved since Bach.
A musical sequence and a genetic sequence are basic organized elements which acquire a meaning when being interpreted. If music is one of the most important means of communication, and the expression of each gene creates a protein playing a particular role in the process of life, we surely are trying to communicate via music “something” included in everything that represents life.
Aurora Sánchez Sousa