Featuring legendary tabla player, composer, and mentor Salar Nader, renowned vocalist and composer Aditya Prakash. pioneering USC neuroscientist Dr. Assal Habibi, and 10-year-old writer and guitarist Julian with some new originals. Coming soon: music supervisor Jocelyn Brown and more.

Illustration by Aaron Sacco

What can a 10-year-old teach us about perception? At The Healing Power of Music, a live event hosted by our friends at Unlikely Collaborators this summer, Julian shared an original song that began with a creative roadblock: “I don’t know how to write this song.” He turned that uncertainty into something joyful and unexpectedly insightful. His lyrics are a simple, memorable illustration of the Perception Box. We can experience the same world and interpret it very differently. The opportunity is to become curious about those differences rather than judging them. That curiosity can create connection, and help us expand our Perception Box.

What happens inside a child’s brain when they learn music? In this presentation, Dr. Assal Habibi, Director of the Center for Music, Brain and Society at USC, explores the powerful relationship between music training and the developing brain.

Dr. Habibi shares findings from a longitudinal study that followed children participating in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) program over six years. Her team’s research examined how sustained music training relates to changes in brain structure and connectivity, as well as cognition, decision-making, language, and social-emotional development. The study offers a fascinating window into neuroplasticity, and into the ways that learning music may influence development far beyond musical ability.

What can music teach us about healing? Tabla virtuoso Salar Nader shares lessons from legendary guru Ustad Zakir Hussain, the power of mentorship, and music’s role in mental health, emotional resilience, and well-being. Salar began studying with Ustad Zakir Hussain at age seven and became his formal disciple at twelve. This lifelong mentorship has shaped his musical foundation, discipline, and artistic path. Through the Salar Nader Tabla Foundation, he continues this lineage by supporting emerging musicians with scholarships, mentorship, and educational opportunities, helping pass forward the same guidance that shaped his own journey.

Featuring renowned vocalist and composer Aditya Prakash. Along with poignant storytelling about his own family journey and how he uses music as a mental wellness tool, Prakash masterfully incorporates the historic thumri "Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Hi Jaaye" into his contemporary, genre-bending music. The Song's Roots: "Babul Mora" (Oh, father, my home is slipping away) is a traditional Hindustani thumri in Raga Bhairavi. It was originally composed by the last Nawab of Awad, Wajid Ali Shah, to express his profound sorrow upon being exiled from his beloved city of Lucknow.

a living playlist inspired by the live event