Breaking Down Walls

Multifaceted student explores connections between science and the arts

by MaryAlice Bitts

April 6, 2010

“Human connection and person-to-person communication are absolutely vital,” says David Durstewitz ’10, a double major in psychology and music. “I use art to communicate as honestly and directly as possible.”

David Durstewitz ’10 shifts deftly from left- to right-brain territory, using art to address scientific phenomena and applying scientific analysis to art forms. It’s a natural crossover for this musician/scientist/philosopher, whose passions are diverse.

“I am interested in just about everything,” he admits. “I’d like to look for role models, but I’ve never really found one, because no one does as many different things as I’d like to do.”

Such natural curiosity drives this Dickinson senior along a wholly interdisciplinary, and gainfully unconventional, path.

Durstewitz began with a major in psychology with an emphasis in cognitive science. He later added a music major with a concentration in composition. He believes that while science helps him understand human nature, art allows him to actually connect with humans in a meaningful way.

“Human connection is vital,” he says. “In psychology, you can answer philosophical questions with science and further our understanding [of interpersonal connections]. The role of art is self-expression, but it also allows you to communicate on a deeper level than words are capable of.”

Durstewitz’s connection to the arts developed early. The son of musicians who met in a rock band, he started piano lessons at age 8 and later studied percussion. He enjoys writing minimalist canons and art songs and delves into dance and poetry. Currently, he’s setting some e. e. cummings poems to music.

“It’s a great creative and communicative opportunity, because music is an abstract art form, and language is more precise,” he says. “The goal is to bring together the depth of art and the clarity of language.”

Durstewitz also harbors an interest in foreign languages and hopes to someday speak 10 languages fluently, so he can communicate with people “in a way that makes the most sense to them. I think if we were all able to do that, it would solve many of the world’s problems.”

After graduation, Durstewitz plans to research human memory in France, where he can simultaneously sharpen his conversational French. “I want to continue to do the Renaissance man thing,” he explains. “I want to break down boundaries, break down walls.”