FLEMISH COMPOSER AND CHINESE MASTER STUDENTS REINVENT POLYPHONY

A harmonious duet of art and technology is one way to describe the collaboration between Piet Swerts, one of Belgium’s best known and most productive composers, and A Liya and Ma Jinhua, final year students in Electronics Engineering at Group T. The Chinese duo designed and built an innovative interface that allows the composer to experiment with old compositional techniques in order to create a new musical grammar and tonality.

Piet Swerts, A Liya and Ma Jinhua designed and built an innovative interface.

"Reworking old polyphony compositional techniques into a contemporary musical context is easier said than done," Piet explains. The greatest issue remains the musical notation. We are familiar with the classic five-lined staffs but at the time of the polyphony, there was less uniformity. The custom varied from four to as many as ten lines. If you want to transpose this notation to the contemporary one, you are confronted with problems, not only technically but also—and especially—in the reproduction of sound. The solution I want to try is a notation system that consists of six lines. However, there is no notation software currently on the market for that purpose. Special software and new instruments are required. For the latter I came knocking on Group T’s door."

A Liya and Ma Jinhua are two students at the Beijing Jiaotong University who registered for Group T’s Joint International Engineering Program. They accepted Piet Swerts’s request without hesitation. Not only are they both fascinated by electronics but they are also passionate music practitioners.

“Before we effectively started programming, we familiarized ourselves with the MIDI protocol, which is the software system that is currently used to interface between instrument and notation and vice versa,” Jinhua relates. “Our assignment was to develop new software that could correct any flawed signals—as an adverse effect from the transposition to the staff of six lines. To do so, we wrote an adapted version of MIDI that converts the signals into the correct audio.”

The interface of both students is built into a little suitcase with 24 white and black keys that correspond to as many notes. “Via three special buttons we can extend the range to 72 notes,” Liya adds. “To compare, a classic concert grand piano has 86 to 88 keys for as many notes. We manage with one octave less but can easily handle all old polyphony with it. But there is more. Our software also works in the other direction. Therefore, not only can we transpose old notation to a new one but also vice versa.”

Piet Swerts is certainly excited: “Technologically, Liya’s and Jinhua’s system is perfect. Their software finally allows me to explore the artistic possibilities. I expect quite a lot from it. Not only as a new approach to studying old polyphony but also for my own future composing process.”

Finally, it is much more to the composer than the creation of spin-offs of Renaissance compositional techniques. “All this might result in a new kind of musical grammar,” he says. “Also, how do we approach the compositions of Mozart, Beethoven or Schönberg in the new system? The significance of Liya’s and Jinhua’s work may be far greater than can be judged now. I will always be grateful to them for that.”
 

• Read more about Piet Swerts in Group T's newsmagazine, Interview.