My interests lie broadly in the confluence of music and technology. That's probably not surprising given that I trained as an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and playing the Vina (a South Indian classical instrument) is a tradition that runs in my family. I came to Singapore to do my M.Sc. in realtime interactive music composition at Kent Ridge Digital Labs in 1997. Ever since, I've extended my interests into audio and video analysis using signal processing techniques, automatic video editing, special effects and programming language design for multimedia applications.

Dr. Lonce Wyse

Notation and Synthesis of South Indian Classical Music

South Indian Classical music - or Carnatic music - has a rich tradition that has largely been transmitted by oral means to date. Being highly formal, various systems of notation have been in use by proponents since the 17th century. However, very few systems have done justice to the rich melodic contours - known as "gamakas" - that characterize the music. In recent years, a system of "descriptive" notation has been used to document works, aid in self learning and communication. The goal of my research is to draw on current work to develop a computer based notation and synthesis system for Carnatic music for the purpose of making it accessible to a wider audience of students, teachers and enthusiasts. Automatic notation conversion will further help to reach across cultural boundaries. A related goal of my research is to have the system serve as a platform for musicology and the study of performance styles by providing a framework for testing hypotheses and composition techniques.