Alyssa Schwartz and Domenico Vicinanza
A live demonstration at the intersection of science and art? That’s the story of one remarkable presentation and performance on data sonification at the 2023 Internet2 Community Exchange, May 8-11 in Atlanta.
In a story on making music from data patterns, Forbes recently featured Domenico Vicinanza, senior lecturer in the School of Computing and Information Science at Anglia Ruskin University and coordinator for the Arts and Humanities at GÉANT, and Alyssa Schwartz, visiting assistant professor of flute and musicology at Fairmont State University, and their presentation on “Yellowstone’s Geysers Chamber Music” at the 2023 Community Exchange.
The duo shared how seismic data from the oldest U.S. National Park can be transformed into music, offering unique insights into technology-enabled music creation and raising awareness about geology and geophysics. From the event stage in Atlanta, Vicinanza accessed real-time data recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey in Yellowstone National Park and used a computer program to map the data to a musical score. Participating remotely from her university in West Virginia, Schwartz then performed it on flute for the first time in front of the Community Exchange audience.
“We can listen to patterns, we can identify patterns. Our ears are so good at doing that. That’s how music can start helping scientists. Imagine a blind scientist, who can do science investigations using music,” Vicinanza said.
Read the Story in Forbes, Making Music From Seismic Activity or Ocean Data
Watch a Clip from the Performance
Domenico Vicinanza and Alyssa Schwartz’s performance at the 2023 Community Exchange was also covered by the Smithsonian (Listen to Music Made From Yellowstone’s Seismic Data), NPR (Composers Created Music Inspired by Seismic Readings From Yellowstone National Park), The Washington Post (How Do Yellowstone’s Seismic Vibrations Sound on the Flute? Oddly Beautiful), The Guardian (Rock concert: Yellowstone Seismic Activity to be Performed on Live Flute), and more.