29/10/2019

Postdoctoral researcher investigating the fractal nature of music.

Cecilia Manzoni

If we look up the definition of music in the dictionary, we will find something like: " a harmonious and expressive combination of sounds." Given the powerful effects it has on human beings, provoking joy, calm, nostalgia, or pleasure; and the efforts of composers who dedicate a lifetime to finding the perfect harmony among the thousands of possible variations of sound, the phrase sounds, at the very least, simplistic. A fertile ground for creation, it is not surprising that music is also explored scientifically by mathematicians.

This is the case of Vitor Guerra Rolla, a computer scientist who, since 2015, has been using mathematics to research the complexity of musical networks in classical music while conducting postdoctoral research at IMPA.

His project, Vitor explains, was motivated by a question that has intrigued researchers for about three decades: does music have a fractal nature? That is, is it composed of small, self-similar parts?

That's not quite how things work, according to studies by the IMPA postdoctoral researcher. "Through rigorous mathematical tests using statistics, I discovered that, contrary to what many studies claim, most music does not have a fractal nature. In fact, an interesting finding was that the best-known classical compositions, such as those by Mozart and Beethoven, are the ones that most exhibit fractal characteristics."

Born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Vitor, son of military officer Luiz Alberto Alves Rolla and physical education teacher Maria Lucia Guerra Rolla, has lived in Porto Alegre, Salvador, Brasília, Recife, and Manaus.

"Because of my father's profession, I moved every two years until I was 20 years old. Although it was difficult, I learned a lot from this process and was also able to get to know various aspects of Brazil," she says.

His passion for computing began in childhood. Noticing his son's interest in the field, his father, Luiz Alberto, gave the seven-year-old boy an MSX computer as a gift. In 1987, the development of computing was beginning to emerge in Brazil. The machines, however, performed only basic functions.

“I started tinkering a lot with that. But, at that time, I didn't have access to anything, it was all done on-site. I used word processing and basic calculation programs. I also played around with my father on a combinatorics program, printing lottery tickets,” he explains.

In his adolescence, Vitor was already adept at navigating the world of computing. Earning certifications in operating systems from major companies like Microsoft and Solaris indirectly led him to the Data Processing course at the Federal University of Manaus. Midway through his degree, he transferred to the União Educacional de Brasília, where he graduated.

Before enrolling in the Master's program in Systems and Computing at the Military Institute of Engineering (IME), Vitor worked as a network analyst at the TBA group. After two years in the market, he missed working in scientific research and returned to academia.

Between completing his master's and doctoral degrees in Computer Engineering at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), Vitor returned to the job market. This time, he was selected by Globosat for a network analyst position. The company even sent him to a three-month course at the multinational Cisco Systems in San Francisco (USA).

"During the first few years, the work was quite challenging. But over time, the adversities were overcome and it became a bit monotonous. I realized it was time to return to research."

The move to pursue his doctorate in Portugal was slightly motivated by an issue of the Brazilian surf magazine "Fluir" that showcased the wonders of the Portuguese coast, admits the Rio native. During university breaks, Vitor had the opportunity to camp in the Alentejo region. "I went with my car and surfboard to spend three weeks in the area, and it was incredible. The camping facilities are great, and the weather was very pleasant."

It was also during his doctoral studies that he became aware of the intersection between music and computing. This connection happened at parties at friends' houses, when Vitor would "play" DJ. "I used to play with two friends, playing for people, so I ended up acquiring a basic knowledge of music by controlling the machines."

His interest gained academic momentum when he began reading about the ChucK programming language, created by the Chinese-American musician and computer scientist Ge Wang, who helped create the laptop orchestras at Princeton and Stanford universities in the United States.

“I decided to submit a postdoctoral proposal to Professor Luiz Velho, from Visgraf (IMPA's Computer Graphics Laboratory), because I knew the lab had a focus on computational art. He accepted, and a month after defending my dissertation, I was already working at IMPA,” says Vitor.

During his first three years at the institute, the postdoctoral researcher had his fellowship renewed by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). Currently, as a top-rated fellow of the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ), one of his goals is to disseminate knowledge of live coding.

An innovative way of combining computer science and creative practices, live coding has been used in several countries in video and electronic music productions, especially the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The practice also has pedagogical potential, and can be applied to teaching computer programming.

This year, Vitor gave two workshops at IMPA, creating music using the live coding technique. In his data science course, also taught at the institute, he teaches master's and doctoral students to program using the same method.

"It's a relatively recent and quite advantageous method, because when you code live, mistakes happen. Therefore, the interaction between students and the teacher is greater, and learning becomes more dynamic."

For the next two years of his postdoctoral studies at IMPA, Vitor hopes to contribute to new activities that bring the mathematical community closer to recent techniques such as live coding. "We plan to organize new events, such as a jam session, in addition to improving those we are already producing," he says.