[microsound] Somewhat off-topic but interesting...

[Robert Arnold <warbaby@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Apologies for the big print and bad formatting - it came to me this 
way and I'm too lazy to fix it.

R.

Musicians unlock mystery melody in Scottish chapel


LONDON (Reuters) - A Scottish church which featured in the 
best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" has revealed another mystery 
hidden in secret code for almost 600 years.

A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the 
chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in 
them.

Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code 
breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece 
as "frozen music."

"The music has been frozen in time by symbolism," Mitchell said on 
his Web site 
(<http://www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html>www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html), 
which details the 27-year project to crack the chapel's code.

"It was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to thaw out 
and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception."

The 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel, about seven miles south of the 
Scottish capital Edinburgh, featured in the last part of Dan Brown's 
"The Da Vinci Code," the bestselling novel that was turned into a 
Hollywood film.

Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 
intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 
213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns.

"They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought 
there must be a message here," he told Reuters.

Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system 
called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves 
at specific pitches.

The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a 
Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody.

The Mitchells have called the piece The Rosslyn Motet  and added 
words from a contemporary hymn to complete it.

They have also scheduled a world premiere at a concert in the chapel 
on May 18, when four singers will be accompanied by eight musicians 
playing the piece on mediaeval instruments.

Simon Beattie of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust said he was delighted to 
have the mystery finally solved, and was intrigued by the music 
itself.

"It's not something you would want to put on in the car and listen 
to, but it's certainly an interesting piece of music," he said. "It's 
got a good mediaeval sound to it."

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