IBM Makes Music With Tennis Data
It is said that music is the only universal language that everyone understands. No matter what genre one may prefer, music can touch souls in ways that can never be described. In the Holy Bible, it is written that David helped King Saul by playing the harp. In the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, music was used by a father to communicate with his deaf son. Then there is the new wave, made popular by artists like Skrillex.
One must not be too narrow minded to think music cannot come from anything. In a new video on Youtube, this thought is recognized as music was made using tennis data.
Uploaded on the IBM YouTube channel on August 27, 2014, the video already has 86,000 views with over 200 likes. About 160 people didn’t find anything musical about the video, but that’s what makes music so unique. Everyone loves music, but the diverse genres appeal to many different people across the musical spectrum. Also, as of the publication of this article, this video is on the Most Popular on YouTube list.
The video is actually a challenge between IBM and James Murphy, who is a musician. They are both working to make music using only tennis data. When one reads that line, it probably makes them think about the sounds of tennis matches being used to make something epic.
Imagine a song being made with the sounds of a racket smacking tennis balls, grunts and groans from famous tennis stars and cheers from the crowd. Unfortunately, this video is a bit of a tease as it shows a sample of the finished product. Also, it seems the music is only being made with algorithms.
What do you think about this challenge? Is it something interesting or is it ridiculous propaganda for the U.S. Open? Please let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Bing]
