Detailed Information on Publication Record

To speak of the Aztecs and the Mayans is to invoke two of the most important civilizations in history. Their cultural and scientific legacies have been the subject of numerous studies and speculations in the modern world. The following research is another addition, albeit one that opens up the possibility of a different form of translation, a musical one. The Mayans were able to develop an effective and highly precise numerical system based on the number twenty, together with a complex system of calendars constructed along astronomical calculations and bio-cycles; which were the basis for the later development of the Aztec numerical system and the ‘Stone of the Sun’, also known as the ‘Aztec Calendar’, which is a summary of the different peoples that have inhabited the planet. For over a decade I have been working on the design of systems and tools for music composition based on Mayan and Aztec numerical systems, which I have successfully used to write music for different kinds of ensembles and media over the years. Currently, this system design has been taken to the next level in tandem with the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts – JAMU, as part of postdoctoral research focusing on the development of software and new technologies that promise to open the possibility of usage and exploration of these tools to different artists around the world. In this presentation, I will outline the basics of both pre-Hispanic numerical and calendrical systems, and their possible applications and uses in music that I have found in them. For the most part, I will outline the wide range of possibilities for the eventual end-users of these new technologies once the research is fully developed.