Kansas City Music Blog

Your boss would probably hate Dr. Nolan Gasser. As chief musical architect of the Music Genome Project, Gasser is directly responsible for countless hours of lost productivity and network lag-time at workplaces all over the world. That's because the MGP is the driving force behind the music-streaming site Pandora.com. Heard of it?

Dr. Nolan Gasser gives a free lecture at the Folly on Saturday.

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Using the ultra-shmancy, music-analyzing techniques developed by the Music Genome Project (which began nearly ten years ago), Pandora Radio creates preference-based "radio stations" for users. If you're a music fan who does any amount of online music searching or listening, you've probably encountered Pandora, which has been online since 2005. When you create a free account with the site, you're able to type in the name of a favorite artist. Then, using complex vectors and algorithms and stuff, the Music Genome Project creates a streaming playlist of music by the artist and -- this is the selling point -- by other bands/artists that sound like the artist you entered.

Here's what happens, for example, when you put in Leonard Cohen. (If you're already among the 35 million people already using Pandora, feel free to skip ahead.)

1. Enter band/artist name.
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2. Pandora brings up band/artist's musical genomes.
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3. Pandora begins streaming similar sounds.
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And so it goes: first with the "mellow rock instrumention, folk influences..." etc. of the Cowboy Junkies, then on to Tom Waits, Dylan, back to Cohen, Rufus Wainwright... As you listen, you're able to approve or disapprove (the thumbs-up/down symbols) of the music Pandora selects, helping to shape future selections in your radio stream. Ads will pop up from time to time, but that's how the site pays those licensing fees. Pandora recently integrated with Google's new music search.

That's your introduction. You're welcome. For a deeper look at the site, its business model, its emphasis on individual (rather than crowd) tastes and the Genome Project, check out this recent New York Times Magazine story. Here's an excerpt that deals with Dr. Gasser:

Nolan Gasser was the primary shaper of the lexicon that could reconcile [MGP founder Tim] Westergren's genome metaphor with something a computer could evaluate. Gasser, an actual musicologist, wrote a doctoral thesis that dealt with close analyses of Renaissance composition. "I really needed to know what made that music tick," he recalls. That systematic study flowed well into his work with Westergren -- although they started with 20th-century pop, not Renaissance vocal music. First every piece is broken down into large-scale aspects of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, form, sound (meaning instrumentation and, if necessary, voice), and in many cases the text, meaning lyrics. Each of these broader categories might have 10, 30, 50 elements.

"We have a number of characteristics for vocals," he continues. "Is it a smooth voice, is it a rough, gravelly voice, is it a nasally voice?" Similar questions are evaluated for every instrument. The upshot was about 250 "genes" for every song in the original pop-rock version of the "genome."

Gasser also helped develop the training mechanisms to make sure the analysts are consistent about more subjective matters -- like how "emotionally intense" that Stan Getz solo is. (It's a 4 out of 5, in the genome's view.) The test that candidates take involves being able to pick out, quickly and by ear, harmonic structures, melodic organization and other musical elements. The indoctrination that follows revolves around examples. (You think that vocal gets a 5 on the gravelly scale? Here's Tom Waits. Is it that gravelly? )

Crazy-interesting stuff.

And now the info you've been waiting for: This Saturday, November 7, Dr. Gasser will talk about all this and more during his free lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Folly Theater. After the lecture, the world-class St. Lawrence String Quartet will perform as part of the Friends of Chamber Music's International CM Series.

The lecture is free, but the concert isn't, and tickets range from $25 to $35 (free for kids under 18). Buy them online here or by calling 816-561-9999.

Update: If you are a Pandora listener, you can purchase tickets to the string quartet concert for only $10 each by entering "pandorakc" into the "coupon" field of the ticket-ordering page after you have selected the price-level and seating option.