Musical Surrogate Languages
Professor Laura McPherson studies musical surrogate languages, where musical instruments can communicate specific messages to listeners. Among these is Sambla music from Burkina Faso.
Under the guidance of Professors Laura McPherson (Dartmouth College) and Andrew McPherson (Imperial College), Katelyn Hadley and I are working on a system to transcribe balafon performances to study how the Sambla language functions through the instrument. In July 2024, we met in Cologne, Germany to test the system with Mamadou Diabaté playing the balafon.
