LETHBRIDGE- If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Something two University of Lethbridge students are demonstrating with the creation of their world changing software.
Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Naseri are one step closer to meeting Microsoft pioneer Bill Gates after winning the innovation category at Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Canada.
The pair says it began like most great innovations.
“I was playing a piece of music on the piano, thinking about the famous musician Beethoven,” explained Akbari. “He was totally deaf in the last decade of his life and the only thing he was able to do was watch his fingers on the keys of the piano.”
It was a flash of inspiration, like a light bulb, illuminating the posibilities for Akbari and Naseri.
“We just realized this was going to be something amazing,” said Naseri.
The masters students have discovered a new way to capture the art of song, and they hope it will change the way future musicians write music.
“There’s a very interesting problem in music society, named music transcription. Everybody’s looking for a kind of software to be able to do it automatically, and there’s no perfect software to do that, to transcribe music, but our software does that,” said Akbari.
The pair is hoping it’s the next big thing. Developed by Akbari and Naseri under the supervision of mentor Dr. Howard Cheng, the project-claVision, has already won the innovation category at the competition.
“What they also have to do is submit a proposal, videos and a business plan,” said Cheng. “So if the judges are convinced they have a good product compared to the other ones, and they are the best, then they will be chosen as the Canadian representative at the World Cup Finals.”
One of three first round winners, they’re not only paving the way for young creators but for pianists of all kinds.
“This is a good package for hearing impaired people, because if you cannot hear anything you cannot be a musician,” said Akbari. “But we make it actually possible for the people who wish to learn piano.”
The pair expects to hear if they are selected to represent Canada at the finals sometime in early May.
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