Maria Aslanidi, Special Research Teaching Personnel in the Dept. of Audio & Visual Arts, is participating as a member of the Greek RISM Office in the annual conference of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres - IAML), which is being held for the first time in Thessaloniki from June 28 to July 3, 2026.
On June 30, 2027, the research team will present a scientific paper titled:
A long-awaited desideratum: MEI Encoding of Byzantine Neumes (Chrysanthine notation)
Authors: Martha Thomae, Maria Alexandru, Elsa De Luca, Maria Aslanidi, Aris Bazmadelis, Ichiro Fujinaga, Arsinoi Ioannidou, Nikolaos Siklafidis
Abstract
In 2018, Byzantine chant was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. As a living tradition over 2000 years old, its history is rich and multilayered. Translating its written tradition into a machine-readable format is a daunting task, due to the intricacy of its musical signs and the multifarious combinations, conveying subtle musical meanings. The interpretation of these neumes has also changed over time and across regions, often leading to scholarly disagreement. This, in turn, makes the encoding even more complex, especially regarding the choice of the interpretation to be retained.
Our group of leading experts of Byzantine chant has selected 32 neumes of the Chrysanthine Notation (ca. early 19th c.-today), free of scholar’s controversy, regarding their usage and rendition. Each neume is accompanied by relevant information such as its Greek name in various scripts, transliteration and phonetic transcription, intervallic interpretation according to both Byzantine and Western music theory, notational type and additional comments where necessary.
We propose for the first time a taxonomy and the encoding of these initial 32 neumes in the Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) format. Our goal is that this pilot project will lead into a MEI customization for Byzantine neumes. While being focused on a small sample of neumes, this project is ground-breaking for its novelty and because it shifts the Western-centred focus of MEI. This project promotes the transmission, study and understanding of Byzantine chant and contributes to protect this repertory by enabling it to be documented in new and more comprehensive ways.
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