On 
Monday 
afternoon, 
students and professors from 
the University of Michigan Data 
Science for Music Challenge 
Initiative 
conducted 
live 
research 
in 
Hill 
Auditorium 
during a musical performance 
and informational presentation 
before nearly 200 community 
members. James Kibbie, chair 
of the School of Music, Theatre 
& Dance Organ Department, 
and Daniel Forger, professor of 
mathematics, received a grant 
from the Michigan Institute for 
Data Science to collaborate on 
the analysis of organ playing by 
those with varying levels of music 
education.
“(Forger) and I have a big 
grant from MIDAS to study the 
big data science applications 
to specifically the Bach Trio 
Sonatas,” Kibbie said. “And we 

are looking at a number of things, 
but especially how data can 
reveal issues of performance and, 
as Danny (Forger) says, ‘What 
makes one sublime and another 
ordinary.’”
Kibbie said they chose to 
analyze the organ because it may 
be easily analyzed given only one 
note is played in each of the three 
keyboards at a time.
“The right hand is controlling 
one melody line, the left hand 
another and the pedal a third,” 
Kibbie said. “They are totally 
independent, but every detail 
matters so there’s no room for 
faking.”
Music, 
Theatre 
& 
Dance 
graduate student Sarah Simko, 
research assistant on the project, 
told the crowd about the rich 
history of the Frieze Memorial 
Organ housed in Hill Auditorium, 
which was used for the event’s 
performances. Dating back to 
1894, parts of the organ are older 

than Hill Auditorium and were 
moved there upon the building’s 
construction.
“I always say that the organ is 
part history, part engineering and 
part actually being able to pick up 
your fingers and put them back 
down,” Simko said.
As it exists now, there are 
7,599 pipes hidden behind the 
walls of Hill, which produce the 
music when someone plays the 
keyboards electronically attached 
to them. Simko said it is this 
capacity of the Frieze Memorial 
Organ that makes it an optimal 
instrument for their research.
“Professor Forger is the first 
person who figured out you can 
take 
this 
mechanism 
which 
already exists and actually use it 
for analytical purposes,” Simko 
said.
In addition to finding an 
optimal instrument, Kibbie and 
Forger also had to determine a 
good piece of music to analyze. 

Kibbie explained to the audience 
how they decided on Bach’s 
sonatas 
because 
they 
were 
originally used as a teaching tool 
for Bach’s eldest son and have 
continued to be used in music 
education programs for centuries 
since. Until Bach, trio sonatas 
were often written for three 
distinct instruments played by 
three individual musicians.
“Johann Sebastian Bach was 
the first composer to realize how 
beautifully this texture adapts to 
being played by one person on the 
organ,” Kibbie said.
Forger 
cited 
Bach 
as 
a 
fundamental 
baseline 
for 
an emerging study into the 
“grammar” of music. There are 
thousands of chord progressions 
possible on the organ of which 
Bach only uses about 11 percent, 
Forger’s research suggests. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVIII, No. 97
©2019 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily 
on Instagram: 
@michigandaily

See MSA, Page 3

On Monday evening, about 
75 students attended Muslim 
Creatives Collect hosted by the 
University of Michigan’s Muslim 
Students’ Association at the 
Kerrytown Concert House. The 
program marked the beginning 
of 
the 
Islamic 
Engagement 
Week, which is a week-long 

initiative aimed at highlighting 
the 
narratives, 
history 
and 
culture of Muslims. About 75 
students and other members of 
the Ann Arbor community were 
at the event.
The 
event 
consisted 
of 
performances involving music, 
poetry and dance as well as a 
panel discussing the current and 
future status of Muslim creatives 
in the country.

Along 
with 
the 
Muslims 
Creatives Collect event, the 
Islamic 
Engagement 
Week 
will also include a Muslims 
in Astronomy event Tuesday 
night, a Meet a Muslim event on 
Wednesday and a Muslims in the 
Arts event Friday afternoon.
Rackham student Bedar Noor 
participated as part of a step 
performance during the event. 
He spoke about his appreciation 

for step and the way in which 
it has allowed him to express 
himself.
“Step is a great way to show 
that you can join an organization 
that 
is 
rooted 
in 
different 
cultures and histories and I 
wanted to show to everyone that 
there is a different medium to 
express yourself,” Noor said.

On 
Monday 
evening, 
South 
African 
activists 
and 
educators Klaas Mokgomole and 
Mmamalema Molepo spoke to a 
group of more than 30 students in 
the Ross School of Business about 
the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict and its relation to the 
apartheid government in South 
Africa. The event was co-hosted 
by 
Africans 
for 
Peace, 
an 
organization that writes about 
global affairs from an African 
perspective, in addition to Hillel, 
Chabad and Stand With Us, a pro-
Israel student organization.
The 
discussion, 
which 
attracted a predominantly white 
and Jewish audience, focused 
on Mokgomole and Molepo’s 
experiences 
visiting 
Israel 
after becoming involved with 
the Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions movement as university 
students in South Africa.

City Council 
focuses on 
A2 housing 
affordability 

Student organizations like College Democrats, 
Climate Action movement attend meeting 

The Michigan Daily recently 
sat down with E. Royster Harper, 
vice president for student life at 
the University of Michigan, to 
discuss the aftermath of the false 
shooter incident, the newly elected 
president and vice president of 
Central Student Government, the 
recent college admissions scandal 
and more.
The Michigan Daily: After the 
false alarm of the active shooter 
incident, many students have 
cited their confusion and worries 
about the University’s ability to 
communicate during emergency 
situations in a timely manner. What 
is your advice for students and how 
do you respond to these concerns?
Harper: First, get off of the 
police scanner. Listening to the 
police scanner and thinking that 
everything that goes across the 
scanner is correct will only make 
it worse. 

VP Harper 
speaks on 
admissions, 
CSG results

CAMPUS LIFE

Discussions also touch
on sexual misconduct, 
false shooter incident 

MSA hosts night of performances to 
kick off Islamic Engagement week 

Coffee shop-style event included dance, music, poetry by Muslim creatives 

Advocates 
talk Israeli-
Palestinian 
controversy

CAMPUS LIFE

At Monday’s session of the 
Ann Arbor City Council, several 
student organizations, including 
the University of Michigan’s 
chapter of College Democrats, the 
Climate Action Movement and 
Roosevelt Institute, as well Ann 
Arbor residents, spoke to urge 
city councilmembers to support 
a resolution to direct funds to 
address 
affordable 
housing, 
climate action and pedestrian 
safety. 
The county levied a new tax that 
started in December to provide for 
county mental health and county 
sheriff’s services. However, a 
quarter of the proceeds have been 
returned to several cities that fund 
their own police departments to be 
used at their discretion. Ann Arbor 
is set to receive $2.2 million from 
the partial rebate. This resolution 
would direct the returns from the 
countywide millage to address 
affordable housing, climate action 
and pedestrian safety. 
The resolution was sponsored 
by Mayor Chris Taylor and 
Councilmember Kathy Griswold, 
D-Ward 2, and passed 6-4, with 
Councilmembers Jane Lumm, 
I-Ward 2, Jack Eaton, D-Ward 
4, Ali Ramlawi, D-Ward 5, and 
Jeff Hayner, D-Ward 1, voting no. 
The resolution mirrors Taylor’s 
40-40-20 policy, a plan that 
pledged 40 percent of funds for 

affordable housing, 40 percent for 
climate action and 20 percent for 
pedestrian safety. 
At the beginning of the meeting, 
the Student Advisory Council 
presented their annual report, 
which made recommendations 
regarding several issues impacting 
the student community. 
SAC advises local government 
and 
institutions 
on 
issues 
impacting all students of Ann 
Arbor. The SAC was formed in 2017 
and consists of two undergraduate 
students appointed by the Central 
Student 
Government, 
two 
graduate students, two students 
from local high schools and a city 
councilmember liaison.
Though their report did not 
specifically address the millage 
allocation 
resolution, 
they 
touched on many similar themes. 
SAC 
Chair 
and 
Engineering 
junior Kenji Yeoh said the group 
focused on two key issues: campus 
safety and housing affordability. 
SAC urged councilmembers to 
continue to allocate funds for 
affordable housing and to create 
more affordable housing units.
“The 
student 
population 
continues to grow, putting a 
strain on the housing system in 
Ann Arbor,” Yeoh said. “There 
has not been enough progress 
on creating more affordable 
housing units.”

See CITY , Page 3

See HARPER, Page 3
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
LSA sophomore Fareah Fysudeen performs a poem at the Muslim Creatives Collect at the Kerrytown Concert House Monday evening. 

University researchers examine how 
data science can interpret music 

James Kibbie, Daniel Forger study organ playing by those with varying melodic skillsets 

RACHEL LEUNG
Daily Staff Reporter

South African activists 
critique BDS movement in 
conversation about apartheid

Music, Theatre & Dance junior Joseph Mutone performs a Bach Trio Sonata at the Understanding How the Brain Processes Music Presentation in Hill Auditorium Monday. 

See SMTD, Page 3

LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter 

SARAH KUNKEL/Daily

MELANIE TAYLOR
Daily Staff Reporter

MICHAEL ZHANG
Daily Staff Reporter

RACHEL CUNNINGHAM,
MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN & 
CALLIE TEITELBAUM 
Daily News Editor & 
Daily Staff Reporters 

See CONTROVERSY, Page 3