Who Am I?

It’s about time I introduced myself. It’s not nice visiting someone’s (virtual) home without them even introducing themselves to the guests. Sure, you can find some info about me in the people page, but those are just boring academic bio info that nobody really cares about. So who am I really?

I’m Filippo Carnovalini, a researcher from Italy who really likes music, and likes computers. I tried to make my life and my job about those things, and I kind of managed to do just that: I have been researching computer science applied to sound and music for about six years now. Mostly, I have worked on algorithms and software for the goal of automatically composing music. CALIOPE, my current project, also does that, but with a spin: we want to generate exercises, rather than any kind of music. Well, musical exercises (like the boring scales you have to play to get faster with your hands, or even those complicated études by the great composers) are music pieces, but they are special. Rather than being composed only to be pleasant or interesting to listen to, they are made to make you a better player by mastering them. So, a whole new set of challenges.

But I don’t want to get sidetracked with CALIOPE, we were talking about myself! Let’s try and say something else that is not really evident from my academic bio, without giving away the responses to any security questions for any account I have. I have a wife and daughter, who live with me in Brussels. I play the mandolin (and sometimes the guitar and piano) and like singing in choirs. As a hobby I like doing origami, and I like platformer video games, especially those with Italian plumbers in them. What else? I could go on, but if you want to know me better you probably should come and meet me at the campus of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where I now work developing CALIOPE. I’ll be happy to offer you a coffee! Otherwise, keep following this blog (and my social accounts) and you may get to know a bit more about myself and my job.

Ad maiora!
- Filippo Carnovalini