A Byron Nelson High School student recently launched MusicSynth, a free Artificial Intelligence service that teaches anyone how to play uploaded music on any instrument.
High school junior Abhimanyu Kaushik describes himself as a dedicated student who believes technology can make music education more fun and accessible for everyone.
He developed MusicSynth when he was struggling to learn how to play songs on the violin for Byron Nelson’s orchestra.
“When I was was practicing sheet music on my own, I didn’t understand what I was playing a lot of the times,” he said. “So I looked online to understand the notes that I needed to play and I realized there wasn’t something like that out there, so it influenced me to create something that could help the community.”
Kaushik coded the app himself and set up the website using a few different programs and applications.
When users upload their own music, they can have it in front of them on a screen and MusicSynth provides a video tutorial on how to play the uploaded music on an instrument.
The app uses a technique called a “rolling fingerboard,” which is a video of an instrument’s fingerboard with dots, representing notes, that will highlight when they should be played.
Kaushik doesn’t think the app will replace music lessons done in person, but hopes it will be a cheaper, more efficient alternative for those that want to learn on their own.
“It counters the expensive music lessons,” he said. “But, if you do have a music teacher, it aides in being able to learn on your own a little bit more, so you don’t need to rely on somebody else all the time.”
Kaushik programmed the app in about eight months. It took longer than he wanted, but he was managing everything that comes with being a high school student.
“The journey has been pretty complicated. It was difficult to deal with the application not working or when my code ran into an error,” he said. “And, having to balance school was tough because I didn’t have all the time I wanted to create the app, but the learning experience was very important.”
MusicSynth is the first app Kaushik has made and he said it’s just a personal project. He didn’t do it for a grade and he isn’t looking to make money off of it.
He really just wants some feedback on the product as a way to improve it so it can, hopefully, be used to revolutionize the music education industry.
“I really want to see if it will actually help people, so I’m excited to get some feedback,” said Kaushik. “My plan is to enter into some pitch competitions and send it to a couple of colleges so that they can help me branch the app out to more people in the community.”
Kaushik said even if the app doesn’t get the response he is wanting, he values the experience and will continue to work on other projects.
For more information on the app, visit the MusicSynth website.
