Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, March 5,
2003.
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http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/030503/tec_20030305006.shtml
Alexandra Pajak wrote an orchestra piece for Agnes Scott College based on the DNA of the founder's mother. The music will be played at a dedication of the new science building April 24.
Photo
Illustration by Wendy Stephenson/Staff
Alexandra
Pajak has written musical scores before, she had just never tried to take someone's
DNA and set it to music.
But that's what the Oconee County High School class of 2000 graduate did at
Agnes Scott College, where she is a junior majoring in English and music.
''It really made for an eerie sound, but it was pretty cool,'' Pajak said.
Pajak was asked to compose a symphony based on the DNA of Agnes Scott, the mother
of the college's founder. A rendering of the DNA is painted as a mural on the
wall of a new science building on the campus located in Decatur. A grand opening
for the facility is planned for April 24, which also is observed as National
DNA Day.
Harry Wistrand, a genetics professor at the women's college, asked her to write
the symphony because he found on the Internet that people had written music
based on DNA patterns, Pajak said.
Wistrand ''was a professor of mine when I was a freshman. I believe I mentioned
to him that I had written songs about sea animals. He wanted something artistic
to go along with the opening of the building and since I had combined music
and science, I think that's why he asked me,'' Pajak said.
Pajak said she researched the Internet and e-mailed some DNA composers.
There are 20 amino acids so she assigned chords to different amino acids. ''While
I had the DNA playing on the piano, the strings were playing chords based on
the acids,'' she said.
''It was written for an entire orchestra,'' she said. ''The Agnes Scott Orchestra
played it at their Christmas concert.''
Pajak said she was surprised to find how many people were composing music based
on DNA.
''I got e-mails from music composers and scientists. They took different approaches.
The scientists are very mathematical. They write computer programs to do it
for them, whereas more musical people seem more - even if there's a structure
to it - artistic and more personal.''
She also had to delve into writing a new style of music.
''I didn't know anything about orchestration at the time. I had to educate myself.
I read a book on orchestration and listened to a lot of symphonies. For about
three nights I forced myself through a crash course,'' she said.
Pajak laughs at the strangeness of working with someone's DNA for music.
''Seeing someone's DNA was almost kind of disturbing. Like it was something
personal,'' she said. ''In an eerie way I felt like I connected with Agnes Scott.''
Pajak is a daughter of Edward and Diane Pajak, who have since moved to Maryland.
While at Oconee County High School, Pajak was active in several organizations
including serving as president of the Science Club, working on the school's
literary publication, ''Ampersand,'' and the Drama Club.
After graduation from college, Pajak said she has job interests that include
broadcasting, journalism and writing music for TV and movies.
''A dream career would be writing movie soundtracks,'' she said.
Published in the
Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, March 5, 2003.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/030503/tec_20030305006.shtml