UNH mathematician finds equation for Grammy success

Kevin Short, a UNH mathematics professor, won a Grammy award last Sunday Feb. 10 for his work on the restoration of a Woody Guthrie wire recording from a live concert in 1949.

Short worked with multiple people to produce "The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949." He collaborated with Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's daughter; Jamie Howarth, a specialist in music restoration; Jorge Arevalo Mateus, the Woody Guthrie Archives creator; and Steve Rosenthal and Warren Russell-Smith, members of a recording studio in New York called The Magic Shop.

The recording beat four other nominees in the historical category. Short and his team were awarded the Grammy in the pre-telecast portion of the Grammy's event. Short said the experience was unreal.

"Thank god the lights were so bright that they were blinding," said Short. "I do not know if I could have handled seeing the crowd that we stood in front of. It was an incredible experience."

Short said that he did not realize he had won a Grammy award until he saw the other members of the team get out of their seats and head towards the stage.

"It was want of those 'pinch me, am I really here' moments," said Short. "When they announced it, the first thing that ran through my head was 'did I hear that right?'"

UNH President Mark Huddleston said that it is a great honor for the university to have a Grammy award winning mathematician on campus.

"Professor Kevin Short was the founder of UNH's first spin-out company, Chaoticom, and this Grammy for his role in the restoration of a 1949 bootleg wire recording of folksinger Woody Guthrie is another example of his ability to relate complex mathematics to real life," said Huddleston.

Robert Stibler, a music professor at UNH, said that music restoration makes it possible for today's society to go back in time and study what music used to sound like. Stibler said that live music in the past was greatly appreciated and the fact that Short's restoration was of a live concert makes it so much more important to music.

"When you have access to a document of this kind of music that was essentially not all about a recording, but about live performance, then it becomes even more important because what was done in the live performance back then might be completely different than what the artists recorded," said Stibler.

Joseph Klewicki, the dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at UNH, said that he usually just associates musicians with the Grammys, and the fact that a mathematician won the award shows how mathematics, science and technology affect modern society.

"In many cases these effects [of mathematics], though often critically important, are essentially invisible," said Klewicki. "Kevin's winning a Grammy brings a level of recognition that is unusual."

In the past, UNH has had famous musicians associated with the university.

Opera singer Barbara Bonney graduated as a student from UNH in 1978 and is now considered one of the great opera singers of her time. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2001. Composer Tim Janis graduated from UNH in 1991 and went on to compose over 15 solo compositions. He was also nominated for a Grammy award in 2000. Clark Terry, a major figure in the history of jazz music, comes to UNH about twice a year and is now considered and honorary faculty member.

However, Short has been the only UNH professor to win a Grammy award.

Trevor Williams, a sophomore at UNH, said that having a professor on campus that has won a Grammy adds prestige to the university and gives students something to brag about.

"I think it is awesome," said Williams. "He is preserving music and it is great to have that on campus."