New Mystery of the Da Vinci Code Solved

For those of you who have watched, or read, "The Da Vinci Code", you may already be familiar with the scottish church which was a prominent point of both book and movie. Located in Scotland, this church has known revealed another mystery which was found in a secret code. its a 600 year old mystery.

Thomas Mitchell, a 75 year old musician and an ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his son Stuart, a composer and pianist, have supposedly become intrigued with some symbols which are carved deep into the chapel's arches. They now say that they have deciphered a musical score that was encrypted into the symbols. They have described the piece as "frozen music."

"The music has been frozen in time by symbolism," Mitchell was quoted as saying on his Web site. "It was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to thaw out and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception."

His web site also details the amazing amount of time it took, 27 years, to crack the symbols code.

This Chapel, the 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel, is located about seven miles south of the scottish capital of Edinburgh, and was featured in the last part of the hit book. The Da Vinci Code is a best-selling novel by Dan Brown, and was later turned into a hit movie. Much controversy and debate have surrounded the contents and ideas found in the book and the film.

On the arches of the chapel can be found 13 very intricately carved angel musicians, and 213 carved cubes that depic geometrc-type patterns. Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were extremely intrigued by this artwork. "They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here," he told Reuters.

Together, they launched into research. They eventually found an ancient musical system called Cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves that travel at specific pitches.after years of hard work, the two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able to successfully unlock the melody of the symbols.

They have since called this musical piece "The rosslyn Melody." They have also added words taken from a contemporary hymn to complete it. In addition, they have scheduled a world premiere at a concert in the chapel, set to start on may 18th. Eight musicians and four singers will be playing this song on mediaeval instruments.

Simon Beattie, of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust, was qouted as saying he was "delighted to have the mystery finally solved." He also says that the music is interesting, with a good mediaeval sound to it.

Simon Beattie of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust said he was delighted to have the mystery finally solved, and was intrigued by the music itself.

"It's not something you would want to put on in the car and listen to, but it's certainly an interesting piece of music," he said. "It's got a good mediaeval sound to it.""

More information can be found on the Mitchells website, at www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html .

courtesy of by Kate Kelland of Reuters