Newsletter / Bulletin #29
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My Journey Into Timbre Space
Click the link below to read more about Stephen McAdams’ journey into timbre space and the subsequent creation of the ACTOR project!
https://www.actorproject.org/timbre-and-orchestration-blog/timbre-stories/2022/2/2/my-journey-into-timbre-space
Timbre and Orchestration Writings: Seven Beginnings
Revisiting Jason Noble’s article about his composition, Seven Beginnings, commemorating through music the birth of Noble’s daughter. While examining the intricacies of the piece, it is also “far from being a technical étude, it is a very personal piece with a very specific motivation behind its materials and methods.” Follow the link in our story or down below to learn more!
Seven Beginnings: Fourth Beginning
Check out Jason Noble's Forth Beginning, as part of his work, Seven Beginnings! Click the link below to hear more about how Noble composed this piece using recordings of his daughter during her “babbling stage.”
Music Performance Markup
Click the link below to learn more about the project, "Music Performance Markup: Infrastructure for a Data Standard for Musical Performance Modelling". Their team has worked for years developing "Music Performance Markup format (MPM), comprehensive schema definition, documentation, and several software tools to work with this format, make performance analyses and create expressive MIDI/audio renderings."
Seven Beginnings: First Beginning
Click the link below to learn more about "the First Beginning," the first segment of Nobel's piece, Seven Beginnings. Jason Nobel’s work commemorates his daughter, Lily, as “the First Beginning,” explores the sensations a well-developed baby feels before birth. Noble writes, “The first beginning was noise, and it was as a liquid, suffusing and subsuming, filling every crevice, and of silent space there was none.”
Speak Web
SpeaK seeks to improve our knowledge about sounds in relation to auditory expertise and is calling on experts of music and sound to use the new web version to “create and share sound lexicons associated with a specific corpus of sounds.” Follow ACTOR to keep updated with projects such as SpeaK!
Amazing Moments in Timbre
Call for Contributions, Amazing Moments in Timbre: In this series we will explore many instances of musical moments in which the use of timbre plays an important role in the unfolding of a composition.
Lovin’ You — by Minnie Riperton
Learn more from Michelle Sulaiman about Minnie Riperton's unique, incredible whistle tone and technical style in Lovin' You.
Unveiling the Mystery of Timbre
As part of ACTOR’s series of Timbre Stories, “Unveiling the Mystery of Timbre”, explores what makes timbre so complex, yet fascinating. Click the link below or in our bio to read more from this anonymous author on his journey to understanding timbre!
ACTOR Speaker Series
SAVE THE DATE! The Sub-Saharan African and Afro-Diasporic subgroup of the Diversity working group are pleased to formally announce the Speaker Series: Afrological Perspectives on Timbre and Orchestration. The series, spearheaded by Jason Winikoff, Joshua Rosner, and Jay Marchand Knight, will take place over the 2022-23 academic year and will launch with a talk by Dr. Bibian Kalinde entitled, “Unraveling timbre in the music of the marriage ceremony of the Chewa and Bemba in Zambia.” Other invited guests include Kevin Holt, Andile Khumalo, Joel Larue Smith, Marvin McNeill, and Stephanie Shonekan. Bibian Kalinde’s talk will take place on Friday 30 September 2022 from 12:00pm-1:15pm Eastern (6:00pm-7:15pm in Zambia) and will be given over Zoom. Information about links to attend the event will be sent out closer to the date of the event.
Ilshin Composition Prize
Congratulations to ACTOR member Sang Song on receiving the prestigious Ilshin Composition Prize awarded by by the Ilshin Foundation in Korea! While this prize is typically awarded to mid-career composers, Sang was selected by a panel which included Unsuk Chin despite being a graduate student. Alongside a cash prize of 10 million Korean Won (approx. US$9,000), Sang will be writing a new piece to be performed at the award ceremony.
ACTOR TMC CV & Cover letter Workshop
Join us on Sept 26th at 1 PM for ACTOR'S TMC CV & Cover Letter Workshop! Our online event will include a panel discussion followed by breakout sessions in both English & French. Registration prior to the event is required, and is offered to ACTOR & CIRMMT members only! For more information, visit: https://www.actorproject.org/events-calendar/actor-cv-cover-letter-workshop. We can't wait to see you all there!
Musical collaborations, timbre, and recorded sound
Calling all pianists and orchestra lovers! Click the link below or in our bio to read more from Viktor Lazarov’s interview with the esteemed Professor Martha de Francisco. Together they explore recording processes, unique sounds, timbral differences, and so much more! Lazarov notes, “Martha relates specific experiences, notably, recording and discussing timbre with Alfred Brendel, the great Austrian pianist.”
Pour l’image- Philippe Hurel
Learn more about Philippe Hurel’s Pour l’image! In this piece, Linglan Zhu explores the musical transitions in the opening of Pour l’image. Zhu notes, “Two large-scale transitions happen consecutively within the first 60 measures of this piece, each of which showcases a set of different orchestration techniques that effectively modulate listeners’ perception.”
"Jusqu'à peu" by Fabien Lévy
Enjoy Fabien Lévy’s composition, "Jusqu'à peu.” His piece builds on the crises currently facing the world, as Lévy notes, “Written for one of the most sophisticated instruments in human music, the piece remains on the symbolic level of these different crises, but follows the form and spirit of this emergence and decline."
Student Presentations
Congratulations to the student members selected to present at the plenary session (July 9) of ACTOR’S Y4 Workshop. These five students have been funded by ACTOR to travel to Calgary & present their research to a world-class group of scientists, artists, and humanists. Click the link below or in our bio to learn more about our selected student members and the Y4 workshop!
ACTOR Y4 Workshop first overview
ATTENTION ACTOR COMMUNITY! ACTOR’S Y4 workshop is just around the corner. The workshop is being hosted by the School of Creative Performing Arts of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Don’t worry if you can’t make it in person, a HYBRID FORMAT is being offered this year (online/in person). Click the link below or in our bio to learn more about the Y4 Workshop! Follow us for more updates on ACTOR and our Y4 Workshop!