Newsletter no. 23
Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration Project
November, 2022
Important Website Update!
As you might have noticed already, over the course of last weekend some important changes were implemented on our website: The ACTOR Project website and the Timbre and Orchestration Resource now exist as separate sites.
www.actorproject.org
www.timbreandorchestration.org
These changes respond to feedback from members and colleagues, who wanted more clarity on the differences between the sites, but more importantly, these changes enable each site to further develop and focus on its respective mission:
The ACTOR site on serving its members and guests by further developing the Workgroup, Funding Opportunities, Funded Projects, Project Blog, and Event pages.
The TOR site on continuing to focus on developing resources, peer-reviewed writings, and educational modules for members and the public.
PLEASE NOTE: This change requires some updating of any bookmarks you might have of TOR content that uses the actorproject[dot]org URL: Please replace the text actorproject with timbreandorchestration. For example: https://actorproject.org/tor/modules/core is now https://timbreandorchestration.org/tor/modules/core
We apologize for any inconvenience this causes. It’s part of the growing pains of building a resource in real-time rather than publishing it after it is built. We welcome feedback, and indeed contributions, from you for these new sites.
TOR SPOTLIGHT
Extreme Orchestration
Prof. Don Freund (Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University) and Prof. David Cutler (University of South Carolina) have published the first sections of their orchestration textbook "Extreme Orchestration" on ACTOR's Timbre and Orchestration Resource. In collaboration with Kit Soden, the TOR Editor, they will be rolling out various sections over the coming year. Here's the link to the homepage, with the Introduction and Woodwinds sections. To read a short overview of the project, read Prof. Freund's blog post here. Read more
Double Bass Techniques: for the Tip of the Bow
New ACTOR Student Member, Benjamin Pastrana Mankovitz, has published some videos exploring extended techniques for the double bass. The first videos, created in both French and English, are titled The Double Bass: Techniques for the Tip of the Bow. Check out Ben's blog post on the Timbre and Orchestration Blog explaining his inspiration for the videos: "To me, the double bass is the most versatile instrument that exists. It can be played in every register of the string section, even the violin’s. It can be played with a bow or with fingers, nails, palms, picks or sticks. Its body is so large that it is often used in a percussive way, tapping and slapping the strings, ribs, fingerboard, top and back of the instrument. For the world of exploration that exists on the double bass, I really only scratch the surface with techniques for the tip of the bow."
PUBLICATIONS
New publications involving ACTOR members have been made available.
ACTOR Project Blog
Get to know the academic work and creative practice of our new ACTOR Postdoc Ben Duinker a little better! He has prepared an entry for the ACTOR Postdoc blog. Follow the link for the full entry.
Photo: Architek percussion quartet; from left to right: Alessandro Valiante, Ben Duinker, Noam Bierstone, and Alexander Haupt.
photo by Juliane Schütz
Amazing Moments in Timbre
New Amazing Moments in Timbre essay by invited author Matthew Ludwig (From Lindsey Reymore's and Matthew Zeller's timbre course at McGill University last winter). Ludwig explores Timbral Progression in Rebecca Saunders’ dichroic seventeen.
Dark: The Sight and Sound of Black Lives
18 November
2:00-3:15pm (EST) | 20h00-21h15 (CET)
Online - Zoom Access
SAVE THE DATE! The Sub-Saharan African and Afro-Diasporic subgroup of the Diversity workgroup will present its second installation of the Afrological Perspectives on Timbre and Orchestration speaker series. On 18 November 2022 ethnomusicologist Dr. Stephanie Shonekan will present a talk entitled "Dark: The Sight and Sound of Black Lives." Her presentation will take place at 2:00pm EST over Zoom. The event is free, open to the public, and does not require registration. The series, spearheaded by Jason Winikoff, Joshua Rosner, and Jay Marchand Knight, will take place over the 2022-23 academic year. Other invited guests include Kevin Holt, Andile Khumalo, Joel Larue Smith, and Marvin McNeill.
Y5 Workshop
3-5 July 2023
Université de Strasbourg
SAVE THE DATE for the ACTOR Y5 Workshop at the Université de Strasbourg in France 3-5 July 2023. The workshop will be followed by a Summer School on Timbre and Orchestration co-organized by ACTOR and the International Conference on Timbre, 8-12 July 2023, which will lead into Timbre 2023, 10-12 July 2023, both hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece.
Project Updates
Timbre Semantics Workgroup
The Timbre Semantics Workgroup met on Zoom on October 17th at 10am EDT. Our next meeting will be held on Monday, December 5th, at 10am EST on Zoom.
The workgroup would like to announce upcoming opportunities and open calls. To express interest in any of the calls, email lreymore@asu.edu & jason.noble@umontreal.ca:
We are welcoming self-nominations for a Timbre Semantics Working Group student representative. The student representative is expected to attend meetings (we will take your availability into account when scheduling) and to work with other student members on relevant initiatives as needed (for example, helping to coordinate authors for Timbre Lingo blog entries, described in #2 below). Please send an email indicating your interest by November 15.
We are looking to produce Timbre Lingo blog entries, which were discussed at the past workgroup meeting (initial documents can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SZ8QH2Dq02lwVHJQs58ecraEWi6aGz7K?usp=sharing ). If you volunteered to contribute to one of these entries during the workshop, please follow up by doing so. We are looking for individuals who are willing to lead the compilation of each blog entry. Each leader will work with 2-3 other team members to generate content and write/edit the entry. If interested, please email us!
If you would like to present your recent timbre semantics research at an upcoming working group meeting, let us know! Presentations can be done at any stage of research, and may be as prepared or informal / conversational as you wish. They are intended to give ACTOR members a chance to learn about one another’s interests and projects.
Ben Duinker
Ben Duinker comes to ACTOR from the University of Toronto, where he held a SSHRC postdoc to study analysis and performance in contemporary music. He received a PhD in Music Theory and Master of Music in Percussion Performance from McGill University, where his doctoral dissertation focused on metric and rhythmic aspects of hip-hop flow and was awarded an SMT-40 dissertation fellowship by the Society for Music Theory. Ben has published on a variety of topics, with articles recently appearing in Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online, Popular Music, Journal of Popular Music Studies, and elsewhere. In addition to academics, Ben works as a chamber musician, primarily with the Montreal-based quartet Architek Percussion, with whom he has premiered over 60 works and appeared on six albums.
Ben’s dissertation research investigates how flow practice has evolved in connection to hip-hop music’s transition from a regional genre with identifiable local styles to a more stylistically homogeneous post-regional genre. He uses music analysis to stimulate broader discussions of Black oral vernacular traditions, perception, and the racial dimension of linguistics, rhythm, and genre. His present project—undertaken at ACTOR—concerns the defining roles of timbre, texture, orchestration, and language in trap music, a genre born from Southern hip hop that has now pollinated local hip-hop genres worldwide. Ben’s other research interest engages his dual backgrounds in theory and performance. This work primarily involves case studies that unite score-based analysis of contemporary works and ethnographic research with performers who have championed these works. The case-study topics include embodiment, interpretive difficulty, performers’ evolving relationships with works, and the strategic integration of theory and performance pedagogy.
https://www.benduinker.com/
photo by Alex Tran
photo by Wolf Silveri
Andres Gutierrez Martinez
Andrés Gutiérrez Martínez is a Mexican composer and electronic music performer. He began his musical studies in his hometown and continued his studies in Austria where he obtained master’s degrees in composition and electro-acoustic composition-computer music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition at the University of California San Diego in Spring 2022. He has received several distinctions and grants such as the Musikförderungspreis der Stadt Graz in 2012, and the Young Creators Scholarship in Music Composition in 2017 granted by the Mexican Fund for Culture and the Arts FONCA. He was one of the winning composers of the fourth edition of the Incontri Internazionali Franco Donatoni in 2016 receiving a commission to write a piece for the Divertimento Ensemble and the Stuttgart Neue Vocalsolisten. He has received additional commissions by the Schallfeld Ensemble, Low Frequency Trio, and Line Upon Line Percussion.
For Andrés, timbral exploration is an important element in the articulation of sonic events. The search for timbral similarities and “sonic analogies” across music instruments, and the use of extended instrumental techniques are important constituents of his musical language. Additionally, the use of live-electronics is an important element in Andrés’ work as a composer and performer. In his latest electro-acoustic work, Andrés has experimented with controlled feedback situations on resonant surfaces of percussion instruments such as drums, metal plates, and tam-tams as a means of developing an expressive, tactile approach to the control of electronic sound generation. As part of the ACTOR Innovation Output postdoc Andrés is focusing on the research of timbre and orchestration by exploring the role of individual instrumental timbre in voicing in an effort to incorporate variation and nuance in instrumental synthesis techniques.
https://andresgutierrez.info
Student Exchange Funding
The Student Exchange Funding aims to support ACTOR student members conducting research within the ACTOR project's mandate at an ACTOR partner institution. A maximum of $2,500 CAD per applicant in support of travel and living expenses will be provided. The minimum length of the exchange is 2 weeks. Exchanges must be between ACTOR partner institutions. Applications may be submitted online by 5:00pm (EDT) on November 15, 2022 for exchange visits from January through June. Please note that, before submitting an application, it is important to verify the travel restrictions at both the home and host institutions/countries. In order to facilitate the application process and encourage more students to apply, the letters from the home and the host institution will no longer be required. Check Student Exchange Funding for more details.
Satellite Meeting Funding
The purpose of the Satellite Meeting Funding is to increase ACTOR's visibility at international conferences by supporting the organization of adjunct meetings involving at least two ACTOR members. A maximum amount of $300 (CAD) will be provided. Applications will be accepted continuously, but must be submitted at least two months prior to the conference date.
Sound Genres: Exploring Sound as Foundational Practice
The University of Victoria School of Music is seeking contributions for the two-day conference Sound Genres: Exploring Sound as Foundational Practice, co-organized by Dr. Anthony Tan and featuring Dr. Eliot Britton as Keynote Speaker. The symposium will gather sound practitioners and scholars from across Canada to reflect on current practices and their potential engagement in shaping the music curriculum in higher education. The conference invites artists and scholars to submit proposals for their sessions and events. Read more
Contributing to TOR
We encourage all ACTOR members to share their research (in progress or completed) with the ACTOR community via the Timbre and Orchestration Resource (TOR). This may include an article, blog, or video submission containing information on project ideas, experiments, external resources/tools, teaching materials, analysis, or anything related to timbre and orchestration that you deem relevant. We believe that only in doing so will we truly benefit from the expertise and feedback from the world-class team of scientists, artists, and humanists involved in ACTOR. If you have any questions about the submission process, please contact Kit Soden.
