Newsletter no. 8
ANALYSIS, CREATION, AND TEACHING OF ORCHESTRATION PROJECT
NEWSLETTER #8, May 2021
EN / FR
Editor’s Note
Hello, ACTORians! ACTOR members have certainly been busy in the past few months—we are happy to share a number of upcoming and recent concerts and presentations, including an ACTOR-organized panel at the Nova Contemporary Music Meeting (NCMM) on the CORE project. We’re also excited to announce recipients of the Collaborative Student Project Grant, which will provide summer funding for six student members.
As always, we welcome your timbre and orchestration news via website submission; deadlines for each monthly newsletter fall on the last day of the previous month.
Lindsey Reymore, newsletter editor
ACTOR Newsletter
ACTOR Outcomes
TOR Spotlight: Research-Creation Series
"Exploring the virtual orchestra through blood, sweat, and tears. Part 1" by Eliazer Kramer
"Can one develop virtual orchestration as an independent art form by developing an aesthetic that is proper and unique to it?" A new article on this subject has been added to the Research-Creation Series of the Timbre and Orchestration Resources (TOR) of ACTOR. With the goal to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the virtual orchestra, Université de Montréal doctoral student and composer Eliazer Kramer outlines his first attempt at making a virtual orchestration from one of his compositions, Récitatif, chant et danse.
Creations & Productions
Performances & Compositions
Conductor Guillaume Bourgogne announces two performances of an upcoming concert titled, "Préludes,” which includes on the program Chopin’s 24 Preludes for piano in dialogue with the world premiere of Ramon Lazkano’s 19 Preludes for ensemble.
April 23 Teatro Principal Antzokia, Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain) with Alfonso Gomez, piano and Ensemble Cairn
May 18 in Scène nationale d'Orléans (France) with Maroussia Gentet, piano and Ensemble Cairn
At ACTOR partner institution Université de Montréal, the musicians of the Université de Montréal Orchestra, led by conductor and artistic director Jean-François Rivest, are back in rehearsal after a 6-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Two videos documenting the return to performance and reflections on the process are posted on YouTube:
Return to the stage:
Distancing: so far, so near:
Jorge Ramos’ work Plug-in for violin, clarinet, trombone, and contrabass had its second performance at the Portuguese Embassy in London, UK, on May 6th, and was live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube.
Assaf Shatil’s composition MIDRASH: Three etudes for remote percussion ensemble (2020) was premiered online by UCSC percussion ensemble, directed by William Winant, during the Santa Cruz Festival on April 16th.
MIDRASH deals with a musical structure where timbral choices are open for the performers. Each etude is made of out structuring one particular percussive gesture—an “attack” in the first etude, a “swell” in the second etude and a “fast knock” in the third etude. Each etude is both a “study” of the performative and timbral choices of each individual and also the entire assemblage of all parts put together.
Midrash is an ancient Hebrew word that means a study or an interpretation of a sacred text. Midrash is also the actual action of confronting a text through deep study and engagement with critical translation.
Awards and Honours
Berlioz Trip AR experience — Dream of a Sabbath Night
The Berlioz Trip AR experience — Dream of a Sabbath Night, co-produced by Sonic Solveig and Les Clés de l'écoute, has been selected for the NewImages Festival and will be presented from June 9 to 13 at the Forum des Images in Paris, as part of the XR Competition. This 360° acoustic experience will welcome you into the dreams and fantasies of Hector Berlioz and allow you to physically walk in the heart of a symphony orchestra!
The prestigious annual NewImages Festival celebrates immersive creation (augmented reality, virtual reality, mapping, binaural sound, etc.). Sonic Solveig and Les Clés de l'écoute will be sharing the stage with leading cultural institutions (Musée d'Orsay, France Télévisions, Ubisoft, National Film Board of Canada) and ambitious artists (Adrien M & Claire B, Camille Duvelleroy, Erick Oh).
ACTOR Director Stephen McAdams awarded new SSHRC Insight Grant
ACTOR Director Stephen McAdams is Principal Investigator on a Canadian federal SSHRC Insight Grant for 2021-2026 entitled "Analyzing orchestration practice in ensemble music" with co-investigators at McGill (Nicole Biamonte, Martha de Francisco, Robert Hasegawa, plus Christoph Neidhöfer) and the Université de Montréal (Pierre Michaud, Caroline Traube) and collaborators at McGill (Guillaume Bourgogne, John Hollenbeck, Lindsey Reymore, Kit Soden, John Sullivan, Matthew Zeller), University of British Columbia (Keith Hamel), Université de Montréal (Jean-Michaël Lavoie, Jimmie Leblanc, Jason Noble), UCSD (Roger Reynolds, Rand Steiger), and University of Toronto (Eliot Britton). Three axes of research will comprise 1) conducting timbre and orchestration analyses from the perspectives of orchestration aims and functions, orchestration techniques, and the perceptual grouping principles through which timbre acts a structuring force in music, 2) engaging in specific analyses applying the developed methodologies to student compositions and performances resulting from collaborative composer-performer orchestration research ensembles (CORE) and 3) using the analysis results to enhance the teaching of orchestration and to integrate timbre and orchestration considerations into the music theory curriculum.
ACTOR Associate Director Robert Hasegawa awarded new FRQSC Team Support Grant
ACTOR Associate Director Robert Hasegawa is Principal Investigator on a Québec provincial FRQSC Team Support Grant for 2021-2025 entitled "Analytical, perceptual and technological approaches to musical orchestration and its pedagogy" with co-investigators at McGill (Nicole Biamonte, Martha de Francisco, Philippe Depalle, Catherine Guastavino, Stephen McAdams, plus Christoph Neidhöfer) and the Université de Montréal (Caroline Traube) and collaborators at McGill (Lindsey Reymore, Matthew Zeller), Detmold University of Music (Malte Kob), IRCAM (Philippe Esling, François-Xavier Féron), University of Pavia (Ingrid Pustijanac), Université de Montréal (Jean-François Rivest, Jason Noble), and Aix-Marseille Université (Etienne Thoret). The program is organized around four research axes. An ongoing focus of the team is A1: Perceptual and grouping structure in orchestration, which continues the development of an orchestration theory founded on perceptual principles. A2: Analysis of orchestration in twentieth and twenty-first-century music builds on substantial advances in theoretical tools from A1 that allow us to expand beyond the familiar symphonic repertoire to address experimental and modernist music as well as popular music genres (jazz, rock, pop, and hip-hop). This repertoire expansion responds to recent calls for diversity and inclusion in research. A3: Performance, acoustics, and timbre examines performance nuance in ensemble playing through audio analysis and the close study of practical music making. Finally, A4: Space, recording, and orchestration perception considers the role of spatialization, room acoustics, and recording techniques in our experience of orchestration effects.
Publications
Hérold, N. (2020). "Le timbre face à l'hétérogénéité musicale : conceptualisation, enjeux, pertinence". Dans M. Masson (Ed.), Entre théorie et analyse musicale : corps et méthodes, Delatour, pp. 189–211.
Boulan, M., Guillotel-Nothmann, C., & Hérold, N. (Eds.). (2020). Musurgia XXVII/1, “Quantification et qualification en analyse : le logiciel Monika”. https://www.cairn.info/revue-musurgia-2020-1.htm
Presentations
Nova Contemporary Music Meeting (NCMM)
The Nova Contemporary Music Meeting (NCMM) is a biennial, 3-day international conference launched by the Contemporary Music Research Group (GIMC) of CESEM (Centre for the Study of the Sociology and Musical Aesthetics at Nova University, Lisbon) and focused on a variety of questions relating to music since the beginning of the 20th century. The NCMM 2021: “Music Performance as Creation”, took place from 5 to 7 May in Lisbon and was streamed on a dedicated YouTube channel. The event included presentations by ACTOR members Stephen McAdams, Eliot Britton, Keith Hamel, Roger Reynolds, Caroline Traube, Yuval Adler, Robert Hasegawa, Joshua Rosner, Justine Maillard, Lindsey Reymore, Eliazer Kramer, and Ben Duinker. Notably, an entire session on the CORE project is on the program. (http://fabricadesites.fcsh.unl.pt/ncmm/)
AES Show
Markus Noisternig will be presenting at the AES (Audio Engineering Society) Show on May 25. His talk 'What’s old and what’s new: Introduction to the spatially oriented format for acoustics 2.0' will be featured in the Game Audio/AVAR/Spatial Audio session of the event. (http://aesshow.com/Spring2021)
Music Theory Midwest
Three ACTOR members will be presenting in the upcoming 32nd annual conference for Music Theory Midwest from June 10th to 13th:
Lindsey Reymore: “A Timbral-Motivic Analysis of Obermüller’s different forms of phosphorus for Solo English Horn”
Joshua Rosner: “Opening the Door: A Multifaceted Approach to the Analysis of Text Setting in Kate Soper’s Door (2007)”
Jeremy Tatar: “Emergent Timbres in Screw Music”
Program: https://mtmw.org/index.php/conferences/programs?year=2021
Nathalie Hérold recently gave two conference presentations:
Analysis and Description of Timbre in Music
"Describing and Analysing Timbre Between Scores and Recordings: Some Considerations Based on 19th- and 20th-Century Instrumental Music", Jean-Monnet University, Saint-Étienne, 10 February 2021. https://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/recherches/colloque_timbre/resources.html
Séminaire d'acoustique musicale, Équipe Lutheries-Acoustique-Musique/Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert
"Timbre et analyse de scène auditive dans l'Adagio de la Sonate op. 106 de Beethoven", Paris, 15 mars 2021.
Jason Noble has recently presented on several of his ACTOR-related compositions:
Guitar Foundation of America
Jason Noble and Steve Cowan spoke at a meeting of the Guitar Foundation of America (18 April 2021). Following a brief introduction, they fielded an hour-long Q&A about their recent article in GFA's academic journal 'Soundboard Scholar.'The article, 'Timbre-Based Composition for the Guitar: A Non-guitarist’s Approach to Mapping and Notation', discusses several ACTOR-related projects including 'fantaisie harmonique' and their project on dialect-based musical composition.
The International 21st Century Guitar Conference
Jason also presented at the international 21st Century Guitar Conference, hosted online in Lisbon, Portugal (March 22–26, 2021), about the ACTOR-funded 3D recording with digital animation of his piece 'fantaisie harmonique.' The piece was recorded by Steve Cowan, animation by Kurt Laurenz Theinert, in collaboration with ACTOR members Caroline Traube and Martha de Francisco.
Link to the recording of the conference here: (Jason’s presentation beginning 2:32:30)
At the same event, guitarist Michael Ibsen premiered a multimedia video of Jason’s piece 'Shadow Prism,' the piece out of which 'fantaisie harmonique' grew, employing similar notational, scordatura, and orchestrational techniques.
Lewis Carroll Society of North America
Jason gave an invited presentation at the recent meeting of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America (April 23–24, hosted online at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles), in which he discussed his composition 'Furiouser and Spuriouser'. The piece, which reimagines Alice in Wonderland for the internet age, is performed by an 8-part narrating choir and employs a host of extended vocal timbres and orchestrational techniques.
New ACTOR Member Spotlights
Leigh VanHandel is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting at UBC in 2020, she taught at Michigan State University for fifteen years. Her primary research areas are music cognition, music theory pedagogy, the relationship between music and language, computer-assisted research, and how those things all relate to one another. Her current cognition research focuses on what musical characteristics affect our perception of tempo in music; her pedagogy research focuses on how music theory pedagogy can learn from recent research into the cognition of teaching and learning, and how best practices in STEM pedagogy can be adapted to music theory pedagogy. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences, and has been published in journals such as Music Perception, the Journal of New Music Research, Empirical Musicology Review, and the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy. She was editor and contributing author to The Routledge Handbook of Music Theory Pedagogy (2020), and has served on the Executive Boards of the Society for Music Theory and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.
Ben Duinker holds a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship for research in music analysis and performance at the University of Toronto. His doctoral dissertation (2020) focused on metric and rhythmic aspects of hip-hop flow and was awarded a SMT-40 dissertation fellowship by the Society for Music Theory. He has published articles on a variety of topics and repertoire in the journals Current Musicology, Empirical Musicology Review, Music Theory Online, and Popular Music, and has articles forthcoming in Music Theory Spectrum and the Journal for Popular Music Studies. Duinker received a PhD in Music Theory and Master of Music Performance (Percussion) from McGill University, where he frequently worked on collaborative research projects through the Music Theory and Performance areas as well as CIRMMT.
Duinker's research interests include rhythm and meter in hip-hop music, popular music tonality, empirical musicology, analysis and performance, and phenomenological issues in music analysis. He is thrilled to be joining the ACTOR network to further his and others' understanding of how timbre intersects with matters of form, perception, and genre in popular music.
ACTOR Business
Collaborative Student Project Grant
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the Collaborative Student Project Grant! Congratulations to Lena Heng, Mengqi Wang, Martin Daigle, Gabriel Couturier, Ying-Ying Zhang, and Jithin Thilakan. This newly created funding opportunity will provide student members with support for research in summer 2021 while promoting interinstitutional collaboration. The funded projects include:
Martin Daigle (McGill University) and Gabriel Couturier (Université de Montréal)—Research-Creation: Masque de Fer
Lena Heng (McGill University) and Mengqi Wang (Université de Strasbourg)—Sounding the interaction of cultures: Orchestration techniques and perceptual effects
Ying-Ying Zhang (McGill University) and Jithin Thilakan (Detmold University of Music)—An investigation of choral blending through soundfield capture, acoustic evaluation, and perceptual analysis methods
Open Calls
Call for papers: Dialogues: Analysis and Performance
The inaugural edition of the symposium Dialogues: Analysis and Performance will be held October 7–9, 2021, at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. Proposals are invited on any topic related to the analysis and performance of music, especially encouraging those who engage with repertoire or performance practices from the 20th and 21st centuries. The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2021. The full call for proposals can be found here: https://www.analysisandperformance.org/callforproposals
Call for papers: “Perception and Cognition in Music Technology”
A Special Issue of IET Cognitive and Computational Systems on "Perception and Cognition in Music Technology", guest edited by ACTOR members Zijin Li of the China Conservatory of Music and Stephen McAdams of McGill University in collaboration with Xiaobing Li of the Central Conservatory of Music. Special topics of interest to ACTOR members include computational musicology, musical timbre and perception, music and emotions, cognitive modeling of music, and music information retrieval. The submission deadline is June 30, 2021.
https://digital-library.theiet.org/files/IET_CCS_CFP_PCMT.pdf
Master of Arts in Composition and Theory
The Haute école de musique de Genève, partner of the creative computer-aided orchestration software Orchidea, is opening a new multimedia composition option in its Master of Arts in Composition and Theory. The application deadline is May 31, 2021.
https://www.hesge.ch/hem/en/studies/master-arts-composition-and-theory/multimedia-composition