Music Academy "Studio Musica"
Convenzionata con il Conservatorio "B. Marcello" di Venezia

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5th International Conference on
New Music Concepts (ICNMC 2018)

March 17-18, 2018    Treviso - Italy









Keynote Lectures

Music and Bio-computing
Eduardo Miranda
Plymouth University
UK

Brief Bio
Eduardo R. Miranda is a composer and Artificial Intelligence (AI) scientist. He studied Music Technology at the University of York and received a PhD on the topic of music with AI from the University of Edinburgh. Currently, he is Professor in Computer Music at Plymouth University where he heads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR), which is pioneering the development of music neurotechnology and biological computing for music. He is emerging as an influential composer for his work at the crossroads of music and science. His music, which includes pieces for symphonic orchestras, chamber groups and solo instruments, with and without live electronics, has been played by ensembles such as Bergersen String Quartet, Leo String Quartet (from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Ten Tors Orchestra, to cite but a few. In addition to concert music, he has composed for theatre and contemporary dance. The inside story of his acclaimed computer-aided symphony, Mind Pieces, is revealed in the e-book Mind Pieces, published by Intelligent Arts (http://intelligentarts.net/2016/08/miranda).

Abstract
Whereas computing technology is omnipresent in the music industry today, future developments in computing will certainly continue to affect the way in which we create, perform and distribute music. In addition to the availability of powerful and affordable equipment, advances in computer music technology have been characterized by the development of increasingly more user-friendly programming tools and interfaces. These developments have enabled access to computer music technology to virtually anyone interested in using it, from amateurs to professional musicians. However, this talk focuses on the development of new kinds of processors at the core of computers and interfaces, and new approaches to making music engendered by such novel systems. Researchers working in the relatively new field of Unconventional Computing (UC) are investigating a number of alternative approaches to develop new types of computers. The talk introduces to the emerging field of UC for sound and music, focusing on the development of bioprocessing components and interactive musical biocomputers using the plasmodial slime mould Physarum polycephalum.


Tracer la lune d'un doigt: where the virtual and the physical touch
Patricia Alessandrini
Goldsmiths, University of London
UK

Brief Bio
Patricia Alessandrini is a composer and sound artist creating multimedia and interactive work which actively engages with the concert music repertoire, and notions of representation, interpretation, perception and memory, often in the context of social and political issues. These works are often theatrical and collaborative, involving elements such as live electronics, physical modelling, resonating and animated objects, physical computing, and interactive video in staged or installation situations. They are intimately linked to her research on embodied interaction, including instrument design for inclusive performance; her most recent research focusses on the control of robotics systems through Music Information Retrieval (MIR) and machine-learning techniques.
She was previously an instructor of alto perfezionamento of Computer-Assisted Composition at the Scuola superiore of the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, a Lecturer in Composition with Technology at Bangor University, and is currently a Lecturer in Sonic Arts at Goldsmiths, University, where she heads the Unit for Sound Practice Research (SPR).

Abstract
'..there are important aspects of music that do not lie at the conceptual instruction level, but rather at the threshold between an intention and the resistance of a medium such as an instrument, a performer, an audience or a concert hall. We propose that it is this resistance that is responsible for our engagement with music.’
Pedro Rebelo, Maarten van Waldstijn
Designing Acoustic Thresholds, Journées Design Sonore, Paris 2004

Through an overview of my creative work and research of the past ten years, I will elucidate the use of digital technology in mediating relationships and contingencies between physical bodies. The body in question may be that of a performer, a spectator, a musical instrument or an object. The techniques involved in this mediation range from physical modelling to physical computing.
The notion of contingency is derived in part from Nicolas Collins' idea of adjacency: while we tend to think of Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) design in terms of creating clear and logical mappings of input data, a physical instrument may have adjacent possibilities that vary greatly.1 Similarly, I am interested in creating contingent systems that have some of the rich, unstable and somewhat unpredictable characteristics of physical systems, yet are bound together by characteristics derived from these systems.
I will also discuss the implications of this and other embodied practices in institutional contexts, and how this embodied practice developed in a reciprocal relationship to feminism, both informed by it and contributing to it as a practice. An example of this is Parlour Sounds, a collaborative music-theatre production in which vintage home hi-fi devices and housekeeping appliances were re- purposed into DMIs. While the transformation of these housekeeping aids into DMIs explored notions of technology - and who uses it - in a somewhat playful and transgressive way, it also posited a possible shift of computer music technology out of the studio environment and into a home environment, and thus from dependence upon costly hardware requirements to DIY approaches. This paradigm shift was reflected in the design of the DMIs, from the use of micro- processors to the self-diffusion of electronic sound through the bodies of the instruments rather than through external speakers. At the end of the performance – premièred in the 2017 edition of the Edinburgh International Science Festival – members of the public were invited onstage to play the DMIs; the fact that the stage was set up as a home environment, as well as the nature and design of the instruments themselves, fostered this participative process. 'For there is no other aesthetic problem than that of the insertion of art into everyday life'.
The title of this keynote, Tracer la lune d'un doigt ('To trace the moon with a finger') makes reference to the idea of attempting to make physical contact with a body which cannot be physically touched: it evokes an image of the seemingly impossible, magical situations which may be created through digital mediation of physical media. It is derived from the title of my most recent work for ensemble and electronics, in which physical computing techniques are employed to create a system that touches the strings of the piano directly and brings them into vibration. Thus, the identity of the piano is transformed by digital mediation, as the mode of sounding the strings is vastly modified from that of the mechanical piano action, yet its natural resonant qualities remain intact.

Perspectives in Education for Sound and Music Computing
Luca A. Ludovico
Università degli Studi di Milano
Italy

Brief Bio
Luca A. Ludovico is researcher and professor of Music programming, MIDI programming and Sound synthesis at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. He received his Master of Science in Computer engineering from the Politecnico di Milano - Italy in 2003, and his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the Università degli Studi di Milano - Italy in 2006. His doctoral dissertation dealt with multilayer formats for music representation. His research interests include symbolic music encoding, computational musicology, computer-supported music education, preservation and exploitation of intangible cultural heritage. Concerining these fields, he is author of about 70 scientific papers. As a member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music, he actively worked on the IEEE 1599 standard, and for his contributions he received an official award from the IEEE Computer Society. Currently he is a member of the W3C Music Notation Community Group and of the MIDI Association. He is cooperating as a Peer Reviewer for international journals (ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, Computer Standards & Interfaces, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, etc.) and conferences (CSEDU, ICMC, etc.). Moreover, he is a member of the Program Committee of the International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU), of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Computer Sciences and Applications (JCSA) and of the Editorial Management of the Scientific Journal on Digital Cultures (DigitCult).

Abstract
In 2007, a document entitled “A Roadmap for Sound and Music Computing”, authored by internationally renowned experts, aimed to identify, characterize and propose strategies for tackling the key research challenges that this growing and diversified domain was expected to be facing in the next ten to fifteen years. The original idea was to establish a common agenda and ensure consolidation, integration and exploitation of research results from European initiatives and projects. Ten years later, we can reconsider those forecasts and check the achievement of the expected results. Besides, considering recent technological innovations and approaches (such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.), we take a fresh look at sound and music computing education. The goal is to outline the characteristics required by academia and industries to future domain experts, who have to be multifaceted persons with interdisciplinary expertise including music, musicology, math, physics, and computer science.



 

 
Important Dates
VIRTUAL PARTECIPATION
For presenters who will be unable to attend the conference in person.
 
 
Paper Submission
Before January 7, 2018

We would like to thank all who have already submitted their Paper. As many of you have requested, the deadline will be extended.

Before January 21, 2018
Notification of Acceptance
On February 4, 2018
Final Paper Submission
Before February 18, 2018
Authors' Registration
Before February 18, 2018
ICNMC 2018 Conference Dates
March 17-18, 2018
 

 
 
 
Music Academy "Studio Musica"
Via Andrea Gritti, 25 - 31100 Treviso (Italy) - P.Iva 03203960269