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Second ACTOR Timbre & Orchestration Summer School Deadline: February 15, 2024 The second edition of the ACTOR (Analysis, Creation and Teaching of Orchestration) Timbre & Orchestration Summer School will be held at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, July 12-15, 2024. TUTORS & TOPICS Timbre Worlds Emily Dolan (Brown University) Much scholarship on timbre has emphasized its ineffability, as well as the failure of theory and language to account for timbre’s power, function, and effect. And yet, despite these challenges, we still manage to talk a lot about timbre,
in both formal and informal ways. In this pair of workshops, we will delve into classic and recent readings in timbre studies to think about the intersections between timbral theory and timbral convention. Sessions will unfold with a mix of large and small
group discussions. In addition to the assigned readings, participants will be asked to do a small interview project in preparation for our session. Music Analysis and Timbre Daphne Tan (University of Toronto) It’s an exciting time to attend to timbre: in recent years, music analysts have employed new tools, technologies, and approaches to capture and describe timbral experiences. This workshop surveys a range of published music analyses with
timbre as a central focus, including those for specialists and those for the general public. Together, we will study how analysts convey their observations (through words and visual representations) and consider the interpretive rewards and limitations of
different modes of analysis. We will also broaden our discussion to ask about relationships, overt or inferred, between music and the analyst. Ethnomusicology of Orchestration Michael Tenzer (University of British Columbia) An ethnomusicology of orchestration historicizes the concept to encompass traditions in which orchestration is not (or only minimally) an expressive choice, but something constrained by nonautonomous factors. Among these are environmental
and technological affordances shaping organology, place-based acoustics of performance contexts, social structures in which ensemble makeup affirms group identity or community function, and invariable musical roles developed for different instruments in a
given ensemble or genre. All of these must adapt to the laws of human cognition. They also hang on each tradition’s construal of the musical entity itself, that is, the ontology of the inner thing we call “music” in each culture, and how its transformation
into performed sound materializes these factors. A still broader view suggests an evolutionary thread connecting the timbral strategies evolved for animal biophony, to the worldings of traditional music, to the rise of timbre as an individual’s identity marker
in contemporary life. Deciphering Timbre Through the Prism of Acoustics and Psychoacoustics Caroline Traube (Université de Montréal) From the point of view of psychoacoustics, timbre is a perceptual attribute of sound that depends on many spectro-temporal characteristics: the shape of the dynamic envelope, the duration and more or less noisy nature of the attack, the
harmonic or inharmonic nature of the frequency components, the sustained or unsustained nature of the source, the distribution of energy in the various frequency regions of the spectrum, the presence of formants or particular resonances, modulation effects,
and so on. In this workshop aimed at participants from all disciplines (not requiring any prior knowledge in musical acoustics), all these parameters will be clearly defined and illustrated. ACTOR's Timbre Lingo project will serve as a source of pedagogical
material. Timbre semantics will also be discussed in relation with the acoustic nature of sounds. As an application, students will be guided in the use and exploration of spectral analysis software such as Sonic Visualiser. Sound as Material: Perspectives on a Timbral Discourse Anthony Tan (University of Victoria) Considering timbre as the salient dimension of compositional practice raises questions about materiality, transformation, organization, and _expression_. In this session, I will present artistic and conceptual approaches to timbre in my own
music and from diverse genre repertoire. Participants will engage in creative exercises exploring timbre translation and typological orchestration. PROGRAM In addition to three days of tutorial sessions (July 12-14), students will have the opportunity to present in a Poster Session on July 15, as well as attend the Plenary session of the Y6 ACTOR Workshop, and join tutors in informal discussion
sessions. PARTICIPANTS We welcome graduate, advanced undergraduate students, postdocs, and early-career researchers in any field of music-related research with keen interest in timbre and orchestration. COSTS Selected participants will be notified by March 15, 2024 and invited to register. Two pricing options are available: Option 1: $750 CAD – includes: tuition, accommodation in the Totem Park Residence for five nights (check in: July 11, check out: July 16), breakfast and lunch for four days (July 12-15), and one dinner (date TBD). Option 2: $421.05 CAD – includes: tuition, breakfast and lunch for four days (July 12-15), and one dinner (date TBD) MORE INFORMATION Visit:
https://www.actorproject.org/timbre-and-orchestration-summer-school/vancouver-2024 Applications:
https://airtable.com/app43GnzqMI30X6tF/shrdxLOVExS96CyG4 Contact: actor-project.music@xxxxxxxxx |