Monthly Archives: November 2012

Feedback on Language, Music and Cognition in Cologne

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The international workshop Language, Music and Cognition took place from September 27th to 29th 2012 hosted by the University of Cologne, Germany. This three-day-workshop consisted of three thematic sessions (one thematic session per day) which interacted in discussions all over the workshop: 1st day – syntax and semantics, 2nd day – language and music, and 3rd day – prosody, sign language, and gesture.

Topics of the presentations:

Syntax and semantics:

  • Petra Schumacher (University of Mainz / University of Cologne):
    Adjusting meaning in real-time
  • Steven Frisson (University of Birmingham):
    Online semantic interpretation during reading
  • Andrea E. Martin (University of Edinburgh):
    Cue-based retrieval interference during sentence comprehension: ERP evidence from ellipsis
  • Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky / Matthias Schlesewsky (University of Marburg, University of Mainz):
    Dorsal and ventral streams in language: Puzzles and possible solutions
  • Mante S. Nieuwland (University of Edinburgh):
    ERP evidence for animacy processing asymmetries during Spanish sentence comprehension
  • Jutta Mueller (Max-Planck-Institut, Leipzig):
    First steps towards language: Auditory artificial grammar learning across development
  • Gert Westermann, (Lancaster University):
    Experience-dependent brain development as a key to understanding the systematicity of linguistic representations

Language and music:

  • Barbara Tillmann (Lyon Neuroscience Research Center CRNL):
    Music and language structure processing: What is shared?
  • Evelina Fedorenko (Massachusetts Institute of Technology):
    Syntactic processing in language and music: Existence of overlapping circuits does not imply lack of specialized ones
  • Yun Nan (Beijing Normal University):
    Cross-domain pitch processing in music and Mandarin: perceptual and post-perceptual basis
  • Kazuo Okanoya (Riken Lab / University of Tokyo):
    Segmentation in Language and Music: Statistical and Emotional Cues
  • Julie Chobert (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Marseille):
    Influence of musical training on the preattentive processing of syllables in normal-reading children and children with dyslexia
  • Daniela Sammler (Max-Planck-Institut, Leipzig):
    Neuroanatomical overlap of syntax in music and language
  • Thomas Bever (University of Arizona, Tuscon):
    There are at least two “normal” neurological organizations for language and music
Prosody, sign language, and gesture:
  • Richard Wiese (University of Marburg):
    Formal representations of rhythm in speech and music
  • Mara E. Breen (Mt. Holyoke College, Massachusetts):
    Empirical investigations of the role of implicit prosody in sentence processing
  • Martha Tyrone (Haskins Lab, Long Island University – Brooklyn):
    Prosody and Limb Movement in American Sign Language
  • Markus Steinbach (University of Göttingen):
    When gestures become signs – The integration of gestures into sign languages
  • Ulrike Domahs (University of Marburg):
    Language specific processing of word prosody

In addition to these presentations, there was a poster session on the second day.

In almost all presentations, it was focused on empirical studies and there were less theoretical considerations. The first and second sessions (partly also the third session), though, shared fruitful theoretical discussions about “syntax” – what is it? It seems to be difficult to get a general consensus about this concept also in linguistic studies in which syntax plays a very important role. So, general discussion about this concept is needed for the future development in comparative research on language and music. Concerning musical ‘syntax’, it deals mainly with harmonic syntax – what’s about rhythm?

This workshop showed the importance of cross disciplinary discussions – having a wide view and several perspectives.

For details, please visit the workshop homepage!

Call for papers: SMPC 2013

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Call deadline:  February 1, 2013

The biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition will be held at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, on August 8-11, 2013.

Abstracts for presentations should be no longer than 300 words and should describe the motivation, methodology, results, and implications to the degree that this information is available at the time of submission.  Empirical contributions should refer to the stimuli/corpus, methodology, and data collected.  Theoretical contributions are also welcome, provided that the connection to music perception and cognition is underscored through discussion of aims, methods, and/or results. Abstracts for proposed symposia are welcome and should include individual abstracts as well as a brief description of the theme.

Submission details and additional conference information are available on the conference website:
http://www.smpc2013.com/

Geneva Colloquium on Music and Emotion (GCME)

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Title: Geneva Colloquium on Music and Emotion (GCME)
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2012-11-14
End Date: 2012-11-17

The Swiss Center of Affective Sciences in Geneva announces a new interdisciplinary colloquium series – the Geneva Colloquium on Music and Emotion (GCME). The first edition – GCME 2012 – is held from November 14-17, 2012 in conjunction with a new festival — the Music & Science Festival in Western Switzerland (Lausanne and Geneva), co-organized with the Geneva Opera, the High Schools of Music in Lausanne and Geneva, and the international music competition Concours de Genève. Symposia and workshops on the following topics are presented: The emotional roots of music evolution; Cognition-emotion interaction in listener reactions to music; Music-emotion interactions across history; Neuropsychological research on emotional reactions to music; Emotional interpretation and the singing voice; The singer’s paradox – emotional interpretation in opera. Among the invited speakers are Emmanuel Bigand, Tecumseh Fitch, David Huron, Gino Leonardo Di Mitri, Michael Spitzer, Johan Sundberg, and Lawrence Wuidar. In addition, researchers from the Center’s focus on Music and Emotion present ongoing research projects in colloquium sessions as well as in an interactive Research Bazaar. The co-organization with the Music & Science Festival allows intensive interaction between scientists and different players from the world of music – composers, conductors, musicians, singers, critics as well as the public. The program is completed by major concert and opera events in the evenings.

For further information see http://www.affective-sciences.org/event/GCME and www.femusci.org

Call for papers: 1st International Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X

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Call deadline: December 31, 2012

Dates: 27-28 June 2013
Location: University of Bergamo, Bergamo Città Alta, Italy
Website: http://xcoax.org/
Deadline for submissions: 31 December 2012

The development of computational tools and media has been radically transforming the landscape for the practice of design, the arts and numerous cultural manifestations. Recognizing this, xCoAx is designed as a multi-disciplinary and nomadic enquiry on arts, computers, computation, communication and the elusive x factor that connects them all.

xCoAx is a forum for the exchange of ideas and the discovery of new and profitable synergies. It is an event exploring the frontiers of digital arts with the participation of a diverse confluence of computer scientists, media practitioners and theoreticians, that will focus on the relations between what can and cannot be computed, what can and cannot be communicated, what is beautiful and how humans and computational systems intersect in the development of new directions in aesthetics.

Topics
You are invited to submit theoretical, practical or experimental research work that includes but is not limited to the following topics:

  • Computation
  • Communication
  • Aesthetics
  • X
  • Algorithms / Systems / Models
  • Artificial Aesthetics
  • Audiovisuals / Multimodality
  • Creativity
  • Design
  • Interaction
  • Games
  • Generative Art / Design
  • History
  • Mechatronics / Physical Computing
  • Music / Sound Art
  • Philosophy of Art / of Computation
  • Technology / Ethics / Epistemology
  • Theory

Important dates
submissions open: September 2012
submission deadline: 31 December 2012
notifications: February 2013
early registration until: 15 March 2013
delivery of final versions until: 1 April 2013
conference: 27-28 June 2013

Additional information and submission details

  • All works must be submitted via EasyChair
  • Submissions of papers and artworks must present original material and will be rigorously reviewed in a process that will assess originality, relevance, aesthetic and technical achievements
  • The reviewing will be double-blind; please omit all information about the authors in the submissions
  • Papers may be 4 to 10 pages long, following the xCoAx template
  • Artworks and demos should be accompanied by a two-page short-paper formatted using the same template and by valid URL for access to relevant media assets
  • Submissions should be presented as .doc or .pdf files with all the media files embedded or linked to online resources. Final versions for publication should be delivered in .doc with all the images and other media files attached as independent files
  • All images and media assets must be cleared for publication by the paper’s authors
  • At least one of the authors of each selected contribution must register to the conference before the early registration deadline in order for their work to be published in the proceedings
  • xCoAx’s working language is English
  • Please contact the program chairs at info@xcoax.org with any questions regarding submissions.

Organizing committee
André Rangel, CITAR / Portuguese Catholic University
Jason Reizner, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Mario Verdicchio, University of Bergamo (Conference Chair)
Miguel Carvalhais, ID+ / University of Porto
Pedro Tudela, i2ADS, School of Fine Arts, University of Porto

Contacts
info@xcoax.org
twitter: @xcoaxorg
http://facebook.com/xcoax.org —
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/sysmusconference/

Call for papers: ACM Creativity and Cognition 2013

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Call deadline: December 17, 2012

The University of Technology, Sydney will host the International Conference on Creativity and Cognition from the 17th to the 20th of June 2013. The organising committee would like to invite you to join us in Sydney for another conference in this very successful series.

For 2013 the conference theme will be `Intersections and Interactions’, due to the inter-disciplinarity that is inherent in the study of creativity and cognition. June 2013 will be an exciting time for Sydney, as the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2013) will run from the 7th to 16th, as well as the Vivid Festival of Arts from the 24th of May until the 10th of June.

IMPORTANT DATES
17th December 2012 – PAPER AND POSTER SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Jan 12th – WORKSHOP PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE
1st March 2013 – CREATIVITY & DEMONSTRATIONS SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Call for PAPERS, POSTERS and DEMONSTRATIONS
Creativity is sometimes thought of as being a human cognitive capacity to solve problems.  Creativity is sometimes thought of as a process that occurs in the intersections between individuals, domains and fields. Creativity is sometimes viewed as a characteristic of an artifact, such as an artwork, or of a concept, such as a new scientific theory, that is both novel and valuable.
The Creativity and Cognition Conference Series aims to be a common meeting ground where individuals can interact with others from different domains and fields to explore and share a variety of information, observations, insights and ideas about the human capacity to creatively solve problems and produce novel and valuable artifacts in their context and culture.
As a single track conference the Creativity and Cognition conference series establishes a forum where people can “rub minds” with and hear about the work of others from a variety of domains and perspectives as they report and describe their engagement with that most complex of intersections–creativity and cognition.
To this end, Creativity and Cognition 2013 seeks papers, posters and demonstrations from individuals and teams of people working in any of a variety of domains who seek to improve our understanding of this multifaceted domain that engages the interest and attention of people from so many different fields.

General topics may include, but are not limited to:
The study of creativity in an individual, in a group or a team, or in a particular cultural context.

  • Discussions of ways to foster creativity though the design, development and/or deployment of pedagogy, of technology support tools for creative work, or of environments and systems of support for creativity.  Of particular interest is work on creative technology support tools that involves collaborations between artists and technologists.
  • Research reports on empirical assessment of various aspects of creativity and cognition that seek to deal with evaluation metrics, measures, and constraints using methodological approaches such as case studies, experimentation, modeling, or simulation.
  • Explorations of new or only partially explored intersections in creativity such as personal creativity in everyday life, the role of emotion in creativity, brain event scanning and recording, and any novel design and evaluation ideas that may one day be valuable to the Creativity and Cognition community.
  • Also of particular interest are papers, posters and demonstrations that describe artworks/performance works, etc. and that explore and reflect on the nature of creativity, the act of creation, and/or artistic expression.

All submissions are to be anonymised, and presented in ACM format and templates can be found on the Submission page of the conference website.

Papers and posters are to be submitted by 17 Dec 2012 through the easychair paper submission system. Papers are to be a maximum of 10 pages, while poster submissions are to be a maximum of 4 pages in length.

Demonstrations are also invited, with a maximum of 2 pages in length, and will be due on the 1st of March 2013.

CALL FOR ARTWORKS, MUSIC, PERFORMANCES and INSTALLATIONS
We are calling for proposals for artworks, music, performances and installations to be presented in conjunction with the conference.

We are seeking a wide variety of artworks related to (but not limited to) the conference theme of `intersections and interactions’. The exhibition of these works will be juried and presentation of works will be integrated into the conference program, in either a concert format, art exhibition or co-located installation, depending on available resources and locations.
Formal proposals should be 2 pages in ACM format (see ‘Submission’), and should include the elements listed below. The 2-page text of these submissions will be published in the conference proceedings, but appendices (eg. staging diagrams, scores, large photos) should be included as extra pages in the same pdf, and these extra pages need not follow ACM format. For the proceedings the extra pages will not be published, only the formal 2-page submission will be published. Accepted submissions will need to be revised based on reviews and according to guidelines for camera-ready publication to be sent upon notification of acceptance.

For ALL SUBMISSIONS (ARTWORK / INSTALLATION / MUSIC / PERFORMANCE PROPOSALS)
Submit 2-page PDF proposal in ACM Format addressing the above following:

  • Title of work
  • Clearly state the proposed performance
  • Name(s) of participants/submitters
  • Short biography of artists/composers/performers/designers
  • 150-200 word summary/abstract of work, designed for inclusion in a program.
ADDITIONALLY For MUSIC & PERFORMANCE  PROPOSALS
  • Provide any recordings or documentation of previous performances, or scores of the work (if they exist).
  • List the number of performers and instrumentation (if necessary)
  • List equipment (if any) to be provided by the conference organisers. Note that equipment availability is limited and significant unusual technical requirements may restrict the possibility of acceptance of the work unless detailed plans are provided.
ADDITIONALLY For ARTWORK & INSTALLATION PROPOSALS
  • Provide any documentation of previous presentations of this work.
  • Describe the space needed and the adaptability of the work. Information regarding available spaces will be posted on the website as it becomes available.
  • List equipment (if any) to be provided by the conference organisers. Note that equipment availability is limited and significant unusual technical requirements may restrict the possibility of acceptance of the work unless detailed plans are provided.
  • Locations that may be used for installations will be published on the conference website shortly.

Submission will be by the easychair submission system (please visit the CC13 website). If there are a large number of attachments then please submit as a zipped folder with your surname, followed by the submission title as the folder name. If your files are larger than 100mb, please provide a link to the files on a storage service in your submission notes (eg. Dropbox etc.), rather than submitting huge files.

CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
We also invite WORKSHOP PROPOSALS to be presented on the day preceding the full conference (17th June 2013):
Workshops offer an informal environment for attendees with common interests and diverse perspectives to engage in rich discussions around works in progress or new areas of research and practice. Workshops can relate to, but are not limited to, the topics of the conference (see the Call for Participation for an overview), and are a good opportunity to explore a specialised interest or interdisciplinary topic with greater time for in depth discourse, debate and collaboration. Admission to workshops and tutorials will be charged separately from the main conference.

Submit 500-1,000 word PDF proposal addressing the following:

  • Clearly state the title, topic.
  • The anticipated audience and expected number of participants.
  • Proposed channels for promoting and marketing your workshop/proposal.
  • Name(s) of proposer(s)/submitter(s).
  • Indicate venue requirements and especially note any hardware/software requirements (computer lab, tools, workshop, software applications). Please indicate if there are any safety implications (eg. soldering) that may need health and safety compliance.
  • If you require any technical or specialist equipment, indicate clearly if you will be supplying/bringing it yourself or whether other arrangements need to be made.
  • Specify whether you would like a half-day or full-day time-slot
  • Include 1 paragraph bio & affiliation for each workshop organiser(s) and 2-paragraph background relating to proposed topic.  Please use the SIG CHI Extended Abstract format: http://chi2012.acm.org/cfp-formatting-instructions.shtml

Also note:

  • Workshop proposers should engage in the promotion of their event amongst own networks and on mailing lists. The workshop will also be publicised on the conference website.
  • We will give preference to workshops that focus on community building and communal knowledge creation rather than structured miniature paper presentation sessions
  • Workshop proposer(s) are responsible for organising the publication of any workshop proceedings if desired.
  • Workshops may be cancelled or combined if there is insufficient participation

The deadline for submission of workshop proposals is January the 12th, 2013. Notifications will be sent by the 1st of February.

Proposals should be submitted to the Workshops Chair through the easychair system, see the website for details.

Symposium on Music and Language: I. Development

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Title: Symposium on Music and Language: I. Development
Location: Montreal, Canade
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2013-05-03
End Date: 2013-05-04

The symposium will be our first annual meeting on the comparison between music and language. This comparison is the core interest of our newly formed consortium of researchers working in the area of language and music in Quebec (www.crblm.ca). In line with the interdisciplinary seminars and workshops organized by Ian Cross and colleagues in the UK during 2010-2011 and dedicated to the relationship between language and music, these Montreal-based annual meetings aim to push the boundaries beyond the traditional partition of language and music. In 2013, we aim to explore overlap and divergence between language and music in development. While research has been conducted into the development of musical abilities in children, or music perception in infants, the question of the relationship between language development and aspects of musicality has not been (much) investigated. In the symposium, we aim to identify specific research questions, which could lead to empirical investigation.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Nina Kraus (Northwestern University)
  • Jenny Saffran (University of Wisconsin)
  • Laurel Trainor (McMaster University)
  • David Poeppel (New York University)
  • Ani Patel (Tufts University)
  • Linda Polka (McGill University)
  • Sandra Trehub (University of Toronto and University of Montreal)
  • Fred Genessee (McGill University)
  • Lucie Ménard (University of Quebec at Montreal)

Round table on sensitive periods

Chair: Virginia Penhune

Participants: Etienne de Villers, Denise Klein, Laurel Trainor, Jenny Saffran

There will be a call for posters and for short oral presentations

Organizing committee: Isabelle Peretz, Vince Gracco, Lucie Ménard and Laetitia Cremona.

info@brams.umontreal.ca

http://www.crblm.ca/news/save_date

The second international conference of CMPCP’s Performance Studies Network

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Title: The second international conference of CMPCP’s Performance Studies Network
Location: University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2013-04-04
End Date: 2013-04-07

Ninety-seven speakers will present their work during the four-day conference, with sessions on such diverse topics as:

  • Vocal practices
  • Improvisation
  • Creative resistance
  • History and/of performance
  • Embodiment
  • Practice, rehearsal, experimentation
  • Reading notation, scores, works
  • Analysis and/or performance
  • Rhythm, metre and musical time
  • Performers and recordings
  • Instruments and collaborations
  • Experiencing sound
  • Touch, gesture and shape
  • Communication and collaboration
  • The practice of piano performance
  • Developing musicians

The programme will also feature sessions convened by CMPCP project leaders.

On 5 April, a conference dinner will be held at St John’s College, and on 6 April a keynote workshop featuring performers from the Britten Sinfonia will take place, followed by a concert for conference delegates. There will be live performances during many of the conference sessions.

To register for the Performance Studies Network conference, please use the online sales system at www.cmpcp.ac.uk/conference2.html. Further information about the conference is available from the CMPCP Coordinator, David Mawson (dgm41@cam.ac.uk).

Conference Programme Committee: John Rink (Chair), Eric Clarke, Nicholas Cook, Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, Tina K. Ramnarine

The AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice

(CMPCP) was launched in October 2009, with a five-year research programme focused on live musical performance and creative music-making. The Centre is undertaking five research projects with associated workshops, in addition to awarding Visiting Fellowships and three doctoral studentships. CMPCP’s international Performance Studies Network fosters collaborative research between scholars and performers.