Workshop on timbre and computer-aided composition with Joshua Fineberg

This workshop is organized by Research Axis 4 (Expanded Musical Practice) and will be held in A832, on 8th floor of the New Music Building of McGill University. This event is also a McGill Doctoral Colloquium, therefore it does not require registration and is open to all.

Description

The three talks in this workshop address various aspects of contemporary compositional practice and its engagement with the musical parameter of timbre. The introductory talk, by McGill composer Philippe Leroux, explores the interplay between tools for computer-aided composition and the creative process. Joshua Fineberg's “Fictional voices: The epi-phenomenology of illusory sounds” examines the idea of the musical work as a “sonic fiction,” and describes his use of spectral envelope modification and hybridization to create sounds with ambiguous and variable mixtures of properties. Finally, Kai Siedenburg's presentation offers an empirical view of the factors affecting memory of musical timbres, including the effects on timbral memory of pitch variability, timbral similarity, and long-term knowledge of timbres.

Guests

  • Joshua Fineberg, Boston University
  • Philippe Leroux, Schulich School of Music, CIRMMT
  • Kai Siedenberg, Schulich School of Music, CIRMMT

Schedule

  • 3:45-4:15 Philippe Leroux: “Computer-aided composition and poetics: what relationship?”
  • 4:15-4:45 Joshua Fineberg: “Fictional voices: The epi-phenomenology of illusory sounds”
  • 4:45-5:30 Kai Siedenburg: “Empirical perspectives on memory for musical timbre”