Agenda Overview
1. Presentations: Composers and performers will showcase their work with DMIs, share their creative process, challenges faced, and innovative solutions.
2. Coffee break
3. Interactive Stations: Following the presentations, we'll set up interactive stations. Attendees can get hands-on experience, ask questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the instruments. This interactive segment is aimed at sparking interest and future engagement in DMI composition and performance.
Schedule
10:00 - 10:30 am: Tommy Davis, Maryse Legault, Vincent Cusson, Kasey Pocius – eTube
10:30 - 10:50 am: Benjamin Lavastre – Karlax
10:50 - 11:10 am: Kasey Pocius – T-Stick
11:10 - 11:30 am: Gaël Moriceau – T-Stick
11:30 - 11:45 am: Coffee Break
11:45am - 1:00 pm: Interactive Stations
Abstracts
Tommy Davis, Maryse Legault, Vincent Cusson, Kasey Pocius – eTube
3tube: co-composing for an infra-instrument, fixed media and agent software explores our group process of composing a new comprovised work for three eTubes. This work has required the construction of a tenor saxophone and bass clarinet eTubes, the adaptation of new agent software, and fixed media composition. This project has also allowed us to challenge our conceptions of what eTube practice is. By including new performers clarinetist Maryse Legault and saxophonist Greg Bruce, we are learning from their performance practices on the new eTube models.
Please bring your own mouthpiece to try the tube!
Benjamin Lavastre – Karlax
What would a musical world be like if the Karlax digital instrument were an option for a composer?
In this presentation, I will try to imagine a musical environment in which it would be possible to write for Karlax in the same way as today a composer decides to write for flute or piano. What directions would this musical world have taken? More virtual, more electronics? More theatre, gestures? What would be the consequences and influences on writing for acoustic instruments? In other words, what would be the habitus of listening, interpretation and composition? Finally, what kind of teaching?
Kasey Pocius – T-Stick
This talk will cover my T-Stick practice since 2019, including pieces for solo T-Stick, T-Stick and agent software, and T-Stick in the context of small and large ensemble works. I will situate these works within the larger perspective of established T-Stick practice, in dialogue with advancements to the T-Stick hardware and software over the years. I will then present my latest patch, fusing elements from my recent research interests like analysis-based spatialization, improvising agents, and corpus-based concatenative synthesis.
Gaël Moriceau – T-Stick
Performing a piece from the T-Stick repertoire
In this presentation, I will share my experience as a novice T-Stick performer and composer, with a focus on the challenges faced while attempting to perform a piece from the T-Stick repertoire. I will explore the main aspects of instrument-building: interface design, mapping, and sound synthesis. Emphasizing the importance of documentation in areas such as score, playing techniques, and understanding the composer's intentions, I will also provide suggestions for composers to improve the longevity of their pieces.
Bios
Benjamin Lavastre – McGill
Benjamin Lavastre is composer, guitarist and researcher. He is currently pursuing a PhD in composition at Schulich School of Music at McGill University. His research focuses on the interactions between digital music instruments especially the Karlax and acoustic instruments. He obtained a master in mixed composition at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland
Kasey Pocius - McGill
Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Kasey Pocius is a gender-fluid intermedia artist located in Montreal who grew up experimenting with multimedia software while also pursuing classical training in both viola and piano. Outside of fixed electronic works, they have also pursued mixed-media performances with live electronics, both as a soloist and in comprovisatory collaborative environments. They are particularly interested in multichannel spatialization, and how this can be used in group improvisatory experiences. They are a student researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL).
Tommy Davis - McGill
Tommy Davis embraces a versatile career in music. He is driven by the desire to collaborate with interdisciplinary artists in media-based and co-composed projects and to share the results within his community and abroad. Tommy is currently a doctoral candidate and SSHRC doctoral fellow at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music under the tutelage of Marie-Chantal Leclair. His research investigates live electronic music performance and computer improvisation through a research-creation project called eTu{d,b}e. He is a student researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL).
Maryse Legault
Maryse Legault received her master’s degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag in June 2017, specializing in historical clarinet performance in the studio of Eric Hoeprich. The first graduate from Quebec in the field of historical clarinets, Maryse is specializing her research in the virtuoso phenomenon of the turn of the 19th century. She has written the first comprehensive biography of the 18th-century international clarinetist Josef Beer (1744-1812) and is currently pursuing a PhD in musicology at McGill University. Since 2020, she creates music using controllers and synthesizers under the pseudonym maschinenmensch, and is an active member of Weather Vane, a collective for augmented winds.
Vincent Cusson - UQAM
Their projects investigate generative, immersive, and interactive audio in various inter-disciplinary art installations and performances. They completed a Bachelor’s in Interactive Media at UQAM and have been assistant researcher for six years at nxi gestatio design lab (NXI). In fall 2019, they began a master’s degree in Music Technology at McGill and in 2023 a doctorate in Study and Practice of the Arts at UQAM. They are collaborating on different projects with people from Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL).
Gaël Moriceau – Université de Montréal
Gaël Moriceau is a Master student in Music composition and sound creation at Université de Montréal (UdeM). His research consists in developing playing techniques for Digital Musical Instruments (DMI) such as the T-Stick and composing electroacoustic pieces for small DMI ensembles. The objective is to expand DMI’s repertoire, develop their use among performers and thus ensure their perennity. Gaël is also a student affiliate at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and a collaborator at Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL).
Registration and call for presentations
Potential presenters are invited to submit their proposals through the registration page with the the following information:
- author(s) name and affiliation
- title
- short abstract (max. of 100 words)