BCMR Synthesis Conference Program & Abstracts

Berkeley Computational Music Research (BCMR) invites you to our first annual conference, entitled Synthesis: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Computational Music Research. The conference will take place on Saturday, September 28 from 9am-6pm at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT).

BCMR Synthesis Conference RSVP

Berkeley Computational Music Research (BCMR) invites you to our first annual conference, entitled Synthesis: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Computational Music Research. The conference will take place on Saturday, September 28 from 9am-6pm at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT). Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Space is limited to 40 participants, so advance RSVP is required.

The deluge of computational techniques developed over the last decade has had a transformative impact in all areas of academic and industrial research. The goal of this conference is to explore potential applications for the integration of these techniques into interdisciplinary music research. This year’s theme, synthesis, emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together scholars with interests in music studies and computational methods. It encourages music researchers and computer scientists to initiate dialogue that will provide radical new insights into the most pressing questions across disciplines.

Speakers include:

Claire Arthur, Music Theory and Cognitive Musicology, Georgia Tech
Carmine Cella, Composition, UC Berkeley
Kevin Dahan, Music Technology, De Montfort University
Elena Georgieva, Music Technology, Stanford CCRMA
Jon Gillick, School of Information, UC Berkeley
Melanie Hamaguchi, Project IRENE, UC Berkeley
Justin Salamon, Audio Research Group, Adobe Research
Leslie Tilley, Ethnomusicology, MIT

2019 Call for Submissions

Berkeley Computational Music Research (BCMR) invites proposals for our first annual conference, entitled Synthesis: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Computational Music Research. The conference will take place on Saturday, September 28 at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT).

The deluge of computational techniques developed over the last decade has had a transformative impact in all areas of academic and industrial research. The goal of this conference is to explore potential applications for the integration of these techniques into interdisciplinary music research. This year’s theme, synthesis, emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together scholars with interests in music studies and computational methods. It encourages music researchers and computer scientists to initiate dialogue that will provide radical new insights into the most pressing questions across disciplines. Projects may explore, for instance, potential applications of computational techniques such as signal processing, data science, or machine learning in the context of ethnographic research and music studies.

Presenters need not discuss conclusive results; rather, they are encouraged to contextualize their work within their respective fields of study, to make their work accessible to a diverse audience, and to suggest potential interdisciplinary collaborations.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Applications of signal processing techniques to rhythm, timbre, melody, and movement Musical and ethnographic applications of big data techniques Sonic, visual, and tactile representations of music Computational musical analysis across cultures Cognitive musicology How people engage with technologies

Submission Guidelines

Please submit a 300-word abstract and a brief CV by clicking the "submit" button below. Be sure to include your email, name, affiliation, and AV requirements, and write "Synthesis Conference Submission" in the subject line. Proposals may include up to four extra pages for figures, as well as links to supplementary materials such as sound recordings.

Possible formats include papers and multimedia presentations. Please plan for a 20 minute presentation with 10 minutes of discussion. The deadline for submission is August 1, 2019. Presenters will be notified of acceptance by August 24.

The submission period for 2019 has now closed.