CNMAT Previous Calendar Events

Psyche Loui
Graduate Student, Psychology

"Learning New Musical Grammars"

An important question to music cognition, and to the psychology of learning in general, concerns whether and how the human brain can develop expectations and preferences for sounds in the auditory environment. I will present several studies that investigate the learning of a novel system of musical sounds. The system is based on the Bohlen-Pierce scale, a microtonal system tuned differently from the traditional Western scale. Chord progressions and melodies were composed in this scale as legal exemplars of two sets of grammatical rules. Participants listened to melodies in one of the two grammars, and completed learning-assessment tests which include forced-choice recognition and generalization, pre- and post-exposure probe tone ratings, and subjective preference ratings. Results suggest that given exposure to a small number of melodies, listeners recognized and preferred melodies they had heard, but when exposed to a sufficiently large set of melodies, listeners were able to generalize their recognition to previously-unencountered instances of the familiar grammar. Event-Related Potentials in response to infrequent chords in the new system revealed two negative components, one of which is interpreted as an index of expectancy violation and the other as an attempt at cognitive integration. This pattern of results is very similar to ERPs elicited by unexpected chords in traditional Western music. We conclude that humans can learn new musical grammars, and that musical experience recruits a flexible set of neural mechanisms that can rapidly integrate sensory inputs into preceding contexts.

Four Seasons Concerts presents:

Thomas Buckner, Baritone

Featuring:

Bodies of Music -  (2006) co-composed by David Wessel - live computer-based instrumentation and Thomas Buckner - voice

The title is a play on the double meaning of Bodies:  human bodies as makers of music and large collections of musical material. Rather than using studio prepared sequences, Wessel's approach to computer music involves the composition of the instrument itself. The meaning of gesture, its capture by a touch sensitive interface, the mapping of its parameters to the control of sound structures, and the organization of the musical material are the subjects of this design process.

In tonight's performance the musical material is drawn from a number of sources. It includes the recombination of tiny fragments from Buckner's recorded repertoire, as well a harmonies that are derived in real-time during the course of the performance.

David Wessel and Thomas Buckner began making music together in the mid-60's.

Technical Note: Wessel's controller interface was designed by Don Buchla and provides for continuous polyphonic control. Gestures sensed by the controller are mapped to various compositional algorithms in software written by Wessel in the Max/MSP environment..

Cal Day is the annual campus-wide open house.

CNMAT will be open from 12 noon to 4 p.m., with music/technology demonstrations and opportunities to meet with faculty, composers, students and staff.

Also...

The CNMAT Users Group presents:

The Sound Garden: Hertz Hall, North Courtyard, 12 noon - 3pm

listen closely...the intangible sonic foliage reveals its secrets in a tantalizing mix of the real and the unreal

Produced by the CNMAT Users Group; sculptures by Dawn Frasch
Sonic contributions by: Evelyn Ficarra, Heather Frasch, Jeremy Hunt, Brian Kane, John MacCallum and others

TrioMetrik plays NuRoque Music

Keith McMillen, guitar
Ashley Adams, double bass
Marielle Jakobsons, violin

TrioMetrik is a modern composer's dream come true. -- Paul Dresher, Composer and Musician

The synthesis of man, mind, machine and music is TrioMetrik. TrioMetrik represents twenty-five years of development focused on the successful marriage of enhanced musical instruments with computer driven innovation. It is a sophisticated integration of live instruments, captured audio, synthesis, processing and real-time video. The music is haunting, surprising sometimes challenging and never more than a few bars from humorous. Compositions from Jaron Lanier, Jay Cloidt, and Keith McMillen.

Composer Francois Paris, Director of the Centre Internationale de Recherche Musicale in Nice, France will present a series of lectures on topics related to his music compositions. The lectures are free and open to the public and will will be held at The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), 1750 Arch Street.

Monday, April 24, 2006 3:10-5 p.m.

"Anamorphosis, a new dimension in musical language" (concerning Paris' work with microtonality.

The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players Presents
The Fifth Concert of the 2005-2006 Season:

BLOOD & GLAMOUR
New Music from the City

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 3:10-5 p.m.

"Music and image" (concerning Paris' music for Jean Vigo's film "A Propos de Nice")

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 3:10-5 p.m.

"The instrumental model and its representation (with or without technology)"

Thomas Buckner, baritone
17th annual concert of recently commissioned works

Featuring:

Bodies of Music -  (2006) co-composed by David Wessel - live computer-based instrumentation and Thomas Buckner - voice

UC Davis Technocultural Studies presents:
The UC Improvisors Tour

Mark Dresser, contrabass
Myra Melford, piano
Bob Ostertag, live electronics
David Wessel, live electronics

Each an internationally recognized and acclaimed improviser, Mark Dresser, Myra Melford, and Bob Ostertag joined the University of California faculty in the fall of 2004. Together with electronic musician David Wessel, these musical pioneers fuse acoustic with live computer-based performance in a program demonstrating the excitement and possibilities of the improvised musical medium. Presented in collaboration with CNMAT.

Supported by The University of California's Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA).

Peter Kassakian
Convex Approximation and Optimization with Applications in Magnitude Filter Design and Radiation Pattern Synthesis

Peter writes: In this talk I will present two recent results from my thesis. The first is a
method for designing audio equalizers using convex optimization. I will
present the method emphasizing its flexibility and the convenience gained by
using convex optimization in general. The second result is more abstract, and
is related to solving nonconvex problems by approximating them as convex.
Though such techniques can yield high-quality solutions, they often do not
find the global optimum. I will present a novel result that exploits
complex-value structure in a nonconvex quadratic problem to prove that the
solution accuracy is better than that of a real-valued counterpart. The proof
is simple and self-contained, providing insight into the geometry of these
problems.

Jason Freeman
Assistant Professor, Music Department
Georgia Institute of Technology

Auracle: A Voice-Controlled, Networked Sound Instrument

Auracle is a voice-controlled, networked sound instrument which enables users to control a synthesized instrument with their voice and to interact with each other in real time over the Internet. This paper describes the architecture of the system in detail, including the multi-level analysis of vocal input, the communication of that analysis data across the network, and the mapping of that data onto a software synthesizer.

music + voices + electronics + movement + poetry + music + voices + electronics + movement + poetry + music

Itasca :   a poem for voices & live electronics

on the 1832 journey of Henry Schoolcraft & Oza Windib to the source of the Mississippi River

words by John Shoptaw (UC Berkeley) + music by Eric Sawyer (Amherst College) + choreography by Wendy Woodson

featured performers :                
Ann Moss, soprano
Amalia Martin Dobbins, mezzo-soprano
Rebecca   Howard, contralto
Buddy James, baritone
Eric Sawyer, keyboards

sponsored by :                        
The Consortium for the Arts
The Center for New Music & Audio Technologies (CNMAT)
The Department of English, UC Berkeley

Note: pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.

Ed Large
The Dynamics of Music: 2. Tonality

Ed Large writes: I will introduce a theory of tonality that predicts tonal stability, attraction, and categorization based on the principles of nonlinear resonance. I will argue that perception of tonality is the natural consequence of neural resonance, arising from central auditory nonlinearities. I will describe a network of weakly connected nonlinear oscillators, in which each oscillator is each tuned to a different resonant frequency. Such networks produce nonlinear time-frequency transformations of incoming stimuli. When when stimulated with musical sounds, the result is a tonal percept.

Dr. Edward W. Large is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the NIMH training program in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at Florida Atlantic University. Prior to coming to Florida, Dr. Large was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, and he has also conducted research at Toshiba's Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory in Kawasaki, Japan, and at the Air Force's Armstrong Laboratories. His scientific research addresses questions of how the brain responds to complex, temporally structured sequences of events, such as music and speech. His research employs a synergy of techniques, including dynamical systems modeling, perceptual experiments, neurophysiology (EEG & MEG) and neuroimaging (fMRI). He has authored over forty papers in the area of music perception and cognition, publishing in journals such as Psychological Review, Cognitive Science, Music Perception, Journal of Computational Neuroscience, Cognitive Brain Research and Physica. His research is funded by a is National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and he was recently awarded and Fulbright Scholar Grant.

In Concert: The CNMAT Users Group

Featured performers include:
MARIÉ ABE
HEATHER FRASCH
LISA MEZZACAPPA
JASON LEVI

The ensemble will be performing several structured improvisations; solo, duo, trio and as a quartet.

MARIÉ ABE first started tickling the ivories at the age of three, and studied classical piano performance throughout her teens in Tokyo, Japan, Siena, Italy and Düsseldorf, Germany. In college, she started to explore contemporary piano repertoire with Marcantonio Barone, and also took up composition seriously and studied with Gerald Levinson.

The turning point came to her in the summer of 2003, when she picked up a shiny white accordion. With the accordion on her back, a suitcase in her left hand, and an ice cream cone in her right hand, she traveled throughout Europe to absorb and play as much various accordion musics as possible. Since then, Marié has studied Balkan Roma (gypsy) repertoire with Dan Cantrell and technique with Shibasaki Waka and Henri Ducharme. Eager to depart from her classical piano training, Marié recently started to explore the world of improvisation under the mentorship of Myra Melford with whom she studies composition, arrangement and jazz harmony.

Currently, Marié performs with the indie rock band the Lark, Balkan/Sephardic Trio Al-Ferrabe, acoustic free-improv trio Smirkers, Japonize Elephants and Four Flea Circus.

HEATHER FRASCH, a native of Philadelphia, just returned to the United States to pursue her doctorate in composition from UC Berkeley, from France where she lived as an expatriate for the past seven years. She received her Medaille d‚Argent in composition and electro-acoustic music from the Conservatoire Nationale de Region de Lyon where she studied with Professor Christophe Maudot and Stephane Borrell. Before her sejourn in Lyon, she lived in Paris where she took private lessons with Betsy Jolas and Yoshishia Taira. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in flute performance from Temple University. Ensembles locate in France, Holland and the US has performed her music. She has received commissions from the New Piano Quartet, based in Boston, and Fiati Complesso, based in Utrecht, Holland.

LISA MEZZACAPPA is an Oakland-based doublebassist and improviser. She has studied with Michael Formanek, Henry Threadgill, Ralph Alessi and Steve Coleman, and has performed and workshopped with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Meredith Monk, Bob Moses, Myra Melford, Art Baron, Terry Riley, David Murray, Jerry Bergonzi and Clark Terry, among others. Lisa has performed extensively in Bay Area and New York City music venues and performance spaces, and has played festivals and theaters throughout the United States, including Milwaukee Summerfest, the Earshot Jazz Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival, Canada. She has also toured in Japan, and performs in Italy this summer. She was artist-in-residence at the Banff International Jazz Workshop (2000), and holds an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Berkeley (2003). This spring, she is artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA.

Current and recent projects and collaborations include duo B., a drums and bass duo with Jason Levis; the new music groups Walnut Chamber Ensemble and Heftpistole; the trombone reggae band Joseph's Bones; the structured-improvisation ensemble Model Band; Aaron Novik's minimalist psychedelia project Kipple and his chamber pop band Floating World; the improvising bass quartet the Transbass Ensemble; Jeff Ray's electro-folk project Extraordinary Forest; the improv trio Ghostcandle Derby; the Balkan-jazz fusion group Four Flea Circus; Micha Patri's Wailing Junk Symphony for the Most High; and performances with jazz-pop singer Pyeng Threadgill and sixties folk-pop sensation Donovan.

In addition to her work as a performer, Lisa also works as a music educator and independent music curator in the San Francisco Bay Area.

JASON LEVIS has been playing drums since 1995. As a composer, arranger and bandleader, he works with a full roster of bands packed with Bay Area improvisational talent, including duo B, a drums and bass duo with Lisa Mezzacappa, the angular chamber jazz ensemble Heftpistole; the texturally-driven new music group the Walnut Chamber Ensemble; the nine piece instrumental reggae band Joseph's Bones; and the original jazz groups Blowout and Married Couple.

In addition to his many projects as bandleader, Jason also performs with Bay Area singer/songwriter Sean Hayes, the klezmer group the Maccabeats (sometimes known as the Yiddiots), Bill Noertker's Moxie, sixties pop star Donovan, the Larks and the quartet Four Flea Circus.

Levis has studied composition with pianist/composer Art Lande, improviser/composers Henry Threadgill and Myra Melford, and contemporary music composers Cindy Cox, Edwin Dugger and Jorge Liderman. He earned a BA in music from Naropa University, Boulder, CO where he wrote his thesis on the connection between improvisation and meditation and held the high honor of speaking on behalf of his graduating class of 1999 at graduation. He is currently a PhD student in composition at the University of California, Berkeley studying with Edmund Campion researching new forms of structured improvisation in composition.

At the upcoming "Northern Lights” concert, DSSQ will perform:
the world premiere of String Quartet No. 2, "Nostalgia" (2006), by Ronald Bruce Smith.
"As You Pass On a Reflective Surface” (1991) by Linda Catlin Smith,
String Quartet No. 3 (1981) by R. Murray Schafer;
“Spanish Garland --12 Folk Melodies from Spain” (1993) by José Evangelista.