daemon@BARTOK.ENG.SUN.COM (10/27/89)
Music-Research Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 Volume 4 : Issue 66
Today's Topics:
Institutions offering research in Computers and Music
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Date: 24 Oct 89 05:26:38 GMT
From: Steven Abrams <cs!abrams@edu.columbia>
Subject: Institutions offering research in Computers and Music
To: music-research@uk.ac.oxford.prg
First, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to answer my
question on computer music research. I got such an overwhelming
response that I haven't even been able to respond to everyone. But,
I'm digesting the information slowly and have gotten a few extra ideas
on where to apply and who to speak to. Since a lare number of people
asked to get copies of my responses, I decided to repost them to the
net.
First, a summary of what I heard, if you haven't the patience to read
through the next few hundred lines.
The Center for Compuer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford
(CCRMA) gets very high marks from everyone, with names like John
Chowning, Max Matthews, John Pierce, Julius Smith and David Jaffe,
people involved in various phases of computer music ranging from the
development of FM synthesis to the NeXT Music Kit.
The MIT Media Lab also has very nice stuff going on -- certainly worth
the look. Northwestern apparently has a program that has an uncertain
future. Berkely supposedly has something coming due to David Wessel,
but I haven't gotten any details. I plan on e-mailing him something
to find out, and I'll post any interesting responses.
Aside from that, there is U of Illinois, and Carnegie Mellon. Roger
Dannenberg from CMU is doing some very interesting research in music
understanding, and I was surprised that I didn't hear more of him from
the rest of the net.world. I included one of his correspondences with
me about what he is doing.
If anyone has any other information, or if you don't see your school
here and would like to, let me know and I'll repost more info.
So, here goes:
~~Steve
/*************************************************
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*Steven Abrams abrams@cs.columbia.edu
*
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To: Steve Abrams <abrams@cs.columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Graduate Computer Music Research
In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 12 Oct 89 15:55:31 -0400.
<CMM.0.88.624225331.abrams@cs.columbia.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 89 08:42:52 EDT
Message-Id: <15328.624285772@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Roger.Dannenberg@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU
Steve,
My definition of music understanding is the recognition of structure
or pattern in music. My current interests are using it to augment the
performance capabilities of computer music systems. For example, I have
constructed systems that follow live musicians in a score and synchronize
accompaniments and that follow a solo trumpet player improvising the blues.
In this case the system figures out the tempo and where the player is in
the chord progression. Current work (like the "foot tapper" program) is
trying to achieve higher reliability.
Another project seems consistent with your interests in sound
models. Spectral Interpolation Synthesis is a new technique developed
here where we characterize sounds as slowly evolving spectra. One way to
think about this is that we are sampling in the spectral domain rather
than the time domain. The advantages include data compression and the
ability to compute spectral trajectories directly from control information
so that performance nuances like phrasing, articulation variations, and
vibrato can be modelled more faithfully.
We get about 700 applicants and accept around 30, so GRE's etc.
tend to be pretty high. On the other hand we try to look at the whole
picture and not just the numbers, so it's hard to say what we expect. I
don't know any averages for the current class.
I'll be here through December except for Dec 6 and 7. My wife
is having a baby in mid-Jan, so we're not going anywhere.
-Roger
From: byron%pyr@gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff)
Message-Id: <8910171210.AA15786@pyr.gatech.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Finding graduate schools
Newsgroups: comp.music
In-Reply-To: <ABRAMS.89Oct16155312@cs.columbia.edu>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
In article <ABRAMS.89Oct16155312@cs.columbia.edu> you write:
[About graduate schools in computer music]
I'm having some of the same thoughts. Here's something that
came through a few months ago.
Send me any new info you get please. I'd appreciate it.
BAJ
-----------------------Begin included text------------------------------
>
>I am a musician trapped in the body of a CEE student, and more than anything
>I want to graduate from this place and pursue studies in computer music.
>Would you please pass any computer music education information that comes
>your way over to me? I would really really really really appreciate it.
>
This same question was posted a month or so ago, but I am replying anew
because I have since compiled a list of institutions with computer music.
First of all, here are a few things to understand, and a few disclaimers.
I said before that I knew of no graduate program *specifically* in com-
puter music, that it was much more common to have a series of courses de-
signed for graduate music majors, or perhaps an "emphasis" as in the pro-
grams at Stanford and UCSD. Of course these programs require that you be
accepted as a music major. I was corrected by someone who said that North-
western had a computer music masters program, but that its future is uncertain.
The following list is by no means complete, and I am not recommending any
of these institutions over any others. I trust others will follow with
more information. The first list includes schools and institutions with
some kind of organized research facility which MAY OR MAY NOT be part of
an academic department, offer courses, or confer degrees of some kind. The
second list includes some schools which offer some kinds of courses that
include computer music involving computer music languages on a general
purpose computer (i.e. not just synthesizers).
Research and Other Computer Music Institutions
1. Center for Comuter Music: Brooklyn College, SUNY.
2. Center for Computer Music Composition: University of California at
Santa Barbara.
3. Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA): Stanford
University.
4. Center for Contemporary Music (CCM): Mills College.
5. Center for New Music and Audio Technologies: University of California at
Berkeley.
6. Center for Performing Arts and Technology (CPAT): University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor.
7. Il Centro di sonologia computazionale [Center of Computational Sonology]:
Universitie di Padova [University of Padua].
8. Computer Audio Research Laboratory (CARL)/Center for Music Experiment (CME):
University of California at San Diego.
9. Experimental Music Center/Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory
(CERL): University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
10. Group de musique experimentale de Marseille. (Research and creative
institution only, not associated with a University).
11. Institute de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM):
Paris. (Research and creative institution only, not associated with a
University).
12. The Media Laboratory, Experimental Music Studio: Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
13. Northwestern Computer Music: Northwestern University.
14. Sonology Institute: Utrecht, the Netherlands.
15. Sound Synthesis Studios: Ohio State University.
16. Studio per l'Informatica Musicale (SIM): Rome.
17. Systems Complex for the Studio and Performing Arts (SYCOM): University of
North Texas.
18. Technology in Music and Related Arts program (TIMARA): Oberlin College.
19. University of Toronto.
Some Other Institutions with Computer Music Courses and Related Curricula
1. The Banff Centre: Banff, Canada.
2. Carnegie-Mellon University.
3. CDMC: Madrid.
4. Center for Knowledge Technology: Utrecht School of the Arts.
5. Columbia University.
6. Eastman School of Music.
7. Istituto Tempo Reale: Florence, Italy.
8. McGill University.
9. New York University.
10. Princeton University.
11. Queens College, CUNY.
12. Queen's University.
13. Simon Fraser University.
14. University of Cardiff.
15. University of Indiana, Bloomington.
16. University of Iowa.
17. University of Montreal.
18. University of Pittsburgh.
19. University of Texas at Austin
20. University of Victoria.
21. York University.
Bill Alves
USC School of Music / Center for Scholarly Technology
--
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
Internet: byron@pyr.gatech.edu uucp: ...!gatech!pyr!byron
[Note -- I did receive a copy of Bill Alves original posting as well.]
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1989 9:57:37 CDT
From: John Eichenseer <hatter@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: graduate
Message-Id: <CMM.0.88.624639457.hatter@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu>
I am an undergrad at the Univ of Texas at Austin, and while they
offer some great coursework and graduate studies in electronic and computer
music, they do not offer a dedicated degree. In other words, you would have
to get a degree in composition or something.
I, also, am very interested in what's out there, so if you could echo
to me anything you find out, I would deeply appreciate it.
Thanks,
John Eichenseer
Comp sci./music
hatter@walt.cc.utexas.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 11:57:51 CDT
From: Bill Parod <parod@acns.nwu.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: Finding Graduate Schools
Message-Id: <8910171157.aa17464@acns.acns.nwu.edu>
I'm interested in the responses you receive.
I'm currently a part time student in a "Computer
Studies in Music" MS at NU. The program is interdisciplinary, meaning
you pick and chose from other departmental courses to assemble a
program of 4 core, 2 + 2 + 2 + 5 courses and a thesis. The core courses
are computer music, the other four categories are:
1) AI
2) Music
3) Computer Systems and Signal Processing
4) Perception and Psychoacoustics.
Which category you concentrate in (5 courses) is up to you.
The quality of the program depends somewhat on what you put together and
the quality of faculty that your arrangement might employ.
*But*, I understand that currently they are not taking students. The
director of the CM Studio here and most of his students have started a
company with his/their research. It's not clear if he's coming back
or what. The Music school has recently hired another CM composer. We'll
see what happens when he arrives.
Also this is just a MS, not a PhD. However the music school, of course
has a PhD program, and it is possible to do a EECS PhD in a CM application
area.
Thing are rather too unstable right now to recommend the MS program. If you
want more info let me know.
Again, I am interested in other responses you may have received, please
forward.
Thanks,
Bill Parod
Advanced Technologies Group
Academic Computing & Network Services
Northwestern University
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 13:23:09 -0400
From: kussmaul@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Clifton Kussmaul)
Message-Id: <8910171723.AA16638@eleazar.dartmouth.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: your usenet request for grad school information
Steven,
I majored in Engineering (BS) and Music (BA) at Swarthmore
College, and did a lot of Computer Science there as well. Noone at
Swarthmore was doing computer music, but I did a couple of independent
projects on my own. I am now in a Master's program in Electroacoustic
Music at Dartmouth College, directed by Jon Appleton. The program is
actually run by the music department, but we can take classes in
computer science and engineering (Dartmouth has grad programs in
both). The structure is fairly open, making it possible to tailor the
program to one's background and interest. The program only takes
three students a year, and provides each student with financial
support (of the first three students, two work at NED and I run the
music studio). Applicants should have a bachelor's degree in one of
{engin, cs, music}, and program requirements include 6 proseminars in
music and technology, one psych of music course, one acoustics course,
2 CS courses, 3 engin courses, 3 electives, and a thesis. Since
students can have a wide range of backgrounds and interests, the
requirements are pretty flexible.
I decided to come here because I wasn't ready to commit to a PhD
yet, and two years seemed like a reasonable investment to see if this
was really something I liked. I'm not sure what I'll do when I finish
here, but more grad school (in CS or engineering or electronic music)
is not out of the question, so I'd like to hear about any other
responses you get.
If you'd like more info on the program here, contact me or write:
Graduate Program
Department of Music, Hopkins Center
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
Other places I've heard good things about as far as
music/technology activites include Stanford - CCRMA (Center for
Computer Research in Music Applications?), MIT, and a big center in
France (IRCAM? ) Hopefully you'll get some responses from some of
them directly, since I don't know much about them.....
Two upcoming events in NYC you should already know about - the
Audio Engineering Show this coming weekend, and New Music America
sometime in November at NYU. SEAMUS (Society for Electroacoustic
Music in the US) will be meeting during New Music America, and a bunch
of us will be coming down for both events.
If I can be of other assistance, let me know, and please do send
me any information you collect. Good luck!
Clif Kussmaul
Department of Music, Hopkins Center
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
voicemail: 603-646-2530
email: kussmaul@u2.dartmouth.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 11:25:51 PDT
From: Sean Varah <cello@jessica.Stanford.EDU>
Message-Id: <8910171825.AA27239@jessica.Stanford.EDU>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Finding graduate schools
Newsgroups: comp.music
In-Reply-To: <ABRAMS.89Oct16155312@cs.columbia.edu>
Organization: Stanford University
If you want a really good computer science department plus a good computer
music school, I can't think of a better place than Stanford.
CCRMA (or the Center to Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) is one
of two of the best known schools of computer music, the other being
IRCAM in France. Their faculty list reads like a Computer Music textbook:
John Chowning: the father of FM synthesis
Max Matthews: THE founder of computer music
John Pierce: Another father of computer music, also from Bell Labs.
Julius Smith and David Jaffe, the people who basically designed hte
NeXT Music Kit.
In addition, the computer science department at Stanford is excellent,
which, paired with Stanford's location in the middle of Silicon Valley,
makes it an ideal place to study, keep up with technology, learn from
great teachers, and then have an open door to a job when you get out.
I suggest you check it out
Sean Varah
AIR Stanford--
******************************************************************************
"It's just full of blatant tonality"
Sean Varah, AIR Stanford, cello@jessica.stanford.edu, (415) 723-5297
******************************************************************************
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 22:02:29 PST
From: rand%sdcarl@ucsd.edu (Rand Steiger)
Message-Id: <8910180602.AA17565@sdcarl.UCSD.EDU>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: grad school
Greetings. I saw your posting on comp.music. I am on the faculty of UC
San Diego. I can't tell you much about CS, but our Music Dept. has a
history of research in computer music at the Center for Music Experiment
under the direction of F. Richard Moore. CME is an organized research
unit supported by the University and grants. It features the CARL
computer system where C Music was developed. Current research includes
the development of a real-time computer music system.
Department facilities include a network of Sun workstations, two
midi based studios, and a new state of the art recording studio.
Drop me a note if you want more information, or contact our admissions
dept. at 619-534-3160.
By the way, David Wessel is indeed starting something up at Berkeley. You
can reach him as wessel@jade.berkely.edu (I think). Good Luck!
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 08:58:10 PDT
From: penrose@hoder.css.gov (Chris Penrose)
Message-Id: <8910181558.AA00872@hoder.css.gov>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: computer music graduate schools
I'm an undergraduate as well who is planning to go to grad school
(for a PhD in composition) and study computer music. Although my
focus is composition, I can indicate the schools that I am interested
in. It is quite true that David Wessel has started a computer music
research facility at UCB. It's graduate C.S. department is also rated
as the best in the country by some. CCMRA at Stanford University is
fairly well-endowed and they also have a respected C.S. department.
MIT certainly has an excellent C.S. department and Barry Vercoe heads
a substantial music research program; however, I have heard from multiple
sources that Vercoe is an asshole and that the atmosphere at MIT in terms
of music can be extremely close-minded and devoid of aesthetic.
I am currently enrolled at UCSD and have access to quite a range of
facilities. Again the C.S. department at UCSD is respected and we have
quite an excellent linguistics department. Mark Dolson is a linguistics
researcher actively engaged in the application of neural networks to music.
Also, the music department at UCSD is quite active in its own right.
Although the interests of technology are substantially funded and have
fairly reasonable coursework, computer music is somewhat feared by many
faculty in the music department. I intend to attend Princeton University
if I am accepted. Many other schools outweigh Princeton in terms of
facilities and research; however, my interest is composition--and the
music department at Princeton respects and facilitates composition before
any other activity. I am also applying to Brooklyn College (home of
Charles Dodge and his anti-MIDI crusaders), and Mills college: both for
their compositional emphasis. If you are considering research, I would
look very closely at Stanford University. It has an extremely well-
developed curriculum, and it still receives considerable funding from
its Yamaha patents. If you haven't planned to do so, you should look
into to attending the International Computer Music Conference at Ohio-
State University Nov. 2.-5. (1989). I am also quite interested in what
you hear from others.
Christopher Penrose
penrose@do.ucsd.edu
penrose@winnie.princeton.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 10:02:59 MDT
Message-Id: <8910181602.AA24170@NMSU.Edu>
Received: by hades (3.2/NMSU)
id AA22193; Wed, 18 Oct 89 10:02:59 MDT
To: abrams@demo.cs.columbia.edu (Steven Abrams)
In-Reply-To: abrams@demo.columbia.edu's message of 17 Oct 89 17:36:16 GMT
Subject: Finding graduate schools
We're starting a group here at NMSU (Roger Hartley is the head)
Also, there's stuff at Northwestern (they offer an MS in Computer
Music), CCRMA (sp?) at Stanford, and of course the MIT media lab.
One field that's just taking off is Cognitive Musicology. Some
proponents of that include Otto Laske, David Cope, and Barry Vercoe.
Also Charles Dodge does a lot of work with music and fractals.
Hope this helps.
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 09:58:14 EDT
From: soi!sun2!chip@harvard.harvard.edu (Chip Morris)
Message-Id: <8910181358.AA01310@sun2.soi.com>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: Finding graduate schools
Newsgroups: comp.music
Steve: You might consider Stanford. Used to be a leader in
computer/music stuff. I was an undergrad there and the music scene
was pretty active. Of course, the comp sci is good.... Also, it's a
real country club. Unless it all fell down last night!
---
Chip Morris, Senior Engineer
Software Options, Inc., 22 Hilliard St., Cambridge MA 02138 (617) 497-5054
chip%soi@harvard.harvard.edu or ...!harvard!soi!chip
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 22:38:38 -0700
From: Richard Karpen <karpen@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Message-Id: <8910190538.AA21554@blake.acs.washington.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: grad schools
I'm a composer on the faculty at Univ. of Wash. in Seattle. I am a graduate
ot Stanford Univ. and worked extensively at the Center for Computer Research
in Music and Acoustics. You should find get info about going to Stanford it
you are interested in Computer Music since it is one of the best places to
work in this field anywhere. Of course the CS department there is a famous
one and many people at CCRMA also work in CS, EE, and the Medical School as
well.
Richard Karpen: karpen@blake.acs.washington.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 19:05:04 -0500
From: Carla Scaletti <scaletti@cerl.uiuc.edu>
Message-Id: <8910220005.AA00883@novamail.cerl.uiuc.edu>
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Subject: U of I and Computer Music
This is in response to your request for information on various
grad schools where one might get a degree in computer music.
You asked about the University of Illinois, so I thought I
would pass along what my experiences have been.
I got a doctorate in composition from the school of music here
as well as a masters in computer science. My general advice
about the U of I would be that it is the perfect place for a
person who is independent and self-directed. There is a lot
going on here, and there are a lot of opportunities, but you
have to be willing to seek them out on your own.
As for my own experience at the U of I, it was fantastic! But I am
the kind of person who knew exactly what I wanted to do for my
research, had to be coerced into consulting my adviser on anything,
and whose favorite hobby was wandering into various departmental
seminars on topics I knew nothing about...just to see what was
going on.
Anyone who looks forward to having a close working relationship with
a mentor, or who would like to be supported for their research in
computer music (and not for teaching) might not like the atmosphere
at the U of I. It is a big research multiversity, the classes are
large, and you are left pretty much on your own.
You can do a DMA with a heavy emphasis on computer music in the
school of music, and there are a couple of C.S. professors who
would allow you to do a Ph.D. related to music, although they
probably would *not* support you financially unless you also
worked on their projects. But there are all sorts of possibilities:
the complex systems and AI groups at the Beckmand Institute, the
psychoacoustics labs, the National Center for Supercomputing
"renaissance teams", the EE department's signal processing group,
the CERL music group. None of these is a sure thing, but they are
possibilities that could be explored.
If you would like to contact some professors with specific questions
about funding, you could try Professor Beauchamp in the school of
music (James Beauchamp), Larry Rendell in the CS department, or
Ralph Johnson who is also in CS.
Hope this gives you some idea of what the U of I is like from the
perspective of a student (the professors may see it quite differently!)
Carla Scaletti
p.s. Have you talked to Brad Garton about the possibilites at Columbia?
From: rutgers!uunet.uu.net!microsoft!camilleg@columbia.edu
Posted-Date: Fri Oct 20 21:56:03 1989
To: abrams@cs.columbia.edu
Date: Fri Oct 20 21:56:03 1989
Subject: Re: Finding graduate schools
Newsgroups: comp.music
In-Reply-To: <ABRAMS.89Oct16155312@cs.columbia.edu>
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Cc: camilleg
Could you please forward any references you get on music grad schools
to me? Here's my 2 cents' worth:
I've been looking for a while to do research in computer music composition;
quite a specific field, as opposed to just "computer music". I'd concen-
trated my looking around in Canada, but here's a quick summary of
my discoveries (as of 8 months ago):
U of Toronto: more into performance than research per se; funding is a
bit of a problem.
Stanford: strong on things like synthesis and gestural input.
Simon Fraser U. (near Vancouver): good computer music, but again
not much emphasis on composition. Barry Truax teaches there.
McGill U., Montreal: a good music faculty, through which C.M. is done --
my current plans are to study there (Ph.D. in music theory, which
is a bit of a trick if you have a B.Math and they want a B.Mus!)
Bruce Pennycook is the one to talk to there.
MIT: good general C.M. program. I believe that Morton Subotnick, one of
the pioneers in this field, still works there.
Good luck! (and don't take my spot at McGill! :-) )
Camille Goudeseune.
--
/*************************************************
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*Steven Abrams abrams@cs.columbia.edu
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End of Music-Research Digest