Welcome to EMS18 decorative dots

“The EMS Network has been organised to fill an important gap in terms of electroacoustic music, namely focusing on the better understanding of the various manifestations of electroacoustic music. Areas related to the study of electroacoustic music range from the musicological to more interdisciplinary approaches, from studies concerning the impact of technology on musical creativity to the investigation of the ubiquitous nature of electroacoustic sounds today. The choice of the word, ‘network’ is of fundamental importance as one of our goals is to make relevant initiatives more widely available.” (http://www.ems-network.org)

Villa Finaly, Florence (Italy): 20 - 23 June 2018 decorative dots

EMS18 Conference Theme:
Electroacoustic Music: is it still a form of experimental music?

Venues decorative dots

Villa Finaly, Via Bolognese 134/R, 50139 Firenze - Italy
    The Villa Finaly was left to the University of Paris by the Landau-Finaly family in 1953. The Villa is presently administered by the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris.    

Concert decorative dots

A concert of Italian electroacoustic music programmed by Tempo Reale will be presented in the Villa on the first evening of the conference, June 20.        

Main Theme decorative dots

Electroacoustic Music: is it still a form of experimental music?

In the early years of musique concrète Schaeffer proposed that this new approach was a form of experimental music. Of course, during this period and later, others were to use this term as well, meaning something slightly different. Still, the rationale that organising sounds was an innovative form of music making was clearly a logical and just thing to say.
How true is this today? Has experimentation and innovation been overtaken by skill and technique?
Today, the term electroacoustic music now encompasses a wide variety of practices and even genres. Seventy years after the birth of concrete music, it has now become very difficult to circumscribe what electroacoustic music is or can be, because it is so diversified and has so many different styles. Clearly electroacoustic music has come a long way over the last 70 years and many will clearly state that (aspects of) their work are indeed experimental.
On the other hand, there are many who have claimed, for example, that a good deal of acousmatic music has common tendencies and some even go so far to suggest that much of it sounds similar. In the field of musicology, new impulses to research are provided by various forms of technical experimentation. New musical interfaces, bio sensors, the return of hybrid synthesis and DIY devices exemplify challenges for performance studies or creative process analysis.
Has experimentalism taken a back seat to technique and, if so, is that a bad thing? Or is technique now sufficiently mature to stimulate new forms of musical experimentation?
What new forms of experimental have arisen? To what extent do new technologies and techniques allow for experimentalism in electroacoustic music? This is why the theme of EMS2018 is:

Electroacoustic Music: is it still a form of experimental music?

EMS18 proposes its community to investigate the experimental of its broad horizon of musical creativity, its dynamic or lack thereof.

 
Keynote Speeches
Laura ZATTRA
Lelio CAMILLERI
 
Conference Co-Chairs

Marc BATTIER (Institute for Research in Musicology - IREMUS, Sorbonne University)
Pierre COUPRIE (Institute for Research in Musicology - IREMUS, Sorbonne University)
Leigh LANDY (Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre - MTIRC, DeMontfort University)
Nicolas MARTY (Institute for Research in Musicology - IREMUS, Sorbonne University)
Anne SEDES (Centre de recherche en Informatique et Création Musicale - CICM/MUSIDANSE, University Paris 8)
Daniel TERUGGI (Groupe de Recherches Musicales, Paris)
 
Steering Committee
Marc Battier
Leigh Landy
Daniel Teruggi
 

ADDITIONAL EMS18 THEMES

The conference is also open to other topics relevant to the history and/or contemporary practice of electroacoustic music. We encourage the submission of papers relating to any aspect of the field, including but not limited to analysis, perception, listening, terminology, composition, performance, cultural issues and education.

Analysis:
- What types of discourse are relevant to electroacoustic works?
- Which analytical methods are currently being developed?
- Can one adapt existent analytical methods of music to electroacoustic works, many of which involve no prescriptive notation?
- How can we further develop the field of study of electroacoustic musics?

Transcription and representation of sound, new audio-visual tools:
- How are analytical tools being produced and disseminated in the community?
- Which means are available for communicating this sonic art form through symbolic and graphic representations?
- Does the study of electroacoustic musics require specifically designed tools or can it take advantage of methods conceived for other musics?

Taxonomy, terminology - 'meaningful' units of music description:
- Which systems of classification are in use or should be developed?
- How can we become more consistent in our use of terminology in a field as dynamic as electroacoustic music?

Real-time music making:
- How can live performance/composition strategies be analysed?
- What is 'live' electronic music?

Performance, presentation, dissemination:
- What is the 'work'?
- New presentation spaces, technologies.
- Aesthetical and musical issues raised by Internet communities, group compositions, telematics and performances.

Listening, Intention-Reception
- Issues of perception and interpretation.
- How do the composer's intentions relate to what is perceived?

Semiotics/semiology, 'meaning':
- What (and how) do different electroacoustic music genres express?

Soundscape, sound ecology:
- Analytical tools for the understanding of soundscapes.
- New approaches to sound ecology, sonification, sound environment.

Genres/styles, 'languages':
- Questions of unity, diversity, plurality, multicultural resources, polystyle, hybridisation, 'local music

Gender issues:
- Have gender balances shifted since the early days?
- The relationship between technology/electroacoustic music and gender.
- Unrecognised contributions: revising history.

Research on history of electroacoustic music:
- Research on historical documentation.
- Studies on the genesis, development and activities of private and public studios.
- How can and should we revise history?

Socio-cultural issues:
- What are the socio-cultural ramifications of electroacoustic music?

Pedagogy:
- Curriculum design.
- Balance between theory and practice, general and specific approaches.
- Real-time and interaction versus fixed medium and studio techniques.
- Teaching material: how to select it, and language issues.

Caution: Participants are discouraged from submitting proposals focusing on their own compositions as well as those discussing the development of new technological resources for musical application that have a better home at events such as ICMC.

Paper Submission decorative dots

Please see Submission Guidelines