Conference: EMS05, Montreal, october 2005

Scientific Committee

Marc BATTIER (MINT-OMF)
Joel CHADABE (EMF)
Philippe DEPALLE (McGill University)
Leigh LANDY (MTI - De Montfort University)
Stephen McADAMS (CIRMMT/ McGill University)
Rosemary MOUNTAIN (Hexagram/Concordia)
Philippe DEPALLE (CIRMMT)
Jean PICHE (CCIRMT/UdeM)
Daniel TERUGGI (INA/GRM)
Marcelo M. WANDERLEY (CIRMMT/ McGill University)

Time and place: 19-22 October, 2005 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The EMS conference is organized every two years through the initiative of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network, an international team which aims to encourage reflection on the better understanding of electroacoustic music and its genesis, appearance and development over the span of a century. The organizers are all engaged in the key areas of debate and actively seeking the development of solutions.

The first conference, in October 2003, was a result of the initiatives of DeMontfort University (UK), the University of Paris-Sorbonne (France), and INA/GRM (France). It took place at the Georges-Pompidou Centre in Paris, within the auspices of IRCAM's Résonances 2003 festival. Selected papers were published in issue 9/1 of Organised Sound.

Organization of the EMS-05 conference

Concordia University (Canada)
De Montfort University(G-B)
Electronic Music Foundation (USA)
INA/GRM (France)
McGill University and CIRMMT (Canada)
Université de Montréal (Canada)
Université de Paris-Sorbonne (France)

Electroacoustic Music Studies Network

EARS (Leigh Landy, ElectroAcoustic Resource Site, MTI Research Group, De Montfort University)
INA/GRM (Daniel Teruggi)
MINT (Marc Battier, Musicologie, informatique et nouvelles technologies, OMF), Université de Paris-Sorbonne

From the advent of the first electric instruments, the phonograph, radio, telephone, and subsequent electronic and digital inventions, the approaches to technologies relevant to the art of sound have been limited only by the imagination of the musician. In recent years, there seems to have been a proliferation of studies relating to music incorporating these technologies. However, the investigation of such a varied musical repertoire raises a number of issues that the EMS conferences wish to examine. The themes of the conference therefore emphasize questions of resources, discourse, and analytical tools relevant to electroacoustic musics.

1) Sources and resources
- What types of materials are being or should be documented?
- How does one create, expand, preserve and offer access to collections?
- What opportunities exist for exchange and collaboration?

2) Discourse / analysis of electroacoustic musics
- What types of discourse are relevant to electroacoustic works?
- Which forms of representation and which approaches to analysis are useful?
- Which analytical methods are currently being developed?
- How can one adapt existent analytical methods of music to elec-troacoustic works,
many of which involve no prescriptive notation?

3) Analytical tools
- How are analytical tools being produced and disseminated in the community?
- What means are available for communicating the sonic 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?

- How can we become more consistent in our use of terminology in a field as dynamic as electroacoustic music?
- Are there aesthetic questions that are specific to electroacoustic music?

Spoken presentations

Proposals for spoken presentations should be submitted in the form of an extended abstract (minimum 2 pages) accompanied by a detailed C.V. and list of publications. The abstract should be ready for publication if the proposal is accepted. The duration of each paper will be 30 minutes (not including the question period). The papers may be given in English or French. It is anticipated that simultaneous translation will be provided. Multimedia support will be provided in the form of video projector (for laptops), overhead projector, CD player, and sound system. A programme containing the paper abstracts will be distributed.

Posters

Proposals for poster sessions are also invited; selected posters will be presented in the conference area at McGill University. The deadline for poster proposal submissions is the same as that for paper submissions.Dates
19 October, 2005 - Opening of EMS-05 at the University of Montreal
20-22 October, 2005 - Conference sessions (McGill University) and concerts (Concordia University)

Deadline for receipt of proposals (abstracts and CVs of contributors): Tuesday March 1, 2005
Submissions are to be made electronically. Send abstract (in French or English, 2 pages maximum) + 1 detailed CV + a list of publications to the following e-mail address: [log in to unmask]

Please ensure that your name, institutional / organizational affiliation (if any), contact address, telephone, and preferred e-mail address are included on the abstract. If your proposal is accepted, you will need to submit a brief 15-line biographical note to insert into the conference programme.