Fwd: ICMPC14: Call for abstracts

Hello participating societies of ICMPC

Below is a call for abstracts for ICMPC14, to be held in San Francisco July 5-9, 2016. Would you please distribute the email below (without this message) to your respective societies (i.e., AMPS, CSMP, SEMPRE & SMPC)? Feel free to distribute to other people, departments, or societies who may also find this conference of interest. I will be emailing the ESCOM listserv directly, but I do not have contact information to disseminate announcements to APSCOM, JSMPC, KSMPC, or SACCOM. If any of you happen to have information that could help, please share.

Also, I would like to introduce you to Kerry Bosch (cc'd) who will assist me in sending out future conference announcements.

Thank you

Ted Zanto
Organizing Chair, ICMPC14

-------------------------------------------------
Theodore Zanto, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco
675 Nelson Rising Ln., Room 502

San Francisco, CA 94158
Tel: 415-502-7322
-------------------------------------------------

 
Abstracts due: January 22, 2016

The International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition is pleased to announce the call for abstract submissions for its 14th biennial meeting to be held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in San Francisco, CA, USA, from July 5-9, 2016. Abstract submissions are invited for oral presentations, poster presentations, and symposia. Advanced registration and abstract submission will open Novemeber 2, 2015.

For more details, visit:
http://www.icmpc.org/icmpc14/index.html

For questions & comments, contact the organizing committee:

icmpc14@icmpc.org

We look forward to seeing you at ICMPC14!

Sincerely,

The Organizing Committee

ICMPC14

cfp: sempre MET2016, Music, Education & Technology: Research and Practice, 14-15 March 2016

                 

sempre MET2016

Music, Education & Technology: Research and Practice

14-15 March 2016

Hosted by the Department of Culture, Communication & Media, IOE, University College London

Conference Venue: University of London, Senate House (http://www.london.ac.uk/map.html)

Conference Chairs:     Dr Evangelos Himonides, UCL

                                   Dr Andrew King, University of Hull

Keynote speakers:      tbc soon

Following the great success of its inaugural conference held by the University of Hull in 2010, and MET2014 at IOE London, this third two-day conference (#MET2016) will be hosted by the Department of culture, Communication & Media, IOE, University College London, at the University of London's iconic Senate House.

Although the 'musicking' humanity has been reliant on technology from the very beginning of its musical journey, we cannot deny that, nowadays, technology changes, develops, and its role is being redefined at a dramatically greater rate. This sempre conference aims to celebrate technology's challenging role(s) and provide a platform for critical discourse and the presentation of scholarly work in the broader fields of digital technologies in:

• music composition and creation

• music performance

• music production (recording, studio work, archival and/or communication of music)

• diverse musical genres (e.g. popular, classical, world, etc.)

• creativity/ies

• real world praxial contexts (e.g. classroom, studio, etc.)

• assessment of musical development and/or assessment of performance

• computational musicology

• music and big data

• the music industry

• special educational contexts/needs

The conference will provide opportunities for colleagues to present and discuss ideas in a friendly and supportive environment, as well as to provide a meeting point for academics, scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are seeking to form connections and synergies with participants from around the world. The event will include 20 minute spoken paper presentations, poster presentations, workshops, open dialogue sessions, as well as two keynote addresses from renowned scholars (more details will become available on the SEMPRE website shortly).

Submissions for both spoken papers and posters will be structured in short-paper format (≈1000 words) and include the following information:

1. Title

2. Submission to be considered for Paper or Poster

3. Author's full name (First, Last)

4. Author's Affiliation

5. Author's Country

6. Author's Email Address

[repeat  points 3 to 6 for each individual author]

7. Abstract

8. Keyword 1, Keyword 2, Keyword 3

9. Aims

10. Methods

11. Outcomes

12. Implications (could be combined with 'Outcomes', above)

13. Acknowledgements (only if applicable, should you need to acknowledge a funding body or other body and/or individual whose support has been vital)

14. Three key references *only* (please use the American Psychological Association-APA version 6 referencing style)

All accepted, peer refereed papers will be included in a dedicated paperback volume, under the sempre Conference Series imprint, published by the International Music Education Research Centre on behalf of sempre. The volume will be fully indexed and become available on all major bookstores and retailers. All conference delegates will receive a printed copy as part of their conference registration.

Some authors will be invited to contribute expanded versions of their papers for a special volume of the Journal of Music, Technology & Education, published by intellect (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=152/) and/or a new open access online journal on Music & Science that is soon to be launched by sempre.

Submissions will open on Friday 18 September 2015, on the sempre website.

The hard deadline for submissions will be Sunday 3 January 2016. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by Monday 18 January 2016.

For further information, please contact: Dr Evangelos Himonides | University College London | 20, Bedford Way | London WC1H 0AL | United Kingdom | Email: e.himonides@ucl.ac.uk

Nicky Morgan Speech on Creative Education

Stop Press

Nicky Morgan Speech on Creative Education

Our good friends at the Cultural Learning Alliance posted this important story this week that we wanted to bring to the attention of our members and the wider industry. Please note that the end of the article has a very useful link to a document with which to lobby your local MP regarding future funding for music. The MIA Education Committee is meeting shortly and will review all possible actions that our sector can take.

On the 16 July the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, made a speech at the Roundhouse to the Creative Industries Federation (the MIA is a members of this). She set out her vision for creative education and was joined by Minister of State for Education, Nick Gibb.

What did she say?

• The headline of the speech was the contribution that a cultural education makes to a young person's understanding of what it is to be British
• She stated that she doesn't recognise the argument that government education policy – particularly the EBacc  - is detrimental to the arts in schools
• She talked about the financial contribution (£460 million) that the Department for Education invested in cultural initiatives over the last parliament
• She recognised that we need a strong talent pipeline to the creative industries

You can read the full text of the speech here, and the coverage from the TES, the Daily Mail and the Independent.

What was good about it?

It was great to hear the Secretary of State publicly announce that she would make the strongest possible case to Treasury to ensure similar levels of DfE investment in the next parliament. She said that she believed George Osborne to understand absolutely and be supportive of cultural learning. The DfE money is critical to the cultural learning ecology and to ensuring children are guaranteed culture in their lives. It must continue over the next five years.

The speech made good references to the social mobility argument: that an arts and cultural education is essential and the 'birth-right' of every child and young person. It was also good to hear, at one point, the arts and cultural subjects being described alongside 'the other academic subjects' – making a clear statement that they have the same rigour and value as the sciences. Nicky Morgan also said that the government would 'obviously do something about it' if arts become relegated to after-school activities.

The relationship between creative industries and cultural learning was clearly acknowledged.

This speech was the first we have had from a Secretary of State at the DfE on arts and culture for a long time and it was good to hear the department beginning to engage with some of the issues that concern us.

What caused concern?

Data discrepancies

There appears to be a vast difference between the DfE's understanding of cultural learning in schools currently and that of the CLA and our membership. Both Nick Gibb and Nicky Morgan claimed that there is no decline in uptake of arts subjects and therefore no problem – a position that directly contradicts our analysis of their data.

The Department for Education obviously has access to more data than we do, but we cannot work out how the numbers have been organised to show a 1% increase in the number of children taking arts GCSEs since 2010 - when our analysis show a 13% decline overall. There was also no response to a direct question about the falling numbers of hours of arts taught in schools (10% since 2010) and specialist teachers (11% since 2010).

We have repeatedly asked the DfE to show their workings to us on GCSEs, but so far we haven't seen their stats. If anyone can shine any light on this discrepancy, we would be very grateful, and we will, of course be continuing to push to see the evidence that backs up this position.

Language

Despite the example above of language giving the arts parity of status with other subjects, Nicky Morgan continuously referred to arts 'opportunities' rather than arts subjects taught in the classroom by teachers, and 'appreciation' rather than art and culture created by children and young people. This is important as extra-curricular arts is very different from (and complementary to) a core curriculum.

There were some troubling nuances in the SoS's definition of 'Britishness': namely that it did not appear to take into account the porous nature of arts and culture. We think it is important to recognise at the highest level that a cultural education should open up opportunities to learn from the traditions, ideas and practices of cultures and communities around the world. We recognise that our own culture is shaped, enriched and inspired by other cultures as well as contributing to them. The SoS's position was excellently challenged from the floor by CLA colleague Kenneth Tharp of The Place who pointed out that rather than cultural learning helping young people understand Britishness, it helps us all to understand what it is to be human.

As has been the trend over the past few years, there was nothing in the speech about the importance of Youth Work, Early Years or Families, or about how the department engages directly with young people themselves. When asked by a colleague in the audience if she was aware that there is currently no provision for arts and Early Intervention, the SoS said that she was not.

Ofsted Contradictions

When asked if the role of Ofsted in assessing cultural learning could be strengthened (by implementing our recommendation that schools can only be 'outstanding' if they have excellent cultural provision), both politicians said that they didn't want to use Ofsted as a straitjacket for teachers. This is a very perplexing statement as the government has just announced plans to do exactly this for the teaching of the EBacc subjects.

No new policy

Although it was good to hear some of the warm words about the arts, Nicky Morgan didn't use this opportunity to make any concrete plans or new policy for creative education over this next parliament. We are keen to know exactly how this vision will be implemented and supported.

What can we do now?

1. Nicky Morgan called on the creative industries to make a stronger and louder case for the creative skills, knowledge and understanding that the workforce needs, and so, if you are a creative business please do drop her a line to make your thoughts on this known.
2. Celebrate and support the teachers and school leaders who are choosing to continue to offer the arts subjects as core components of their school curriculum. If you are an artist, practitioner, partner school or organisation, do get in touch with your colleagues to tell them how brilliant and vital their work is and to talk again about ways you might be able to support one another.
3. Keep sending us examples of what is happening locally in your school: lizzie@culturallearningalliance.org.uk
4. In the short-term it is extremely important that we make the strongest possible case for cultural learning in the next Spending Round.

We urge all of you to attend a local surgery to talk about cultural education. You can ask your MP to write to Nicky Morgan on your behalf and ask her to champion cultural learning in the Spending Round. Here are some key asks and arguments to help. We'll be developing and refining them over the next few months and would welcome any feedback, case studies or input from our members. Do get in touch if you haven't already.

To find out more about the CLA, go to www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk

Fwd: Journal of Creative Music Systems - CfP Inaugural Issue

Dear all,

we are happy to announce the launch of the Journal of Creative Music Systems. Please, see below the CfP for the inaugural issue.

Best wishes,

Valerio Velardo

Call for Papers - Inaugural Issue                                                              

Journal of Creative Music Systems (http://jcms.org.uk/)

The Journal of Creative Music Systems (JCMS) is a new open-access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles on computational creative systems in the domain of music. JCMS is intended to serve as a forum for scholarly dialogue regarding the most important emerging issues in the field.

JCMS is intended to focus on computer systems which generate, perform or analyse music, and which either demonstrate a distinct degree of creativity or which shed light on the nature of creativity. Both empirical articles, which focus on the design and implementation of new techniques; as well as theoretical papers, which investigate the scientific and philosophical foundations of music-creative systems, are encouraged. In recognition of the inherent interdisciplinarity of the field,  JCMS  encourages  submission of articles at the intersection of different disciplines, such as music (theory, analysis, history), artificial intelligence, music information retrieval (MIR), cognitive science, evolutionary theory, mathematics and philosophy.

Topics

For the journal's inaugural issue, topics of submissions may include, but are not limited to:

Computer Systems

• systems capable of generating music;
• systems capable of performing music;
• systems capable of (online) improvisation;
• systems capable of analysing music;
• robotic systems;
• systems implementing societies of virtual musicians;
• systems that enhance the musical creativity of human users;
• music recommendation systems;
• systems implementing computational aesthetics, emotional response, novelty/originality;

Theory

• surveys of state-of-the-art techniques in the area;
• validation methodologies;
• philosophical/mathematical foundations of creative music systems;
• evolutionary models for music creative systems;
• cognitive models for music creative systems;
• studies on the applicability of music-creative techniques to other research areas;
• new models for improving music creative systems.

Types of Submissions

JCMS accepts articles, research reports, reviews and tutorials. Articles should make a major theoretical or empirical contribution to knowledge. Research reports should describe research which is in a preliminary phase. Reviews provide critical commentary on scholarly books, articles and events such as conferences relevant to the field. Tutorials are intended to illustrate new technologies relevant to CSMC.

Please visit the JCMS website (http://jcms.org.uk/) for a description of the journal, instructions to authors and submission guidelines.

Further Information

For any enquiries, please contact Valerio Velardo, Associate Editor, at associate-editor@jcms.org.uk. 

Tri-borough Music Education Conference

Weds 7^th October, Tri-borough Music Education Conference

We are delivering a Tri-borough Music Education Conference on Weds 7^th October in partnership with Music Mark, ABRSM and Lyric Hammersmith (where we are based).

 

The day is aimed at all schools, instrumental tutors, partner cultural organisations, and music professionals. The full programme is herehttp://bit.ly/1JK7cDW and also attached; and booking is being handled by Music Mark here https://musicmark.wufoo.eu/forms/triborough-music-education-conference/ (if you have any problems accessing the programme or booking form, please contactinfo@triboroughmusichub.org).

 

Tickets are £35 per person if ordered before Fri 21^st September, and £50 after this date.

 

We would like to extend the conference to all London Music Hub colleagues and their tutors and feel that the content will be valid for people who are not connected with the Tri-borough as we are focusing on quality Music Education, not necessarily on just our local offer. We have a host of outstanding speakers and highly practical sessions – see full programme for details.

 

At the end of the day there is also an invitation for delegates to attend a drinks reception hosted by Youth Music Theatre:

One of our partners, Youth Music Theatre UK, invites delegates to a special Drinks Reception after the Tri-borough Music Education Conference on Wednesday 7 October, 4.30pm – 6.00pm at the Lyric Hammersmith to meet with our Outreach Programme Director, Pete Gallagher. YMT's Outreach projects form part of our Explore Programme, which offers London schools low-cost performing arts workshops delivered by expert practitioners and tailored to your needs. Join us at the Peyton & Byrne Bar at the Lyric Hammersmith to find out more.

 

If anyone has any questions about the day please contact me atstuart.whatmore@triboroughmusichub.org or call 020 3745 6024.

registration now open: SEMPRE 2015 Conference on Music and Health

Registration is now open for the SEMPRE 2015 Conference on Music and Health, 21st - 23rd Oct 2015, Glasgow.

 

Register at the conference website:

www.gcu.ac.uk/musicandhealth2015

 

Registration fee:

SEMPRE members, students, unwaged fee: GBP 45 (proof required upon registration)

Standard rate fee: GBP 90

 

Event details:

This is a three day event in partnership with SEMPRE and the Scottish Music and Health Network, and comprises three separate events:

·         Wednesday 21st Oct: SEMPRE Study day on Music Psychology and Education. A postgraduate study day focussing on music psychology, education and related topics.

·         Thursday 22nd Oct: SEMPRE conference on Music and Health. One day conference exploring the relationship between music and health, encompassing music listening, performance, music therapy, community music and more.

·         Friday 23rd Oct: SMHN meeting for music practitioners, healthcare professionals, academics and interested members of the public. Free to attend, however numbers may be limited subject to availability.

Venue:

The conference will be held at the Technology and Innovation Centre, 99 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1RD.

More details are available via the conference website, and the Scottish Music and Health Network Website:

www.gcu.ac.uk/musicandhealth2015

http://www.smhn.hss.ed.ac.uk/

or contact conference chair/organiser Don Knox: d.knox at gcu.ac.uk