Diversity Workgroup

Summary | Contact | Overview | Subgroups | Projects

The goal of this group is to expand our understanding of timbre and orchestration by exploring music outside the standard Western classical canon. We have four active subgroups at this time: East Asian Music Subgroup, Music and Gender Subgroup, Popular Music Subgroup, and Sub-Saharan Africa/Diaspora Subgroup.

Robert Hasegawa

contact: robert.hasegawa[at]mcgill.ca

The ACTOR Diversity Working Group seeks to explore the role of timbre and orchestration in repertoires beyond the Western symphonic tradition and to encourage diversity and inclusion in the demographics of the ACTOR project as a whole. Based on interests of the working group researchers, we've formed three subgroups to develop new research collaborations. The East Asian Music Subgroup is currently focusing primarily on music for Chinese orchestra, especially orchestrational strategies. We are also exploring new works that integrate Western and East Asian instruments and new compositions by East Asian composers. The Music and Gender Subgroup is exploring new projects on the music of women, trans, and non-binary composers, both historical and contemporary. The goal is to supplement the nearly all-white, all-male repertoire of the standard orchestral canon with increased gender diversity and also to encourage publications on gender-diverse artists and by underrepresented scholars. Research areas proposed by the Popular Music Subgroup include developing tools for the analysis of timbre in popular music and to encourage greater attention to BIPOC musicians and gender diversity in popular music studies.

• East Asian Music Subgroup: Lena Heng, Wang Mengqi, Linglan Zhu

• Music and Gender Subgroup: Juanita Marchand

• Popular Music Subgroup: Nicole Biamonte, Matthew Zeller

  • TIPS: Timbre in popular song project

• Sub-Saharan Africa/Diaspora Subgroup: Jason Winikof, Joshua Rosner, J Marchand Knight

• Middle Eastern/Central Asian Subgroup: H. Khayam, R. Morteza, and S. Tavakol

• East Asian Music Subgroup: Research on orchestration in music for Chinese orchestra, ensembles combining Western and East Asian instruments, and contemporary works by East Asian composers

  • Timbre and Orchestration Resource modules for each group of instruments: Bowed Strings | Plucked Strings | Wind Instruments

• Music and Gender Subgroup: Research on music by women, trans, and non-binary composers and musicians

• Popular Music Subgroup: Development of a more diverse and representative corpus for popular music studies, analysis of timbre in popular music

• Sub-Saharan Africa/Diaspora Subgroup: Study of timbre and orchestration in African and African-diasporic musics, including organology, traditional repertoire, intercultural musics such as jazz and contemporary popular genres in Africa and worldwide

  • Speaker Series: Afrological Perspectives on Timbre and Orchestration

• Middle Eastern/Central Asian Subgroup: Research on timbre in music of the Middle East and Central Asia, including theories of pitch organization and mode, orchestrational strategies, solo and ensemble genres, and contemporary musical creations

Connect

SLACK Channel

• Contact Andre Martins de Oliveira if there are any issues accessing this Slack Channel

Past Events

Workgroup Reports and Project Updates

Related Funded Projects