Y4 | Instructions for Workgroup Leaders
Y4 Homepage | Workgroup Leaders
Instructions for Y4 Workgroup Leaders
Supporting Materials:
At this year’s workshop, we would like to focus our time on discussions/brainstorming and the planning of activities while avoiding presentations. Our goal is to get members involved without simply reporting what has been done within each workgroup. To that end, we ask that all presentation-like material be submitted ahead of time, so that participants may read, listen to, or visualize things before they join the meeting. These materials will all be put on the ACTOR repository under appropriate folders for each of the workgroups. It would be most efficient if they were put there at least two weeks prior to the workshop, so by June 25th at the latest.
The materials may be pdf files of text, scores or graphics, videos, sound files, links to websites (.webloc), or anything else you deem appropriate. They should also include an activity report for Year 4 (2021-22) and a clear agenda with rough timings for each workgroup. In your workgroup session, you should leave ample time to discuss action items (who will do what over the next year). If presentations are needed, they should be limited to less than 1/4-1/3 of the time.
Please send the materials for the repository in an email or send a link to bigger files on your preferred file transfer site to bennett.smith@mcgill.ca and actor-project.music@mcgill.ca. Specify which workgroup folder they should go in. The list of folder names is below (along with the chairs of each workgroup). If by any chance you have problems or need to make changes, please email bennett.smith@mcgill.ca specifying what the problem is and what folder is involved.
For those with Unix-based systems (such as Linux and macOS), we highly recommend using the rsync command to transfer everything directly to our server with a single command, bypassing the inconveniences of the Cloud. (Using rsync to update your data on the website is much easier than doing it over the Cloud.) Please contact Bennett for details. (rsync also exists for Windows)
We're looking forward to our first hybrid experience and to a productive exchange among the ACTOR community.
| Repository Folder | Chair | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Taxonomies_Orchard | Stephen McAdams | by June 25th |
| Diversity | Bob Hasegawa | by June 25th |
| Computational_Tools | Philippe Esling | by June 25th |
| Orchidea | Carmine Cella | by June 25th |
| Room_Acoustics | Malte Kob | by June 25th |
| CORE | Stephen McAdams, Roger Reynolds, Caroline Traube | by June 25th |
| OrchView | Felix Baril | by June 25th |
| TOR | Kit Soden | by June 25th |
| Timbre_Semantics | Caroline Traube, Zachary Wallmark | by June 25th |
| Voice | J Marchand Knight | by June 25th |
| Timbre_Orchestration_Analysis | Bob Hasegawa | by June 25th |
Hybrid Setup
"Given the epidemiological circumstances, the workshop will be held in a hybrid format, meaning that all sessions will be accessible both via Zoom and in person. We are hoping to have a setup where in-person participants will be able to see and hear those in Zoom, which should facilitate the interaction in both ways. We anticipate that a large number of members will participate in the workshop via the online platform, and we ask that working group leaders try and keep them as engaged as possible. A Zoom monitor will assist working group leaders by checking for hands raised and making sure all questions in the chat are addressed. Moreover, we will be advising all participants attending the workshop in person to bring their laptops so they can connect with all of those joining the session via Zoom. Our goal is to promote a fluid discussion and make the physical-online barrier as seamless as possible.
Daily Communication and Follow-up Meeting
We are also asking workgroup leaders to schedule follow up meetings with their teams over the year. We believe this will enhance progress, increase engagement, and keep everyone up to date with regards to the workgroup’s activities. To facilitate the discussion within each group, specific Slack channels have been created (see the complete list below). Please contact actor-project.music@mcgill.ca for access to Slack.
Acoustics of musical performance rooms
Artificial intelligence and computational tools for orchestration
Computer-aided and target-based orchestration (Orchidea)
Composer-performer orchestration research ensembles (CORE)
Diversity Working Group
Orchestration analysis taxonomies and Orch.A.R.D.
OrchView — Score annotation
Timbre and orchestration analysis
Timbre and orchestration resource (TOR)
Timbre semantics
Voice Working Group
Zoom
Zoom Meeting Configuration:
§ It is best if people change their ‘Suppress background noise’ setting to low in their own Preferences/Audio menu so that their voices or sounds don't get garbled. If their speaking gets cut up or seriously garbled in spite of these settings and due to poor internet connection, at times it works to have them disable the video so there is more bandwidth for the audio. This could be mentioned at the beginning of the session, along with the unmuting procedure.
§ To maximize audio quality, particularly when playing sound examples from presentation software like PowerPoint, check this quick guide with suggestions for setting up Zoom meetings – Quick Zoom Guide
Zoom Etiquette:
When not speaking, participants should remain muted to avoid disrupting ongoing discussions. One can temporarily unmute oneself by pressing on the space bar.
To manage interventions by different people (depending on the number you have), it is possible to use the "Raise hand" feature in the Participants window. In Gallery view, it is possible to see up to 49 participants on the screen (depending on your CPU) and then look for gestural cues such as physical hand raising.
The host needs to manage who talks when to avoid people talking simultaneously as Zoom attenuates any channel that isn't the loudest. It may be that a co-host or student helper could assist with keeping track of who requests speaking privileges.
Workgroup Report
Workgroup leaders are required to turn in a report with the main points discussed in their session and any action items. Every year, these reports are compiled into a workshop summary that is made available to the entire membership. Ideally, reports should be turned in by the end of the workshop, on July 11th. As usual, a student will take notes to help the workgroup leaders in that process.
List of workgroup organizers:
| Workgroup Session | Workgroup Name | Organizer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acoustics of musical performance rooms | Malte Kob |
| 2 | Artificial intelligence and computational tools for orchestration | Philippe Esling |
| 3 | Composer-performer orchestration research ensembles (CORE) | Stephen McAdams |
| 4 | Computer-aided and target-based orchestration (OrchIdea) | Carmine Cella |
| 5 | Diversity Working Group | Robert Hasegawa |
| 6 | Orchestration analysis taxonomies and the Orchestration Analysis and Research database (Orch.A.R.D) | Stephen McAdams |
| 7 | OrchView | Felix Baril |
| 8 | Timbre and orchestration analysis | Robert Hasegawa |
| 9 | Timbre and Orchestration Resource (TOR) | Kit Soden |
| 10 | Timbre semantics | Caroline Traube and Zachary Wallmark |
| 11 | Voice Working Group | Juanita Marchand Knight |