Vol. 24, No. 8	October 30, 1998

Columbia's Computer Musicians Make (Sound) Waves at International Conference-Again

IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC, IT'S 'LIKE WINNING AN OSCAR'

By A. Dunlap-Smith

At this year's International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Oct. 1-6, Columbia's Computer Music Center presented six compositions and papers, far outstripping the number of presentations selected for any other conference participant.

It marked the second year in a row that the Computer Music Center received the most invitations to present compositions and papers at the ICMC, enhancing Columbia's international reputation as a leader in the field. At the '97 conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, Columbia computer musicians made 12 presentations.

"In the world of computer music, presenting at the ICMC is something like what winning an Oscar is to the movie world-it's the top honor we have," said Terry Pender, instructor and technical director at the Computer Music Center, "so our visibility really increases when [Columbia] averages eight or nine selections at the conference to everyone else's one or two."

Papers and compositions for the ICMC are chosen by an international panel of jurors from hundreds of submissions made by programs and institutions in 36 countries.

The compositions from Columbia that were selected are "Dude" by Chris Bailey, "Things that Go Beep in the Night" by Luke Dubois, "Ripples" by Doug Geers and "Semblance of Ritual II" by Jonathan Lee, all of whom are students. "Dan's Toys," also selected, is by Computer Music Center Director Brad Garton. And, Garton and graduate student Matthew Suttor presented a paper on modeling musical style.

"Our strong showings at the ICMC have contributed substantially to the international profile of the [Computer Music] Center and increased greatly the number of international collaboration proposals it has received," said Thanassis Rikakis, the Center's assistant director. Rikakis points out that of the four students whose compositions were played in Ann Arbor, all four were subsequently invited to play in Europe and the U.S.