“TENOR,” is an acronym for the “International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation”; it is dedicated to issues in theoretical and applied research and development in Music Notation and Representation, with a strong focus on computer tools and applications, as well as a tight connection to music creation. “Technology” in the conference name refers to any means that may contribute to the notation, representation and/or visualization of music and sound, for purposes that may include (but not limited to) music composition, performance, transcription, analysis and pedagogy.

TENOR BOSTON 2023 was the 8th International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation, and took place from Monday, May 15 to Wednesday, May 17, 2023; hosted by the Music Department at Northeastern University, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and the New England Conservatory. This was first time the conference has been on U.S. soil.

The 7th TENOR conference (2022) was held at the PRISM (Perception, Representations, Image, Sound, Music) Laboratory in Marseille, France; and it will be announced at our Boston conference that the 9th Conference (2024) will be hosted at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland.

TENOR’s research topics relate cutting-edge topics related to music technology and its related fields including music perception and cognition, notation editors, creativity, new instrument design, new notation systems; graphic, visual design and animation in musical scores; virtual, augmented and non-linear reality, comprovisation, artificial intelligence (including an AI/Robot Digital Score);  non-visual “Somatosensory” and  oral scores; mathematical modeling, maps as scores, and musical representation in non-Western notation systems.

For this 8th edition, we focused on “Representation and Perception of Music Structure.” In addition to the 22 scholarly papers, we had two keynote speakers: Dr. Morwaread Farbood, Associate Director of Music Technology, New York University; and Dr. Holly Watkins, Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music; one keynote workshop featuring Tim Perkis, Software Engineer, Researcher and Educator; and Gino Robair, Composer and Visual Artist; and four Concerts, two at the Longy School of Music at Bard College (on May 15, 2023), and two at the New England Conservatory of Music (May 16, 2023), featuring Loadbang, Lisa Mezzacappa and Jason Levis (duoB); and members of the Callithumpian Consort, Stephen Drury, Director.

Many thanks to Craig Vear and the DigiScore Project, a European Research Council (ERC) Project, and to Sandeep Bhagwati for sponsoring the Callithumpion Consort; commissioned composers: Ingrid Laubrock and Kitty Xiao; and awardees of the NeoScore Competition: Xavier Davenport, winner; and Lauren McCall, finalist. My greatest thanks goes to Daniel Strong Godfrey, composer, friend, and Chair of the Department of Music at Northeastern University, for his unflagging support of TENOR BOSTON 2023.

Conference Chair

May 15-17, 2023

https://tenorboston23.sites.northeastern.edu/

Anthony Paul De Ritis, Northeastern University, Department of Music (Conference Chair)

Jeremy Van Buskirk, Longy School of Music of Bard College (Paper Chair)

John Mallia, New England Conservatory (Sonic Works Chair)

Victor Zappi, Northeastern University, Department of Music (Scientific Program Chair)

Aaron Clarke, Longy School of Music of Bard College

Alexandra du Bois, Longy School of Music of Bard College

James Gutierrez, Department of Music, Northeastern University

Rébecca Kleinberger, Department of Music, Northeastern University

Jie Ren, Longy School of Music of Bard College

Lisa Mezzacappa, Independent Artist

Katarina Miljkovic, New England Conservatory