Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics
Upcoming Events
Jill Kries - How the brain encode speech and language with aging and aphasia
Date:
Fri, 01/17/2025 - 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location:
CCRMA Seminar Room
Event Type:
Hearing Seminar 
Abstract:
FREE
Open to the Public
Recent Events
Concepts and Control: Understanding Creativity in Deep Music Generation
Date:
Fri, 11/15/2024 - 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Location:
CCRMA Classroom [Knoll 217] (ZOOM Link Below)
Event Type:
DSP Seminar 
Abstract: Recently, generative AI has achieved impressive results in music generation. Yet, the challenge remains: how can these models be meaningfully applied in real-world music creation, for both professional and amateur musicians? We argue that what’s missing is an interpretable generative architecture—one that captures music concepts and their relations, which can be so finely nuanced that they defy straightforward description. In this talk, I will explore various approaches to creating such an architecture, demonstrating how it enhances control and interaction in music generation.
FREE
Open to the Public
Nat Condit-Schultz on Tempo, Tactus, Rhythm, Flow: Computational Hip Hop Musicology in Theory and Practice
Date:
Fri, 11/15/2024 - 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location:
CCRMA Seminar Room
Event Type:
Hearing Seminar 
Computational musicology is not just for classical music. In this talk, I will review a variety of computational investigations of hip hop based on my dataset, the Musical Corpus of Flow (MCFlow). Using MCFlow, we can characterize the "norms" of rap flow and investigate how they have changed historically, including changes in tempo and the density of rhyme over time. I will also discuss the methodological challenges of computational musicology in general, and hip-hop/pop musicology specifically, and demonstrate tools and methods I have developed.
FREE
Open to the Public
The New Sound of New Music: Contemporary Composition and Modern Record Production Practices, two part lecture series with Murat Çolak
Date:
Thu, 10/31/2024 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Date:
Thu, 11/07/2024 - 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:
CCRMA classroom
Event Type:
Guest Lecture 
Murat Colak is a Turkish-American composer, mastering engineer, mixer, record producer, and educator based in New York City. He’s known for his work in contemporary classical and experimental music, with records on acclaimed labels like KAIROS, Edition Wandelweiser, NEOS, New Focus, Jazzland, Innova, Carrier, and Da Vinci Classics among others.
During his residency at Stanford University's CCRMA, Dr. Colak will present two public lectures. The first will introduce his creative journey, offering insights into his compositional approach and how it intersects with his approach to sound engineering, especially in crafting acoustics for contemporary concert music..
Free
Open to the Public
Homage to Ligeti | CCRMA 50th Anniversary
Date:
Sun, 11/03/2024 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Event Type:
Concert 
A major concert will kick off the final series of events celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Join us in Dinkelspiel Auditorium on November 3 at 7:30pm for a program of music by György Ligeti, whose five-month residency at Stanford in 1972 and friendship with John Chowning helped lead to the founding of CCRMA. This all-Ligeti program comprises Atmosphères (featured in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey) performed by the Stanford Symphony Orchestra; Musica ricercata performed by pianist Roger Xia '24; the electronic composition Artikulation; and the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra featuring violinist Tanja Becker-Bender with the Stanford New Ensemble conducted by Paul Phillips.
FREE and Open to the Public | In Person + Livestream
Past Live Streamed Events
Recent News
LISTEN: 1,200 Years of Earth’s Climate, Transformed into Sound
Science podcast featuring work by our fearless leader, Chris Chafe:
"When you sonify data, you experience time in a way you can’t when you look at a chart." Hal Gordon, Graduate student
Oakum - Eoin Callery
Released from behind the mixing console CCRMA's Concert Coordinator Eoin Callery has been set free to make an old-timey CD for Bay Area Label Eh? Records. Enjoy some amplified violin bow, guitar, and lots of Supercollider controlled feedback, all available on a small shiny disc and in a new fangled digital Bandcamp form.
File Attachment:
Jonathan Berger Première
Congratulations to our very own Jonathan Berger for a terrific write-up of the première of a new piece!
"Classical musicians face enormous expectations when they play a standard repertory work. Listeners have strong feelings about favorite pieces, even when they are open to fresh interpretive approaches.
The stakes are even higher with a premiere. Performing a new piece becomes an act of advocacy to pull an audience in.
"Classical musicians face enormous expectations when they play a standard repertory work. Listeners have strong feelings about favorite pieces, even when they are open to fresh interpretive approaches.
The stakes are even higher with a premiere. Performing a new piece becomes an act of advocacy to pull an audience in.
Mystery of 101-year-old master pianist who has dementia
Way to go, Dr. Selfridge-Field! Very interesting article about her work with master musicians suffering from dementia.
From the article: At first glance, she was elderly and delicate – a woman in her 90s with a declining memory. But then she sat down at the piano to play. “Everybody in the room was totally startled,” says Eleanor Selfridge-Field, who researches music and symbols at Stanford University. “She looked so frail. Once she sat down at the piano, she just wasn’t frail at all. She was full of verve.” Read more here...
From the article: At first glance, she was elderly and delicate – a woman in her 90s with a declining memory. But then she sat down at the piano to play. “Everybody in the room was totally startled,” says Eleanor Selfridge-Field, who researches music and symbols at Stanford University. “She looked so frail. Once she sat down at the piano, she just wasn’t frail at all. She was full of verve.” Read more here...
