Wednesday September 25th, 2024, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., followed by a cocktail. Come and meet her in person!
- Université de Montréal, Pavilion Marie-Victorin, Room D-427: Please register via the Doodle link.
- The lecture will also be available via Zoom but will not be recorded. No registration required Meeting ID: 894 4068 9578/ Passcode: 950838
- The lecture will not be streaming live on Facebook.
Birds flock, insects swarm, musicians band (together)
Abstract: Timing in music-making – among birds, dolphins, or humans – displays precise coordination among individuals in small and large groups. Current theories of music performance based on pairwise comparisons cannot explain behaviors of larger groups than dyads. Dynamical systems models explain emergent behaviors in larger musical groups that arise from individuals’ timing and how individuals share information in group contexts. I will describe studies of individual, duet, and trio music performances. First, oscillator dynamics (natural frequencies) observed in individual performances are investigated that predict directional timing asynchronies between duet partners. Next, trio performances (3 humans) are compared with trios formed from humans performing with different virtual partners (whose tone onsets are generated in real time by mathematical models). Impacts of oscillator dynamics and experienced social interaction are compared across the trios. Mathematical models of timing in musical groups are important for several reasons: The models’ music-making can be perceived as more successful by group members; the models make more precise predictions than current neuroscience measures; and they offer an alternative that is not dependent on biological limitations.
Bio: Caroline Palmer is a Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University. She is internationally acclaimed for her interdisciplinary research in auditory cognition; she has held the Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance and has directed two NSERC-Create training networks. Ses travaux innovants ont révélé la nature temporelle des liens existant entre musique et langage au niveau de l’expression et de la signification. Her studies address how complex acoustics communicate information among musicians, speakers, and listeners. In her next career, Dr. Palmer plans to be a backup singer in an R&B band.
