Newsgroups: comp.music From: johnson@Sunburn.Stanford.EDU (Margaret Johnson) Subject: IEEE Task Force on Computer-Generated Music Sender: johnson@sunburn.stanford.edu Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University. Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1992 09:46:55 GMT Lines: 518 Dear friends: This is to inform you that Joseph Boykin, Vice President of the Technical Activities Board of the IEEE Computer Society, has informed us that the creation of a new Task Force on Computer Generated Music has been approved. Denis has been appointed Chair ad interim, until the Task Force evolves into a Technical Committee with by-laws, elections, and the like. All present work has been carried out by Denis and Goffredo. All text that follows is a proposal of what the TF stands for, and lists: the overall goals, the executive committees, the proposed activities, the statutes. Please bear in mind that, even though we enjoy considerable freedom to work as we like, we wish to conform to the goals of the IEEE CS as a whole and in particular use the IEEE CS facilities for publications, conferences and all social activities. In fact, Denis will participate in a meeting of TF/TC Chairs in Minneapolis on Nov.18, after which some of what is being proposed here will have to be changed and hopefully improved. Of course, all your comments on what we should do etc. will be welcome. If you want to reply, please send mail to both Goffredo and me (see e-mail addresses at the bottom). Now what this thing is all about. I. General goals. In a real sense, this TF has been in existence since the publication of the IEEE Computer July 1991 issue and the tutorial book "Readings in Computer Generated Music", to which some of you have contributed. These efforts have helped define the term "Computer Generated Music" and the scope of our group. Although a formal definition is given below in article 2 of the statutes, let us start by stating that our group is part of a professional engineering society and will try to avoid duplicating any existing efforts by other organizations dedicated to apparently similar goals, but wishes to provide a forum for all those projects that are neither strictly "artistic" music - such as pieces produced with computers and the like - nor "straight" engineering - such as audio signal processing or artificial intelligence - without excluding either. In particular, because of its efforts to promote Computer Generated Music up to the level of an established discipline, within engineering and scientific institutions, academic and research departments, the group hopes to provide an answer to students who look for places to get a degree in this field, as well as to prospective faculty members looking for a computer science department that tolerates research in music and musicology. All this, hand-in-hand with industrial contacts and ties to international organizations working on standards. At the risk of a gross simplifications, Computer Generated Music stands to Music as Computer Graphics to Painting. II. The Executive Committee. The formal role of the Executive Committee is explained below in the statutes. For the time being, ExCom is the place where all the work is being done. The following people have either indicated their consent or formally agreed to act as members of the Executive Committee: Denis Baggi, Chair Goffredo Haus, General Vice Chair and Vice Chair for Computer Music Margaret Johnson, Secretary Lelio Camilleri, Vice Chair for Computer Assisted Musicology Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Vice Chair for Music DeskTop Publishing Donald Sloan, Vice Chair for Standards in Music & Related Technologies Dave Anderson Antonio Camurri Roger Dannenberg Sadamu Ohtheru Curtis Roads (to be confirmed) Stephen W. Smoliar III. In the next few years, the TF (see below) should be able to produce the following: 1. A quarterly newsletter, with contribution by the members of the Task Force to explain their prospective work and general areas of interest. As a complement to the newsletter, a CS periodical (magazine or transaction) may be started in the future. 2. Sponsorship of conferences, symposia, workshops. In exceptional cases, when this is of great advantage to the TF/TSC-CGM, the possibility of participation in existing ones may be considered. 3. A marked presence in Computer Science departments by encouraging the creation of courses in Computer Generated Music and suggesting research topics for faculty and students. Additional student activities may include student project competitions with awards, special prices for TF sponsored activities, etc. 4. Creation of material on Computer Generated Music using new media: optical discs (CD-I, CD-ROM, etc.) and video cassettes obtained from optical discs. Each optical disc could be dedicated to a different subject, e.g. among those of each Vice Chair, and conceived in a kind of interactive hypertext to learn a specific subject within Computer Generated Music. Such material could be used both by individuals (professionals, teachers, students) and by educational departments, libraries and the like and should strive to represent the standard overall knowledge on a given subject at a given time, as approved by the IEEE CS. 5. Audio CDs with examples illustrating the material of didactical booklets and the like on a specific subject. This material could become the textbook of courses in Computer Generated Music. 6. A special issue dedicated to Computer Generated Music on existing IEEE CS publications. The following list is just an example of likely candidates that can be and will be modified according to the evolution and interests of the TF. Magazines: - Computer. Future issue to continue the one of July 1991. - Annals of the History of Computing. Special issue on past and present Computer Generated Music. - IEEE Expert Magazine: Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems in Music - Computer Graphics and Applications Magazine. Use of computers for score printing and other representation of music. - Micro magazine. VLSI chips for music synthesis. - Software magazine. How new advances in software affect CGM Transactions: - Transactions on Computers: special issue on computer systems for music, including workstations with DSP, etc. - Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering. With emphasis on retrieval systems and knowledge bases for music & musicology. - Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence: special issue on Music Understanding - Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems. Multiprocessor systems for music. - Transactions on Networking. Networks for musical instruments. IV. Statutes. IEEE COMPUTER SOCIETY Task Force and Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music 1730 Massachusetts Avenue Washington, DC 20036-1903 TF/TCCGM Charter Statement Effective January 1, 1993 (DRAFT - October 15, 1992 - for review) Article I - Organization and Affiliation 1.1. This organization is the Task Force on Computer Generated Music, also known as TF on CGM. It is intended to be the preliminary form of a Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music, or TCCGM. It is a constituent part of the IEEE Computer Society and operates under the rules and policies of that society. The IEEE Computer Society ("IEEE-CS") is a constituent society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers ("IEEE"). These by-laws pertain therefore to the TF as well to the future TCCGM and/or other derivatives such as a Technical Segment Committee. Article II - Purpose 2.1. By "Computer Generated Music" the IEEE Computer Society, and its members, define an area, from an interdisciplinary standpoint, that lies between artistic creation at one extreme - such as music created with the help of computer technology - and engineering - e.g., sound synthesis and audio processing - at the other, without excluding the boundaries. Thus Computer Generated Music is meant to be a broad scientific area dedicated to, though not exclusively, research in music modeling, synthesis and analysis of music by computer and/or electronic means. An example of such endeavor is the construction and definition of musical tools, methodologies and standards, in software and hardware, in line with at least 40 centuries of music development - during which, as now, music has never hesitated to adopt the latest scientific and technological advances of its time. A description efforts in this discipline can be found in the special July 1991 issue of IEEE Computer dedicated to Computer Generated Music and in the tutorial book by the same title printed in August 1992. 2.2. One important purpose of the TCCGM is to place Computer Generated Music among those subjects generally accepted among academic disciplines, for instance by encouraging the creation of academic chairs, departments and organizational entities dedicated to Computer Generated Music, within engineering academic establishments, research laboratories and government agencies. While for instance the importance, within computer engineering, of graphics and image synthesis and processing has been recognized for decades, institutions dedicated to music and sound synthesis, processing and analysis are practically nonexistent, and no department or institution granting academic degrees in Computer Generated Music is known to exist. Acknowledging the academic and scientific credentials of Computer Generated Music is not only a goal of the IEEE CS, but is a necessary task because future advances in, for instance, computer engineering and robotics do not seem to be related to development of, say, workstation hardware, formal languages, or other deterministic subjects, but will come from the technology of systems capable of understanding subtle meanings, discern aesthetic criteria and comprehend the general quality of objects - as opposed to a mere quantitative analysis. No doubt scientific progress will come from those domains with which music and musicology - because of their dealing with entities that, though very abstract on one hand, are capable on the other of generating concrete emotions - are equipped well above any other field. 2.3. The TCCGM will strive to make the results of the most advanced research in the field available to everybody and therefore encourages experimentation by practitioners of the field. Material will be distributed in form of books, CDs, possibly diskettes using audio, video and other media forms. 2.4. The TCCGM recognizes with satisfaction the existence of other organizations dedicated to Computer Music and related applications of computer science to music and musicology, and actively seeks possible ways of collaboration. In particular, it will not duplicate efforts, projects or other organized activities by any other society, but will try instead to support existing activities. Due to the fact that the TCCGM is part of a professional engineering society, it will be able to put some emphasis on those types of activities generally neglected by musical societies. Membership in the IEEE CS newly formed TCCGM in no way generates any conflict with membership in existing Computer Music societies. 2.5. The TCCGM wishes to provide a forum for exchange of ideas among interested practitioners, researchers, developers, manufacturers, maintainers, users, students and creative people in the field of Computer Generated Music. 2.6. The TCCGM wishes to promote and facilitate the sharing of ideas, methods, techniques, tools, standards, and experiences between TCCGM members for more effective use of Computer Generated Music technology. 2.7. The TCCGM gives great importance to contacts with organizations responsible for the definition of standards (e.g., the International MIDI Association) and with manufacturers of musical equipments. It is desired not only to act as a reference point, testing laboratory and knowledge pool for the industry of instruments for Computer Generated Music - for instance, by establishing objective evaluation criteria for music devices - but also to actively participate in the definition, possibly in the development, of systems that may be of interest to the community of people active in Computer Generated Music. In this context, the TCCGM is capable to lend its expertise both from an engineering as well as from an artistic standpoint. 2.8. The TCCGM intends to conduct workshops, conferences, and other meetings to advance both the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice of Computer Generated Music. 2.9. The TCCGM intends to publish and distribute among its members, and other IEEE- CS parties, newsletters, proceedings, standards proposals, tutorial works (both on paper and optical discs), and other appropriate material on a non-profit basis. 2.10. The TCCGM wishes to provide professional development opportunities for members in Computer Generated Music and related technologies. 2.11. The TCCGM intends to foster other activities for the advancement of the field of Computer Generated Music and the interests of TCCGM membership within the scope of TCCGM's charge, under the rules of the IEEE-CS, including cooperating with other groups in joint activities and projects. Article III - Membership 3.1. Any individual who files an application for membership with either the TCCGM Secretary (see 4.1 below) or the IEEE-CS headquarters is eligible for membership in the TCCGM. 3.2. Membership in the IEEE or the IEEE-CS is not required for membership in the TCCGM, but is encouraged. It is Computer Society policy that any TCCGM/TC publication, newsletter etc. goes only to Computer Society members. 3.3. Members are required to maintain a current mailing address with the TCCGM Secretary (see 4.4 below). Members who cannot be located are dropped from membership. E-mail address is not required, but is desirable. 3.4. If TCCGM at any time establishes membership dues, the payment of such dues for the current period (or within an established administrative grace period) is required to retain membership. Article IV - Officers of the Executive Committee 4.1. The officers of the TCCGM are a Chair, General Vice Chair, Secretary, and a number of Vice Chairs as identified below. 4.2. The duties and responsibilities of the TCCGM Chair are specified by the rules and procedures of the IEEE-CS. In addition to those duties, the TCCGM Chair appoints the remaining TCCGM officers, and the members of the Executive Committee ("ExCom"), see Article V. 4.3. The General Vice Chair assumes the duties of Chair in the absence of the Chair. The individual designated as General Vice Chair may simultaneously serve in another officer capacity. 4.4. The TCCGM Secretary keeps and publishes the minutes of ExCom, and handles such other correspondence and duties as are assigned by the TCCGM Chair. The Secretary handles mailing and tabulation of ballots when mail votes of the ExCom are held. The Secretary prepares an annual operating budget, collects and maintains account of funds received and expended, and coordinates TCCGM financial matters with the IEEE-CS. The Secretary maintains the membership records of TCCGM and coordinates TCCGM membership matters with the IEEE-CS. 4.5. The TCCGM Vice Chair for Computer Music leads and coordinates activities (conferences, publications, reports on methods, techniques and technologies, special events) in the area of Computer Music. 4.6. The TCCGM Vice-Chair for Music DTP (DeskTop Publishing) leads and coordinates activities (conferences, publications, reports on methods, techniques and technologies, special events) in the area of Music DTP. 4.7. The TCCGM Vice-Chair for Standards in Music & Related Technologies leads and coordinates activities (conferences, publications, standard specifications, applications) in the area of Standards in Music & Related Technologies. 4.8. The TCCGM Vice-Chair for Computer Assisted Musicology leads and coordinates activities (conferences, publications, reports on methods, techniques and technologies, special events) in the area of Computer Assisted Musicology. 4.9. Each of the above four vicechairmanships could be occupied by more than one person, depending on the appointment of the Chair. 4.10. The TCCGM Chair may from time to time appoint additional Vice Chairs with specified portfolios, such as Finance, Conferences, Publications, Publicity, Education, Special Projects and other specific areas of activity. 4.11. The Vice Chairs are appointed by the TCCGM Chair for a term of one-year, starting July 1. Vice Chairs are eligible for reappointment. Article V - The Executive Committee 5.1. The Executive Committee ("ExCom") serves as a source of guidance on policy, a resource for people to lead special projects, and for contact with the membership at large. 5.2. Each two years, the TCCGM Chair makes known a list of candidates for nomination to the ExCom. The ExCom will vote its preferences among the candidates by mail and forward the results of that vote to the TCCGM Chair. 5.3. There is no specified limit to the number of general ExCom members appointed by the TCCGM Chair, but it is suggested that the total size of the ExCom be kept within manageable and reasonable bounds. 5.4. Inactive ExCom members may be removed by the TCCGM Chair. Vacancies in the ExCom arising in any way are filled by appointment of the TCCGM Chair. 5.5. ExCom meetings are called by the TCCGM Chair or a majority of the ExCom members. The quorum for transaction of ExCom business is one-sixth (1/6) of its membership. Article VI - TC Chair Election Procedures. 6.1. Under normal circumstances, the TCCGM Chair is elected by the TCCGM membership for a two-year term. The TCCGM Chair must be an IEEE-CS member. The term of the office begins September 1. 6.2. TCCGM Chairs may be appointed by the Vice-President of Technical Activities if the TCCGM does not conduct an election, does not follow election procedures, or for a new TCCGM. 6.3. The following procedures are intended to assist the TCCGM in conducting elections. The TCCGM may modify these procedures provided their modifications are approved by the TAB Executive Committee. 6.3.1. The Task Force must form a Nominations Committee. The purpose of this committee is to identify individuals qualified and willing to serve as TCCGM Chair. The nominations committee shall be chaired by the immediate past Chair of the TCCGM. Should an individual not be able or willing to serve, the Chair of the committee will be selected from among the other members of the committee. The committee shall consist of three to seven individuals appointed by the current TCCGM Chair. No more than fifty-percent of this committee may be currently serving as the TCCGM Vice-Chair of a TCCGM subcommittee. 6.3.2. Nominations should be solicited from active members of the TCCGM field of interest. It is suggested, though not required, that members of the current Executive Committee be solicited. Presumably, these individuals are those with significant experience in the activities of the TCCGM. Prior to endorsing a nominee, the individual must be made aware of all rights and responsibilities of the position, both those determined by the TCCGM as well as those determined by the VP TAB. All nominees must be members of the IEEE Computer Society. 6.3.3. The nominations committee, by a majority vote, will determine the slate of the candidates. None of the candidates may be a member of the nominations committee. The slate must contain a minimum of two candidates. The slate shall then be presented to the TCCGM ExCom for balloting. 6.3.4. Additional nominations may be made by petition to the TCCGM ExCom. Petitions must be presented no later than four weeks after the nominations committee presents its slate to the ExCom. Petitions must contain a minimum of 2% of the TCCGM members who are eligible to vote. A petition begins by the candidate notifying the TCCGM Secretary of an intent to run. Recognizing the distributed nature of the TCCGM membership, members may join for a petition for nomination individually before the deadline by signed letter, FAX or electronic mail message that can be validated. 6.3.5. Upon acceptance of a slate of candidates by the TCCGM ExCom, the TCCGM Secretary will prepare a ballot (sorted alphabetically by family name) containing each candidate's name. The ballot must contain sufficient information to enable validation of the member's right to vote. A biography and position statement shall accompany the ballot. No distinction will be made on the ballot between candidates nominated by the nominations committee or by petition. 6.3.6. The final ballot and candidate information will then be sent to all current members of the TCCGM who are also members of the Computer Society. Only members of the IEEE CS may vote. The mechanism by which the TCCGM distributes ballots shall be determined by the TCCGM ExCom. A special mailing need not be performed. The TCCGM may choose to use the TCCGM newsletter, electronic mail, or advertisement in a CS periodical. Regardless of the mechanism used, the TCCGM must provide a mechanism by which it attempts to contact all TCCGM members. 6.3.7. A single point of contact, generally the TCCGM Secretary, shall be the recipient of the ballot. The TCCGM may accept returned ballots in a number of forms. Electronic mail, FAX and postal mail are all accepted forms. 6.3.8. The individual obtaining the largest number of votes shall be the TCCGM Chair. No intermediate counts may be released. The final numeric vote totals will be released only to the candidates and to the VP TAB. A TCCGM Chair may serve for a maximum of two consecutive terms of office. Article VII - Amendment of Charter Statement 7.1. This Charter Statement may be amended by vote of the ExCom upon written notice of the proposed amendment mailed by first class mail at least one month in advance. 7.2. Any amendment is subject to the approval of the IEEE-CS through its Vice President for Technical Activities. Article VIII - Other 8.1. The TCCGM will act in all matters within the parameters of IEEE-CS rules and policies, and with due regard for the tax exempt status of IEEE-CS. 8.2. The present statutes serve as guidelines to attain the general goals of the TCCGM and are not to be viewed as dogmas to be interpreted and quoted ad litteram. In particular, this paragraph explicitly forbids the use of any of the above paragraph, even in an unexceptional formal way, in a sense which is contrary to the spirit of the paragraph itself and of the purposes and statutes of the TCCGM. 8.3. This Charter Statement is effective January 1, 1993. Denis Baggi, Goffredo Haus October 15, 1992 Please reply to both: Denis, baggi@berkeley.edu Goffredo, music@imiucca.csi.unimi.it * * *