coming soon

last modified: 07 02, 2007

Rencon 2004 at NIME - Performance Rendering Contest

[ Top/ Results]

The 4th Rencon (Contest for Performance Rendering Systems) http://shouchan.ei.tuat.ac.jp/~rencon/ will be a special event of NIME 2004 (New Interface for Musical Expression 2004) http://www.suac.net/NIME/ that will be held in Hamamatsu, Japan, from June 3 to 5, 2004.

+General Information

Rencon is an annual international event that began in 2002. Its goal is to foster research into computational models of and methods for the generation of expressive musical performances. In the past, Rencon was held as a workshop associated with a musical contest that provided a forum for presenting and discussing the latest research in automatic performance rendering and, more generally, computer-based music performance research.

Rendering expressive performance in itself involves complex perceptual, cognitive, psychological, and aesthetic processes. It therefore represents a broad spectrum and constitutes a challenging research theme for computer music research. Moreover, music performance is a promising field for investigating basic principles of human emotion, intelligence, creativity and individuality. Rencon is also considered a landmark research project in the sense that its ultimate goal is the development of a performance-rendering machine that will win "Chopin Concours" by 2050, similar to RoboCup. The process of reaching that goal is expected to spawn many related research fields and yield many interesting results.

+Rencon at NIME 2004

*Paper presentations

Papers that discuss general issues of musical expression, processing methods relevant to music performance, and on questions of evaluation will be considered for the Rencon Workshop, which will be organized at NIME 2004.

Topics related to Rencon will also include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Theoretical aspects
    • understanding tacit musical knowledge
    • analysis of emotional aspects of performance and listening
    • creativity and individuality
  • Methodology
    • modeling performance rendering processes
    • musical data mining/retrieval/pattern recognition
    • reasoning on continuous and discrete information
    • learning capability
  • Systems and applications
    • interactive real-time control and user interfaces
    • collaborative, autonomous systems
    • control techniques for a computer-controlled piano
    • evaluating performances

The musical genres treated by the paper presentations are open, not limited to classical music.

For papers to the Rencon Workshop, submission guidelines follow those of NIME 2004. Papers are treated in the same way as all other papers submitted to NIME 2004. Please check the Web page: http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/submission.html.
(Please check for the keyword "Rencon" when submitting.)

*Musical Contest

In the past, Rencon provided good opportunities for participants to listen to and compare musical expression generated by performance-rendering systems. The Rencon musical contest at NIME 2004 will be held during the demonstration period, 1 to 2:30 PM, on one day during NIME 2004.

There will be three sections in the Rencon musical contest at NIME 2004: compulsory, open, and Gnirut test. The compulsory section aims to pursue common ground for evaluating performances rendered by computer systems. An open section and a Gnirut test are also planned, in order to make Rencon a pleasant and friendly event.

Compulsory section
This section will specify rather rigid commonality in playing musical data. Music submission is restricted to a composition by F. Chopin. A GigaPiano (Nemesys) will be used as the common sound source, and the compulsory section will be held in a Turing Test style. After the submitted musical data are anonymously performed at random, audiences will rate performances by humans and those by computer systems, taking into account the degree of humanness. They will also indicate their preference for each performance. The award, called the Rencon Award, will be presented to the performance generated by a system evaluated as being the most human-like. If there are more than one such systems are ranked as the top, preferences will be considered.
Open section
In the open section, audiences will listen to anonymously played performances and evaluate each performance on their subjective preferences. No musical genres, instruments, nor sound sources are specified in this section.
Performances by instruments with new interfaces such as those presented at NIME, as well as synthesized singing voices, wind, strings, and percussion are welcomed. (Well-known musical pieces are recommended because of lively voting, although any kinds of musical pieces will be accepted.)
Gnirut test
This is another type of Turing Test where machine-ness is judged by audiences. Music submission is restricted to a short piece composed by J. S. Bach. A GigaPiano will be used as the common sound source. The submissions are performed in a similar way to the Compulsory section.

*Submission Instructions

Performance data should be in SMF for the compulsory section and Gnirut test. Any format will be accepted for the open section. Performances by humans are also welcome in the compulsory section and Gnirut test.

Besides performance data, a description of the used system in less than 400 words is required. If a performance is by a human, the description should include the performer's musical experience in less than 400 words.

toMusic Entry

*Important dates

  • January 31, 2004 (Sat)
    Deadline for paper submission (closed)
  • February 27, 2004 (Fri)
    Deadline for music submission (closed)
  • March 15, 2004 (Mon)
    Acceptance notification (both for paper and music) (closed)
  • April 15, 2004 (Thu)
    Deadline for camera ready paper submission (closed)
  • May 7, 2004 (Fri)
    Deadline for music data submission (closed)

*Notes

  • After Rencon at NIME 2004, all the submitted SMFs will be placed on a Web page, and thus must be free of any copyright problems.
    If copyright problems may occur, please let the organizing committee
    know beforehand.
  • Participants need to register for the main NIME 2004 conference.
  • Web pages for submission:
    paper: http://www.suac.net/NIME/NIME04/submission.html (closed)
    music: toMusic Entry

+Organizing Committee: