ML for Neuroscientists and Psychologists

On June 4th 2017, we gave a workshop on Machine learning for Neuroscientists and Psychologists at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), organised by CRBLM. The purpose of the workshop was to give the basics in Python to neuroscientists and psychologists (but non-computer scientists), to introduce the basics of machine learning (such as classification, dimension reduction and regression through toy examples) and to present state of the art tools for brain imaging analysis.

The workshop was delivered with Jessica Thompson and Floris van Vugt.

The workshop was given based on Python notebooks available on the Github repo:
https://github.com/florisvanvugt/workshop4june2017

 

Image result for montreal neurological institute       Image result for mcgill     Image result for crblm montreal

Skill Learning & NIME Workshop

We are organizing a workshop on Skill Learning and Interactive Music Technology prior to the NIME 2017 Conference (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) on May 15 in Copenhagen.

Organizers are: Baptiste Caramiaux, Marcelo Wanderley, Frédéric Bevilacqua, Ana Tajadura Jimenez, and Andrew McPherson.

Workshop website (call, program etc.): nime2017skills.netlify.com
Conference website: nime2017.org

Abstract: The fast advances of computer and sensor technologies have led researchers and artists to develop new opportunities for human expression through the design of novel digital musical instruments (DMIs) and interactive sound systems. One of the most critical challenges faced by designers, researchers and practitioners has been to account for learning expertise through their instruments or systems. It is indeed far from obvious how performers could develop expert skills in novel DMIs or how one could design DMIs that would facilitate complex motor skill learning, but also how interactive sound systems could generally benefit human learning, human development and well-being. In this workshop we aim to bring together researchers, designers, and artists in order to better understand what are the issues underlying the challenge of learning through interactive music technology. Its immediate is to identify key research questions, suitable computational tools and methods to support this research.

Movement.Futures Workshop

In January 2017, project members (B. Caramiaux, M. Wanderley & F. Bevilacqua) travelled to Vancouver for the Workshop Movement.Futures. The purpose of this workshop was to bring together researchers working on Movement and HCI (broadly speaking) as a research partnership aiming to prepare a SSHRC funding application (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada).

Participation of the workshop involves short presentation of current research and relevant projects such as the MIM project, and provocative pecha-kucha style presentation to discuss what could movement.futures be.

Workshop website https://movementfutures.netlify.com

(picture of one of the studio where the workshop took place)

May Residency at SFU

We have been invited at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver for the May Residency (May 24-28, 2016). The residency brings together researchers and artists exploring movement analysis, dance, music technology, robotics, machine learning, and sensorimotor learning.

The May Residency is an annual meeting part of the Moving Stories project led by Thecla Schiphorst:
http://movingstories.ca/events/movement-futures-may-residency-2016

During the workshop, we presented an overview of the research on sensorimotor learning from the viewpoint of cognitive psychology and music psychology. Then we presented our ongoing experimental study on music skill acquisition through motor task variations.

Abstract of the talk

Motor learning has long been studied in Cognitive Psychology and Neurosciences. However, most of these studies focus on simple motion tasks, which makes unclear how their results could generalise to more complex activities including music or dance. Particularly, in music performance, motor learning has been mostly tackled by comparing expert and novice performances leaving unexplored the underlying mechanisms of motor learning. In my talk, I will start by a literature review on (sensori-)motor learning in neurosciences, experimental psychology and psychology of music. Then I will introduce a work in progress aiming to examine mechanisms of motor learning in music performance. Finally, I will discuss insights in music pedagogy and potential transfer-of-knowledge to other practices such as dance.

Musical Gesture Workshop

We participated at a piano & gesture capture workshop at the GREAM, Groupe de Recherches Expérimentales sur l’Acte Musical, at Strasbourg University.

The workshop was organised by Pavlos Antoniadis, musician and researcher, and included presentations and hands-on session by Andrew McPherson, Frédéric Bevilacqua and myself. I presented computational tools for complex data analysis.

Here is a more detailed post about the event: https://pavlosantoniadis.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/24-03-2016-workshop-mener-une-etude-experimentale-de-linteraction-homme-machine-en-musique-concepts-outils-et-equipement/