Taxonomies of Orchestration
This multifaceted and wide ranging project aims to develop several taxonomies related to the practice, perception, and discussion of orchestration, with the long-term aim of each taxonomy being useful as a tool for analysis and teaching. The taxonomies currently being developed and updated include:
Perceptual effects of orchestration related to auditory grouping principles (led by Prof. Stephen McAdams)
Orchestration techniques discussed in treatises and taught in orchestration classes (led by Prof. Denys Bouliane)
Emergent perceptual and affective qualities of instrumental combinations or sound-processing techniques and their cultural associations
Instrumental playing techniques, particularly extended techniques used in the contemporary music repertoire
Functional Orchestration related to musical aims of composers ( led by Prof. Fabien Lévy)
The Aural Sonology approach to sound-based (as opposed to interval-based) music (led by Prof. Lasse Thoresen, with Dominique Lafortune, Philippe MacNab-Séguin and Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière)
Custom-built software — OrchView — to annotate orchestral scores using various or personalized taxonomies. These annotations can be directly linked with the ORCHARD database (led by Dr. Félix Baril and Baptiste Bohelay)
Metatimbre and grouping related timbres (led by Prof. Victor Cordero)
Timbre and Form in piano music (led by Dr. Nathalie Hérold)
Orchestration and Timbre-based structures and forms (led by Dr. Matt Zeller and Dr. Kit Soden)
and further explorations of the role of timbre in formal and harmonic analysis, text analysis of treatises and transcribed interviews with composers, orchestrators and conductors, and audio signal analyses of timbre.
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