CCRMA Summer Workshops:Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics

I would love to take a few summer workshops at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, CCRMA.  I took a computer music technology class back in 2003 and have longed for more. 

Here is the schedule of workshops at CCRMA, from the CCRMA website:

6/17 - 6/21   Network Sound and Data:  Juan Pablo Caceres and Carr Wilkerson
6/24 - 6/28  Intelligent Audio Systems: Foundations and Applications of Music Information Retrieval:  Jay LeBoeuf, Leigh Smith, Steve Tjoa
7/8 - 7/12      Aspects of Sound in Art: Elaine Buckholtz and Sasha Leitman
7/15 -  7/19   SuperCollider: Fernando Lopez Lezcano and Bruno Ruviaro
7/22 - 7/26    The World of Auditory and Music Perception: Takako Fujioka, Poppy Crum, Pierre Divenyi
7/29 - 8/2      Music and Mobile Computing:  Mark Cerqueira and Spencer Salazar 
8/12 - 8/16    New Music Controllers: Edgar Berdahl and Michael Gurevich
8/19 - 8/23    Stompbox Design: Edgar Berdahl and Esteban Maestre
8/26 - 8/30    3D Printing for Acoustics :  John Granzow , Marlo Kohn, Scott Summit 
9/9 - 9/13      Perceptual Audio Coding:  Marina Bosi and Rich Goldberg


Tuition is $450.00 for each workshop. More information can be found on the CCRMA site.


If you happen to be interested, CCRMA offers undergraduate and graduate university degrees.   In addition to traditional courses, such as "Musical Acoustics" and "Seminar in Music Perception", other courses are offered, such as "Future Media/Media Archaeology", "Interactive Sound Art", and "Neuroplasticity and Musical Gaming".

I'd be just as happy with a visit to IRCAM, the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics and Music in France.

URBAN MUSICAL GAME: Play with musical-sensor sports balls and friends (Real-Time Musical Interactions team at IRCAM)

One of my favorite things at CHI 2012 was the Interactivity sessions.  I especially liked the  Urban Musical Game, played with musical sports balls.  I didn't want to stop playing!


This just might transform P.E. and recess.


Below is a version of the game from 2011 created for the Future en Seine festival by the Real-Time Musical Interaction team at the IRCAM, in collaboration with NoDesign, Phonotonic, and composer Andrea Cera:

The balls in the game contain wireless sensors, which trigger sounds and interactive music.  It is supported by MO  (Modular Musical Object) technology, and Max/MSP. Below is a video of the balls in action (in French).

Nicolas Rasamimanana - Phonotonic, Paris, France 
Frederic Bevilacqua - IRCAM, France 
Julien Bloit - IRCAM, France Norbert Schnell - IRCAM, France 
Emmanuel Flety - IRCAM, France Andrea Cera - IRCAM, France 
Uros Petrevski - NoDesign, France 
Jean-Louis Frechin - NoDesign, France


Comment:
This would be a great activity for the large therapy room at Wolfe, a program for students with significant disabilities (including autism), where I spend most of my work days as a school psychologist.  I'd love to have it demonstrated in-person for students at the CATA (Central Academy of Technology & Arts), the high school I also serve, to inspire students about the creative aspects of technology.


I would also like to create my experiments with this sort of technology, based on a number of interesting ideas that have popped up in my mind over the past decade or so.  I'm especially curious to know how this could work in environments that also have multiple large interactive visual displays....


How can I make it so?
(Update:  It is a small world.  I looked up one of the people involved in the Urban Musical Game on Facebook and found that we share three mutual FB "friends".)