UPDATE: Download a PDF of the conference program here.
2016 Conference Program (subject to change)
Saturday, January 16
8:00 Registration Opens
9:00 Welcome and Announcements
9:15–10:15 Session 1 Chair: Neil Lerner
“Music Minus One”: Timbral Adjustments and Compromises in First-Party FDS-to-NES conversions (ALAN ELKINS)
Genesis Does What Nintendon’t: Sound Chips and Composer Culture in the Early 16-Bit Era (KEVIN BURKE)
10:15–10:30 BREAK
10:30–11:30 Session 2 Chair: Elizabeth Medina-Gray
Affording Musical Creativity in Video Games (PAUL TUROWSKI)
Glass Beads and Graphic Analysis: A Ludist Account of Contemporary Music Theory (STEVEN BEVERBURG REALE)
11:30–1:30 LUNCH
1:30–2:30 Session 3 Chair: William Gibbons
Encultured Musical Codes in Bear McCreary’s Video Game Soundtracks (JOSEPH E JONES)
Turned On: Sensuality and Sound in Early Games (DANA PLANK)
2:30–2:45 BREAK
2:45–3:45 Session 4 Chair: Jim Buhler
Music in Video Game Trailers: A Preliminary Study (JAMES DEAVILLE)
Musical Depictions of Failure in Coherent and Incoherent Worlds (WILLIAM AYERS)
3:45–4:00 BREAK
4:00–5:00 Keynote Lecture by Kiri Miller
Kinesthetic listening: dance games, pop music, and embodied interfaces
5:00-7:00 Conference Reception
8:00 Registration Opens
9:00 Welcome and Announcements
9:15–10:15 Session 1 Chair: Neil Lerner
“Music Minus One”: Timbral Adjustments and Compromises in First-Party FDS-to-NES conversions (ALAN ELKINS)
Genesis Does What Nintendon’t: Sound Chips and Composer Culture in the Early 16-Bit Era (KEVIN BURKE)
10:15–10:30 BREAK
10:30–11:30 Session 2 Chair: Elizabeth Medina-Gray
Affording Musical Creativity in Video Games (PAUL TUROWSKI)
Glass Beads and Graphic Analysis: A Ludist Account of Contemporary Music Theory (STEVEN BEVERBURG REALE)
11:30–1:30 LUNCH
1:30–2:30 Session 3 Chair: William Gibbons
Encultured Musical Codes in Bear McCreary’s Video Game Soundtracks (JOSEPH E JONES)
Turned On: Sensuality and Sound in Early Games (DANA PLANK)
2:30–2:45 BREAK
2:45–3:45 Session 4 Chair: Jim Buhler
Music in Video Game Trailers: A Preliminary Study (JAMES DEAVILLE)
Musical Depictions of Failure in Coherent and Incoherent Worlds (WILLIAM AYERS)
3:45–4:00 BREAK
4:00–5:00 Keynote Lecture by Kiri Miller
Kinesthetic listening: dance games, pop music, and embodied interfaces
5:00-7:00 Conference Reception
Sunday, January 17
9:00–10:00 Session 5 Chair: Steven Beverburg Reale
Levels of Reality and Artifice in The Talos Principle (ELIZABETH HAMBLETON)
Topics in Video Game Music: The Sky in Recent Nintendo Franchise Games (SEAN ATKINSON)
10:00–11:00 Session 6 Chair: Elizabeth Medina-Gray
Music in the Time of Video Games: An Approach to Musically Mediated Gameplay (JULIANNE GRASSO)
Shattered Dreams and Neo-Polyphony: Narrative in Final Fantasy X (STEFAN GREENFIELD-CASAS)
11:00-11:15 BREAK
11:15-12:15 Session 7 Chair: Neil Lerner
“Awesome soundtrack, bro!”: How Gendered is Video Game Music? (MICHAEL AUSTIN)
Transgressing Four Dimensions of Gendered Dream Narratives: Musical and Spatial Androgyny in NiGHTS Into Dreams (STEPHEN ARMSTRONG)
12:15-1:30 LUNCH
1:30–2:30 Session 8 Chair: Steven Beverburg Reale
Compositional Perspectives on the Music in Indie Games: The Case of Fez (TIM HARBOUR)
Playing the Game Designer’s Game: Generating Music from a Single-Seed (DAN TRAMTE)
2:30-2:45 BREAK
2:45–4:15 Session 9 Chair: William Gibbons
The (Frying) Pan is Mightier than the Sword: Style and Parody in the Music of Earthbound (JUSTIN SEXTRO)
Assassin’s Creed as a Case Study of Musical Historicity in Video Games (SARAH POZDERAC-CHENEVEY)
Changing Musical Functions of the Moonlight Sonata in Video Games (PETE SMUCKER)
4:15–4:30 BREAK
4:30–5:30 Session 10 Chair: Jim Buhler
Real Music meets Virtual Video Gaming: Virginia Tech’s OPERAcraft Project (MICHAEL SAFFLE)
Peripheral Fantasies: Nobuo Uematsu, Misha Mansoor, and the Influence of Video Game Music on Progressive Metal (PATRICK SALLINGS)
9:00–10:00 Session 5 Chair: Steven Beverburg Reale
Levels of Reality and Artifice in The Talos Principle (ELIZABETH HAMBLETON)
Topics in Video Game Music: The Sky in Recent Nintendo Franchise Games (SEAN ATKINSON)
10:00–11:00 Session 6 Chair: Elizabeth Medina-Gray
Music in the Time of Video Games: An Approach to Musically Mediated Gameplay (JULIANNE GRASSO)
Shattered Dreams and Neo-Polyphony: Narrative in Final Fantasy X (STEFAN GREENFIELD-CASAS)
11:00-11:15 BREAK
11:15-12:15 Session 7 Chair: Neil Lerner
“Awesome soundtrack, bro!”: How Gendered is Video Game Music? (MICHAEL AUSTIN)
Transgressing Four Dimensions of Gendered Dream Narratives: Musical and Spatial Androgyny in NiGHTS Into Dreams (STEPHEN ARMSTRONG)
12:15-1:30 LUNCH
1:30–2:30 Session 8 Chair: Steven Beverburg Reale
Compositional Perspectives on the Music in Indie Games: The Case of Fez (TIM HARBOUR)
Playing the Game Designer’s Game: Generating Music from a Single-Seed (DAN TRAMTE)
2:30-2:45 BREAK
2:45–4:15 Session 9 Chair: William Gibbons
The (Frying) Pan is Mightier than the Sword: Style and Parody in the Music of Earthbound (JUSTIN SEXTRO)
Assassin’s Creed as a Case Study of Musical Historicity in Video Games (SARAH POZDERAC-CHENEVEY)
Changing Musical Functions of the Moonlight Sonata in Video Games (PETE SMUCKER)
4:15–4:30 BREAK
4:30–5:30 Session 10 Chair: Jim Buhler
Real Music meets Virtual Video Gaming: Virginia Tech’s OPERAcraft Project (MICHAEL SAFFLE)
Peripheral Fantasies: Nobuo Uematsu, Misha Mansoor, and the Influence of Video Game Music on Progressive Metal (PATRICK SALLINGS)
