[MEI-L] PhD vacancy in Big data history of music at Utrecht University

[Frans Wiering]

Dear all,

I'm happy to announce a vacancy for a 5-year PhD position at Utrecht 
University on the topic of Big data history of music. Deadline for 
applying is 1 November 2020. For a full description and online 
application form see 
https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs/phd-position-in-big-data-history-of-music-10-fte 
. Please forward this message to whoever may be interested.

Best regards,

Frans Wiering


    Job description

The documented history of western music spans over a millennium. 
Generations of scholars have written detailed accounts of compositional 
techniques, musical styles and genres, and influential composers and 
their masterworks. Hidden below the great variety of western music are 
long-term patterns of historical change, which are more difficult to 
study when using traditional close reading methods of musicology. 
Computational approaches analysing large amounts of musical works may 
help to unearth these patterns.

During the 16th and 17th centuries a transition took place from 
modality, with its emphasis on melodic structures, to harmonic tonality 
governed by chord progressions. Musicologists still struggle to 
understand this transition based on the study of individual 
compositions. The project /Computational ANalysis/ /of TOnal STRuctures 
in EArly Music (CANTOSTREAM)/ proposes a big data approach instead. The 
project’s aim is to create and use machine learning methods for ‘distant 
listening’ to a large cross-section of the available music, in order to 
a gain deeper insight into the historical development of tonal 
structures during these centuries.

As the prospective PhD candidate on this 5-year project, you will be 
involved in studying the large body of early music that has been 
recorded since the late 1960s. In addition, you will analyse collections 
of encoded scores and large-scale metadata resources such as RISM. 
Relevant features include modes, scales, dissonance, cadences, melodic 
and harmonic patterns.

We offer a diverse set of tasks:

  * assemble the musical corpus;
  * select and operationalise relevant musical concepts;
  * review, create and evaluate machine learning methods for the
    analysis of musical corpora;
  * analyse historical change in relation to factors such as
    geographical origin, genre, function and ensemble composition;
  * relate the outcomes to musicological insights and research problems.

In addition, you will partake in teaching Bachelor's and Master's 
courses, offered by the Department of Information and Computing 
Sciences. The teaching commitments are limited to a maximum of 30% of 
employment time.


    Qualifications

We are looking for a candidate who is versatile and persistent and who has:

  * a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data
    Science, Information Science, Computational Musicology or a related
    field;
  * well-developed programming skills;
  * a strong motivation for interdisciplinary research;
  * a working knowledge of music (notation, basic theory);
  * a passion for music history;
  * affinity for academic teaching;
  * good communication skills in English, both in speech and in writing.


    Offer

We offer an exciting opportunity to contribute to an ambitious and 
international education programme with highly motivated students and to 
conduct your own research project at a renowned research university. You 
will receive appropriate training, personal supervision, and guidance 
for both your research and teaching tasks, which will provide an 
excellent start to an academic career.
In addition, you will have

  * the opportunity to work in a collaborative, social, and dedicated
    team of Researchers;
  * a full-time position for 5 years;
  * a full-time gross salary that starts at €2,395 and increases to
    €3,061 per month in the fourth year (scale P of the Collective
    Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (cao));
  * benefits including 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
  * a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible
    employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch
    Universities.

In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the cao for Dutch 
Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. 
For example, there are agreements on professional development, leave 
arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your 
terms of employment yourself via the Employment Conditions Selection 
Model. This is how we like to encourage you to continue to grow.

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dr. Frans Wiering
Opleidingsdirecteur Informatiekunde
Associate Professor Interaction Technology
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Utrecht University
Department of Information and Computing Sciences (ICS)
Buys Ballot Building, office 482
Princetonplein 5
3584 CC Utrecht
Netherlands
mail:F.Wiering at uu.nl
tel:  +31-30-2536335
www:http://www.uu.nl/staff/FWiering/0
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