RMA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2011
HORIZONS
University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex. BN1 9QU
14 - 16 July 2011
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Conference Abstract: Building on the boundaries theme of the 2010 RMA Annual
Conference, this conference explores new horizons affecting music and its
study. As a metaphor, the concept of horizons is replete with connotations
that operate within music and the way we think about and conceptualise it.
Emblematic of an apparent boundary between two entities (literally earth and
sky), horizons represent the limit or range of perception or knowledge.
They articulate the scope of our interest, education and understanding,
whether wide or narrow. We speak of the dawning of new, emerging horizons;
the setting of past or vanishing horizons; and even the fusion of horizons.
The aim of this conference is to encourage practitioners and researchers
alike to explore the ways in which new and emerging horizons are affecting
diverse areas of musical research. Papers are invited on any aspect of the
concept of horizons in musical research from any field (e.g. composition,
performance, music history and analysis, film music studies, popular
music/jazz studies etc.). In particular, the conference welcomes papers
addressing or engaging with the following topics:
* The rise of the impact agenda for research:
The study of music is under increasing pressure to articulate its wider
socio-economic and cultural impact beyond the confines of its own
discipline. What losses and gains does this new horizon offer for musical
research? What does impact-sensitive musical research or practice look
like?
* The growth of digital humanities:
The last decade has ushered into mainstream research culture an increasing
awareness of, and reliance on, digital humanities in musical research and
practice. The use of information technology, the creation of digital
archives and research with technology has all enhanced our interaction with
music. As a beyond-text art form, music and its research stands to gain
much from a deeper engagement with digital humanities but what are the
implications of this activity?
* The development of practice as research:
The once apparent horizon-as-boundary between practice and research in music
has been the object of much rethinking in recent years. Practice has
increasingly gained acceptance - even come to the fore - as a mode of
critical research in its own right and the intersection between practice and
conventional text-based research has yielded much for many scholars,
practitioners and scholar-practitioners. What new insights have been
generated in the field?
* The future of critical musicology:
The last several decades have witnessed the relatively late arrival of
postmodern, contextual approaches to studying music, eclipsing its former
horizons. Can we yet talk of beyond postmodern horizons in musicology and
what are the future horizons for understanding music?
* The engagement with multimedia and site-specific environments:
Recent years have witnessed a rapid expansion in music's engagement with
multimedia and site-specific environments. How has the study of music
embraced these new horizons?
* Themed sessions and individual papers on opera and music theatre:
In conjunction with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the University of
Sussex's Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre, papers or practical
demonstrations are particularly invited for themed sessions on any aspect of
opera and music theatre addressing any of the above issues.
The conference will include the Peter Le Huray Lecture for 2011, to be given
by Prof. Tim Carter (David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), with keynote and invited
presentations from Prof. Simon McVeigh (Goldsmiths, University of London);
Prof. Nicholas Till (Director of the Centre for Research in Opera and Music
Theatre, University of Sussex) and Graham Hobbs (Publishing Director for
Arts, Humanities and Education, Routledge)
Optional social trip to Glyndebourne Festival opera production:
As part of the social activities for the conference, there will be an
optional trip to the Glyndebourne Festival production of Donizetti's
L'elisir d'amore on July 14th. Ticket prices available at c. 75 GBP or c.
105 GBP. Please indicate when submitting your paper if you would like to
purchase one of these tickets. This information is needed at this stage
purely to help us reserve the appropriate number of tickets. It will in no
way affect decisions about whether papers are accepted or not by the
programme committee.
Call for proposals:
Proposals of 250 words maximum are invited for the following:
* Papers (20 minutes maximum, with 10 minutes discussion)
* Lecture-recitals and performances /demonstrations (30 minutes maximum,
with 15 minutes discussion)
Proposals of 650 words maximum are invited for the following:
* Themed paper sessions of three or four papers (to include a proposal of
300 words maximum outlining the purpose of the themed session, along with
brief explanations of each of the individual papers to be included - each
paper to be 20 minutes maximum plus ten minutes discussion)
DEADLINE for proposals: 5pm (GMT), Friday 26 November 2010
Results and preliminary programme announced: late December 2010
Please submit by email, in an attachment including your full name and
contact details, to the RMA Horizons Conference Administrator, Terry Bryan,
at [log in to unmask] . If you are a student, please say so.
Proposals will be judged anonymously. Proposals sent in by students will be
given special consideration.
Further details will be added to the conference website:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/mfm/research/music/rmahorizonsconference
RMA Programme Committee: Katherine Brown (KCL), John Irving (IMR), Elaine
King (Hull), Nicholas McKay (Sussex), Philip Olleson (Nottingham)
--
Dr Nicholas McKay
Head of Music
Senior Lecturer in Music
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton,
BN1 9RQ, U.K.
Tel: +44 (0)1273 678137
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