Forwarded by request:


Call for Papers

Performing Knowledge Conference
25-26 April, 2016
Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Bringing together performing musicians engaging in practice-led research, ethnographers of Western art music, and psychologists specialising in tacit knowledge research, this two-day conference will explore performers’ interpretative processes and their uses of tacit knowledge (also called implicit, procedural, or embodied knowledge) in understanding the explicit knowledge presented in historical documents, analyses, and performance treatises. Keynote participants include Professor Tom Beghin (fortepianist), Margaret Faultless (violinist), Professor Christopher Page (guitarist), Chris Maene (instrument builder), Professor Tina K. Ranmarine (musician and anthropologist), Dr Satinder Gill (experimental psychologist), and Professor John Rink (Director, Cambridge Centre for Musical Performance Studies).

Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers, 30-minute lecture-recitals (each will be followed by 10 minutes of discussion), and posters. Presentations that engage critically with theories and methodologies of researching performers’ tacit knowledge, such as the use of ethnographic techniques, practice-led research, or the analysis of recorded audio and audio-visual performance, are especially welcome. Interdisciplinary perspectives are also invited, for example, papers that draw on opera or dance studies, material studies, or cognitive studies in music in discussing the theme of the conference. Topics may include:
Performers’ creative engagement with historical documents and objects, extending beyond the conventional remit of historically-informed performance practice studies.
The influence of instrument affordances on performers’ interpretative choices.
How musicians communicate through gesture and/or vocalisation.
The challenges and potentials of self-reflexive research in performance.
The influence of tradition on performers’ interpretative ideas.
The dynamics of performers’ interpretative decision-making processes in practice, rehearsals, and/or public performance (both solo and in ensemble).
Please submit proposals by 5 February 2016 including:
Name and institutional affiliation (if applicable).
Curriculum Vitae and 100-word biography.
Title and abstract of presentation, max. 450 words. For lecture-recitals, please include programme details of any repertoire to be performed (details are excluded from the word count).
A list of technical requirements (computer projection and a Steinway grand piano will be available).
Proposals will be assessed by the conference committee and applicants will be notified of the outcome by 15 February. The registration fee for delegates (whether presenting or observing) will be £90 (full) and £50 (students). Early-bird registration (by 19 February) and RMA member rates are £80 (full) and £40 (students). Registration fee includes all concerts, meals (excluding breakfast), and refreshments. Additional tickets to Tom Beghin’s Beethoven recital may be purchased through ADC Ticketing (£25 / £15).

The conference will be hosted by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in collaboration with the Faculty of Music and the School of Arts and Humanities (University of Cambridge), the Cambridge Centre for Musical Performance Studies, and the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

Proposals and queries may be emailed to [log in to unmask] 
For further details, please see: https://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/conferences/events/perfknow/

Sheila Guymer and Rachel Stroud (conference coordinators)