CALLS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN POPULAR MUSIC
Call for Papers: Chicago Music: Histories, People, and Scenes
AMS Pre-Conference Symposium
Submission deadline: April 1, 2024
November 13, 2024
Holtschneider Performance Center
DePaul University
2330 N. Halsted
Chicago, IL
We invite scholars, musicians, and arts programmers from diverse disciplinary perspectives to submit proposals for “Chicago Music: Histories, People, and Scenes,” a symposium to be held at DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, IL on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, prior to the American Musicological Society meeting, and sponsored by the AMS Popular Music Study Group and DePaul University. The symposium focuses on four themes that invite consideration of how music has impacted and been shaped by Chicago’s unique culture, economy, geography, history, and people:
Chicago music histories
Festivals
Public arts programming
Identities, neighborhoods, and communities.
The goal of the symposium is to foster conversations among participants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and establish a groundwork for documenting and understanding Chicago’s musical life in its full richness.
The City of Chicago has been an important migratory and trade crossroads in North America, and as such, an influential city for many musical genres, including art music, blues, gospel, house, industrial, jazz, polka, punk/hardcore, soul, technobanda, and many others. Furthermore, power dynamics framed by factors such as class, ethnicity, geography, gender, race, religion, and sexuality, among others, contributed to the ways in which these scenes developed across city neighborhoods. In this symposium, we wish to highlight the significant historical trajectories, institutions, politics, people, and communities that have shaped the city’s music scenes. Music has played a central role in Chicago’s public cultural life since the 19th century, including large-scale public performances such as the Chicago Jubilee, organized by Patrick S. Gilmore, in 1873 to commemorate the city’s rebirth after the 1871 Chicago fire, the construction of architectural monuments to performance, such as the Auditorium Theatre in 1889, and the founding of major cultural institutions such as the Chicago Symphony. Neighborhood institutions have long supported local music scenes, such as South Side churches and dance halls that supported the growth of gospel, blues, and jazz, which blossomed into national and international genres. Industries such as music publishing, piano manufacturing, and recording studios flourished in the 20th century. In the 21st century, a variety of institutions support and promote Chicago’s music scenes: for-profit venues and festival promoters; non-profit arts organizations; community music schools and post-secondary conservatories, colleges, and universities; and civic bodies such as the Chicago Parks District, the Chicago Public Library, and the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). There is much exemplary scholarship that focuses on specific genres of Chicago music. And yet, there are few if any sources that document and contextualize a cross-section of the city’s musical life. Chicago’s music scenes deserve closer attention, particularly from scholars engaged in discourses that transcend boundaries of genre and historical period.
Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes, followed by a generous amount of time for discussion after each panel. Proposals of 250 words are due April 1, 2024, and should also include a brief (three or four sentence) biography. Please email text or Word files (no .pdfs), along with any questions, to chicagomusicsymposium2024@gmail.com. Notifications are expected by May 2, 2024. The organizers anticipate co-editing a proposed volume that includes contributions from this symposium.
Program committee: Kate Brucher (DePaul University), Andrew Mall (Northeastern University), and Michael Allemana (University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago)
Website: Chicago Music: Histories, People, and Scenes: https://amspop.wordpress.com/2024/02/09/ams-pmsg-2024-pre-conference-symposium/
Call for Chapters
Popular Music and Politics in the UK
Ian Peddie (editor)
Popular Music and Politics in the UK will be a comprehensive interdisciplinary volume addressing all aspects of popular music and politics in relation to the United Kingdom. The volume will examine the complexities and challenges central to questions of how politics and music have interacted, against, upon and with one another, how music and politics have functioned and evolved over time, and what this might tell us about each medium and about the societies from which such music has emerged. All approaches that attend the admittedly broad concept of music and politics are encouraged. Some possible directions might include genre studies, historical approaches, regional studies, protest music, identity politics, as well as discussions that consider the importance of gender, race, and class and various political positions and dispositions. Potential contributors should also feel free to suggest topic/approaches/themes for chapters. Completed chapters will be c. 6, 000 – 8, 000 words in length.
Proposals of 300 words should include:
Deadline for submission of abstracts/proposals: May 31 2024
Send your proposal to: ian.peddie@sulross.edu
2nd Annual International Beatles Symposium: Celebrating A Hard Day’s Night at 60
July 5-7, 2024
Hosted by Liverpool Hope University
School of Creative and Performing Arts
Call for Papers
The Music Team members at Liverpool Hope University are delighted to announce an interdisciplinary, international Beatles symposium that will be held on July 5-7, 2024 at the School of Creative and Performing Arts, located in the heart of Liverpool’s vibrant city centre. This academic symposium honours the 60th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ album and film, A Hard Day’s Night. As the dynamic opening chord of the title track signalled a sea change in popular culture, this moment in music history is worth further, in-depth exploration. The symposium will feature keynote addresses from leading Beatles scholars Professor Walter Everett (University of Michigan), Professor Katie Kapurch (Texas State University), and Professor Kenneth Womack (Monmouth University). Along with these presentations, there will also be a screening of A Hard Day’s Night, as well as sessions featuring other special guests.
You are cordially invited to submit abstracts for individual, 20-minute presentations or for panel presentations focusing on scholarly explorations of the musical, cultural, historical, political, and/or social contexts of the Beatles’ and solo Beatles’ works. We welcome in particular proposals regarding:
● The creation, influences and legacy of A Hard Day’s Night
● The influence of the music and photography of Mike McCartney, in honour of his 80th birthday
● The impact of Pattie Boyd on 1960s counterculture, in honour of her 80th birthday
● The creation and legacy of George Harrison’s Dark Horse, of Ringo Starr’s Goodnight Vienna, of John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges (in celebration of the 50th anniversaries of those albums), or of Paul McCartney’s Run Devil Run (in celebration of the 25th anniversary of that album’s release)
We also welcome proposals for scholarly explorations of the Beatles or solo Beatles works, including but not limited to presentations concerning the Beatles and:
● Composition
● Diversity
● Education
● Film
● Fandom
● Gender
● Global approaches
● Inclusion
● Influences
● Language
● Legacy
● Literature
● Lyrics
● Music production
● Music theory
● Musicianship
● Nostalgia
● Parodies
● Poetry
● Race
● Social media
● Television
● Text
● Tourism
Abstracts for individual presentations should be no more than 300 words in length. Panel presentation submissions must include a panel title, along with abstract submissions from each of the panel participants. In addition to the abstract of no more than 300 words, please include 1) a list of any required equipment (e.g., piano, sound system, projector) for the presentation and 2) the presenter’s name, contact information, affiliation, and a short biography (100 words max). Please submit the proposal as a .docx or .pdf file to music@hope.ac.uk
Abstract submissions are due 11:59pm GMT Feb. 16th, 2024
Applicants will be notified by Feb. 23rd, 2024 regarding acceptance of their presentation proposal.
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