CFP: Theorizing African American Music Preconference, Univ. of Colorado, Denver, 8 Nov 2023

[AMS]

Drawing on the success of the in-person “Theorizing African American Music” conference that took place at Case Western Reserve University in June 2022, we are happy to announce a one-day in-person preconference to the fall Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory, which takes place November 9–12, 2023, in Denver CO. The preconference will take place on Wednesday, November 8, on the campus of the University of Colorado–Denver, and will feature paper sessions, a keynote by Fredara Hadley, and an evening concert featuring legendary trumpeter Eddie Henderson, among other performers.

“Theorizing African American Music Preconference” invites paper proposals of no more than 250 words. Each presenter will have a twenty-minute time slot consisting of a fifteen-minute paper and five minutes of Q&A on topics including but not limited to:

African Americans in music theory.
African American and African diasporic figures in classical music.
African American opera.
The history of racial exclusionism in the American academic study of music, how this exclusionism affected African American music, and how this music adapted as a result.
Analytical approaches to specific pieces/works, expressions, or musical genres with roots in African Americanism.
Musical genres with roots in African Americanism, such as blues, boogie-woogie, disco, doo- wop, funk, gospel, hiphop, jazz, Motown, ragtime, rap, rock, soul, among others.
African American music’s reception in American music institutions.
The intersection of African American musical traditions with other musics.
All paper proposals should be submitted via this Google Form by 11:59 p.m. (EST) on June 30, 2023. Please contact Philip Ewell with any questions about submitting a proposal at TheorizingAAMusic (at) gmail (dot) com. Receipt of all proposals will be confirmed, and applicants will be informed of decisions in mid-July 2023.

Program Committee:
Kathy Bullock
Stephanie Doktor
Philip Ewell
Kevin Holt
Christopher Jenkins