Welcome to The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch

IASPM UK and Ireland Biennial Conference: Popular Music: Creativity, Practice and Praxis

Posted: November 4th, 2015 | Filed under: Calls for Papers, IASPM Conferences | Comments Off on IASPM UK and Ireland Biennial Conference: Popular Music: Creativity, Practice and Praxis

University of Sussex and the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (Brighton)
8-10 September 2016

Creativity is clearly a vital aspect of popular music and one which may be understood from a variety of perspectives, for example those of educators, composers, musicians, fans, music industry workers and critics. No doubt many of these perspectives overlap, not least for those with a foot in more than one of these camps. At the same time there are divergent opinions of how best to teach, study, theorise or practise creativity and this can hopefully lead to instructive debate.

Proposals should indicate what new perspectives are being offered to the discussion of popular music creativity. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • composition
  • music production
  • creativity in performance
  • the creative fan
  • music education and creative pedagogy
  • interactions of technology and creativity
  • music and media, practice and praxis
  • creativity, culture and musical worlds
  • creativity/identity/politics
  • creativity, age and experience
  • creativity, practice and otherness
  • creativity, practice, praxis and protest
  • curating creativity / creative pasts / memory and creativity
  • creating the future
  • the resurrection of the author
  • social authorship and art worlds

Proposals are invited for:

  • organised panels (3 or 4 thematically connected papers, 1½ or 2 hours)
  • round-table discussion sessions (3-4 shorter presentations on a given topic not exceeding 10 mins each, chaired discussion, 1½ or 2 hours)
  • structured workshops (targeting PG students and/or early-career researchers: these could include one or more facilitators focusing on theoretical, methodological, or career-related topics, e.g. publishing, grant applications etc., 1½ or 2 hours)
  • listening/viewing/practice groups (including audio/visual extracts or performances with minimal or no verbal presentations, 1½ or 2 hours)
  • individual papers (20 mins + 10 mins for questions)
  • poster/digital display material

Proposals should be sent to [email protected] by Monday 25th January 2016. In order to facilitate the anonymous peer-review process, please make sure that your proposal conforms to the following formats.

For organised panels/round-table sessions/structured workshops/listening or viewing groups: please include names, affiliations and email addresses of proposer/facilitator and individual contributors, abstract for the session (c.300 words) and abstract for each contribution (c.200 words). Make sure that the names of the proposer and contributors do not appear in the abstracts.

For individual presentations: please include name, affiliation and email address of the presenter, and an abstract of no more than 300 words. Make sure that the name of the presenter does not appear in the abstract.

For poster/digital display material: please include name, affiliation and email address of the presenter, a short description of the material, and any technical requirements.

Participants in the conference will be required to be IASPM members.

Members of the IASPM UK and Ireland branch should feel free to make use of the regional branch mailing list – [email protected] – to propose panel ideas and invite potential interested panellists to reply off-list.

Andrew Goodwin Memorial Prize
The winner of the Andrew Goodwin Memorial Prize will be announced during the conference. This is an annual prize for best postgraduate student paper on any aspect of popular music from any disciplinary perspective. The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2015. For further details see http://www.iaspm.org.uk/andrew-goodwin-memorial-prize/.

Organising committee
University of Sussex: Richard Elliott, Lucy Robinson, Michael Bull
BIMM Institute Brighton: Jonathan Stewart, Mark Irwin, Richard Harvey
Chair of IASPM UK & Ireland: Rupert Till