CFP: Society for American Music

Call for Submissions
Society for American Music

March 17-21, 2010

Vale la pena mencionar que esta sociedad esta abierta a ponencias sobre todas las musicas de America -- norte/sur/central/Caribe/etc -- y sus manifestaciones en otras partes del mundo. En el pasado se ha aceptado unas ponencias en espanol -- aunque mejor presentar en ingles para que la otra gente entienda. Los mexicanos, y de pronto otros latinoamericanos no requieren visa para entrar en Canada

2010 Program Committee: Michael Pisani, chair; Drew Edward Davies, Robin Elliott, Larry D. Hamberlin, Mary Ingraham, Felicia M. Miyakawa, and Gillian M. Rodger

The Society for American Music invites proposals for papers, papers on one of two seminar topics (see “New Seminar Format” below), additional panels of 2-3 papers, concerts, lecture-performances, and scholarly posters for its 36th Annual Conference. The conference will be held in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) March 17-21, 2010. The submission deadline for all proposals is Monday, 15 June 2009.

In addition to proposals on the topics of the seminar panels, we welcome proposals involving all facets of musical life in the Americas and manifestations of these cultures anywhere in the world. For this conference we especially welcome proposals addressing:

• Cultural politics and the nation: the role of federal policies, government institutions, and public organizations in the creation, performance, and reception of music
• The role of French culture in shaping North American musical life, with a focus on Quebec, but also including Acadian and Creole cultures.
• “The Idea of North” (to cite Glenn Gould). [Are there measurable aspects of an identifiable “Northern culture” in music, comparable to the U.S.’s “Western” or “Southern” traditions?]
• Cross-border musical relations in the Americas (affecting musicians, institutions, organizations, cultural policies, etc.)
• The impact of immigration on musical life in the United States and Canada
• Music in Canada, including classical, popular, aboriginal, and traditional music (considered either in isolation or in contact with each other)

Guidelines
Presenters are required to register for the entire conference. The committee encourages proposals from those who did not present at the 2009 Denver meeting, but all proposals will be judged primarily on merit. With the exception of concerts or lecture-performances with accompanying audio-visual materials, all proposals must be submitted electronically using the online submission form (see below).

Proposers for all except lecture-recitals must specify whether the proposal is for 1) paper, 2) poster, or 3) either presentation format, the latter to be determined by the Program Committee as it builds sessions. Individual or joint papers should be no longer than twenty minutes. Lecture-performances should be no longer than thirty minutes. For complete session proposals, the organizer should include an additional statement explaining the rationale for the session, in addition to abstracts for each paper.

New Seminar Format
Of the proposals submitted in January, 2009, the two selected by the program committee for the 2010 conference in Ottawa will be: 1) “ ‘The Art of Association’: Exploring Institutions as Agents of American Music in Theory and Practice” and 2) “Nineteenth-Century American Music Studies: The State of the Field in 2010”. Unlike regular SAM sessions, in which papers are read, papers for the conference seminars will be posted at a password-protected location in advance of the conference, where they may be read by all interested SAM members. The bulk of the conference session will be devoted to discussion of the papers as they relate to the general theme. Since papers will be posted electronically on the web, we would like to encourage materials that are recently published or "in press" as one kind of submission that would be appropriate for the seminar structure. These papers may be full articles, up to 20 pages, and should include notes, examples (where relevant), and bibliography. All proposals should be submitted in the usual way by the regular SAM deadline, except that the specific seminar topic should be clearly specified. Unless the author specifies otherwise, abstracts not accepted for either of the two seminars will be considered by the program committee for one of the regular sessions.

Although papers for the seminars will not be “read” in the traditional sense, the act of participating in the seminar as a presenter and defending the ideas of one's paper constitutes the same level of participation in an academic conference as would a normal paper. For this reason, those submitting abstracts toward a seminar cannot also submit toward a regular session.

Research Poster Sessions
The poster format provides an opportunity for SAM members to meet informally with authors and discuss research. Each author attends his/her respective 90-minute session, distributes abstracts, and answers questions. Supporting sound and/or video examples (on personal computers and utilizing battery, rather than AC power) will be coordinated with other presenters once sessions have been formed by the Program Committee. Further poster guidelines may be found at www.american-music.org.

Interest Groups — Interest Groups with a guaranteed slot for 2010 are requested to convey a brief description of their plans to the Program Committee using the online submission system by June 15, if possible. To ensure proper scheduling and room assignments, Groups should indicate by this date whether they would prefer a lunchtime slot (12:45-1:45) or a longer evening session. Please note that all the information that will appear in the conference program book (participant names, titles, 100-word abstract) must be submitted not later than August 5. Interest Groups without a guaranteed slot for 2010 may submit panel proposals via the online submission system if they wish, but acceptance or rejection of these proposals will be at the discretion of the Program Committee. All Interest Group submissions (guaranteed or not) should use the "Panel" option below.

Include the following for all submissions:

1. 250-word proposal
2. 100-word abstract suitable for publication in the conference program (.txt or .rtf format)
3. Audio and visual needs selected from the following list only: CD and audiocassette player, overhead projector, VHS/DVD player, LCD projector. Due to logistics and the high cost of renting this equipment, we cannot accommodate AV changes once a proposal is accepted.
4. Proposer’s name, address, phone number(s), e-mail address, and institutional affiliation or city of residence
5. Specify whether you are a student (and therefore eligible for certain student grants or awards)

For Lecture-Performances please include the above-mentioned materials, plus:

1. Seven copies of a recording (CD and DVD preferred, but cassette or VHS tapes also accepted)
2. An addressed, stamped mailer if you would like the recordings returned
3. A list of special needs (e.g., piano, music stand, space for dance demonstration, choral risers)

All materials must be electronically date-stamped (online submission) or postmarked (mail submission) by 15 June 2009. Questions about the submission process may be sent to Michael Pisani at mipisani@vassar.edu. Postal submissions should be addressed to: Michael Pisani, SAM 2010 Program Committee Chair, Vassar College, Box 595, Poughkeepsie, New York, 12604-0595