Call for papers
Music and Environment Symposium
University of Technology, Sydney
Friday 26 April 2013 (tbc)
Music relates to different types of environmental transformations: social, economic, political, cultural or technological, while environmental changes can be heard in music and soundscapes. There has been an increase in academic discourse relating to the ecology of sound, or ‘green music’, often in relation to the preservation of an environment’s sonority. Environmental sounds figure in sound sculptures, installations and compositions. In popular music, the notion of place has been of particular interest. Labels such as the “Seattle”, “Liverpool”, “Perth” or “Dunedin” sound have come to function as almost genre-like distinctions relating to place-based music. Popular music also embraces hybridity through techniques such as sampling, quotation or imitation, influenced by factors such as travel, immigration and the recent virtual proximity of the Internet. Musical, social, and technological forms are also affected by the economic environment, as evidenced by changes in cultural industries, such as the record industry meltdown, and the current global financial crisis. The political environment can also have an impact on the content and form of musical endeavours.
We invite suggestions for individual presentations on a range of topics related to music and environment in the broadest sense, including, but not limited to, the following:
* Music and environmental activism;
* Music and its technological environment;
* Music, acoustic ecology and soundscape studies;
* Ethnographic and “field” recordings;
* The constitution and development of different musical environments;
* Music, landscape, architecture and design;
* Music, memory and place;
* Natural catastrophes in songs and music;
* Music and the political environment.
Keynote Speaker: Jon Rose
Papers will be limited to a standard 20-minute length followed by 10 minutes of questions.
Deadline for proposals: 28 February 2013
Symposium Committee: Andrew Hurley, Tony Mitchell, Hollis Taylor
Email proposals to: Tony.Mitchell@uts.edu.au