Prize/Competition: Philip Brett Award (AMS)

PHILIP BRETT AWARD

AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

DEADLINE 1 JULY 2009

The Philip Brett Award, sponsored by the LGBTQ Study Group of the American Musicological Society, will honor each year exceptional musicological work in the field of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual studies completed during the previous two academic years (ending June 30), in any country and in any language. By “work” is meant a published article, book, edition, annotated translation, a paper read at a conference, teaching materials (course descriptions and syllabi), and other scholarly work accepted by the award committee that best exemplifies the highest qualities of originality, interpretation, theory, and communication in this field of study.

The award consists of the sum of $500 and a certificate, and will be announced at the Annual Business Meeting and Awards Presentation of the Society and conferred at the annual meeting of the LGBTQ Study Group.The committee will entertain nominations from any individual, including eligible scholars who are encouraged to nominate their own work. Individuals may receive the award on more than one occasion.

Nominations should include the name of the scholar, a description of the work, and a statement to the effect that the work was completed during the previous two academic years. By “completion” is meant the publication or commitment to publish from an editor in the case of articles, books, editions, etc.; delivery at a conference or the like in the case of a paper. The committee will contact the nominee for additional material as needed. Self-nominations should include any unpublished material to be considered and a curriculum vitae. Nominations, with five sets of application materials, should be sent by July 1 to the chair of the Philip Brett Award Committee:

Judith Peraino
Department of Music
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

CFP: Researching Music of the Cold War: Methodological Challenges and New Critical Approaches, AMS Cold War and Music Study Group, AMS Philadelphia

RESEARCHING MUSIC OF THE COLD WAR: METHDOLOGICAL CHALLENGES AND NEW CRITICAL APPROACHES

AMS, PHILADELPHIA, PA

CALL FOR PANEL PRESENTATIONS

Panel discussion to be sponsored by the Cold War and Music Study Group, American Musicological Society, 2009 annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA

Nearly two decades have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the demise of communism in Eastern Europe, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In recent years, musicologists have enjoyed unprecedented access to archival materials and have demonstrated increasingly critical distance from the events of the Cold War era. Yet the relative recency of the Cold War poses both unique opportunities and challenges to the researcher. Although scholars have the privilege of working with living witnesses, they also face a number of moral and ethical demands, particularly when dealing with information that may be personally damaging or traumatic. Historiographical and political biases that developed during the Cold War still risk coloring present-day assessments of the period. While there has been a surge in scholarly publications on music of the Cold War, little has been said about the methodological, interpretative, and ethical challenges that confront musicologists. The purpose of this panel is to offer a forum to discuss these challenges. Panelists will be asked to draw from their own research experience and reflect on methodological approaches to studying music of the Cold War.

Possible themes might include the following:

- studying music of authoritarian regimes

- oral history and working with living sources

- aesthetic judgments and the musical canon

- multi-site research and globalization

- analyzing and interpreting archival sources

The session will include a series of 15-minute presentations from a range of methodological and generational perspectives, followed by a broader audience discussion. If you are interested in participating as a panelist, please send a proposal (ca. 300 words) to Laura Silverberg (ls2647 [at] columbia [dot] edu) by 1 March 2009.