CFP: The British Organ in the 20th Century and Beyond (Oxford University)

THE BRITISH ORGAN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEYOND

OXFORD ORGAN CONFERENCE 2010

15 - 18 APRIL 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Betts Fund of the University of Oxford, and the British Institute of Organ Studies are pleased to announce the last conference of a four-year sequence entitled 'The Organ in England: Its Music, Technology, and Role through the Second Millennium'. This year, the Royal College of Organists will be holding its spring meeting in Oxford at the same time and some joint events will be included in the Programme.

The conference will take place from 15 to 18 April 2010 at Merton College, Oxford, and will cover the organ and its music in the present era and into the future. The title for the conference is 'The British Organ in the Twentieth Century and Beyond.'

300-word proposals for 20-minute papers and lecture-recitals are welcome on any and all relevant topics. The following broad areas are given as suggestions for possible lines of enquiry, and are not meant to be limiting:

The organ in musical and artistic culture

* The changing sound of the organ from Edwardian to neo-baroque to modern

* The rediscovery of the organ case its form and function

* The interest in new organs in historic styles

* The presentation of the organ in audio and visual media

* Historically informed performance and the organ

Organ Builders

* The decline of nineteenth-century factory builders and the rise of a new generation

* The impact of electrical and electronic technology for organ control and sound

* The rediscovery of classical principles

* Changing attitudes to conserving and treating old organs

* The impact of imported organs in the UK

* Future clients for future organs

* Specific builders

Composers, Performers, and Teachers

* Who wrote for the organ and what did they write?

* Who performed it?

* Who were the prominent teachers, and what was their impact?

Organ builders and organists in association

* The emergence of amateur and professional associations for organists and organ builders, and their impact

Twentieth-century icons

* Organs, organists or advisers who reshaped organ culture in the UK

Abstracts will be due by 11 December, with responses from the panel of readers by 18 January.

For more information, please contact:

Dr Katharine Pardee

Betts Scholar in Organ Studies

Director of Chapel Music

Wadham College

University of Oxford

kfpardee [at] yahoo.com

Job Posting: Curatorial Assistant and Research Assistant Positions (Phoenix)

JOB POSTINGS: CURATORIAL ASSISTANT AND RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM, PHOENIX, ARIZONA

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) of Phoenix, Arizona is seeking a Curatorial Assistant for a full-time position providing clerical and research support for the Curatorial team.

Requirements include a minimum master’s degree or equivalent experience, preferably in music or a music-related field. Prior work in professional and office environments. Proficiency with word processing, spreadsheet and other computer programs, including Microsoft Office suite and databases. Experience working with photo files and other media. Experience with online searching and research. Museum or library experience is desirable. Ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

Job duties are to include assisting the curatorial team with clerical and research tasks related to: acquisitions and loans, collections records, research for exhibitions and publications, and general curatorial inquiries.

MIM is also seeking a Curatorial Research Assistant to do research related to music history, iconography, terminology, performance practice, organology and the cultural and social significance of musical instruments and traditions. The Research Assistant will also support communication between the Curatorial Department and other departments including Registration, Conservation, Exhibits and Multimedia.

Other information:

Both positions report to the Head of the Curatorial Team. As the museum evolves, some of the duties of this position may change. These are 1-year contract positions located in Phoenix, AZ. No relocation is provided.

Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and will be accepted until the position is filled. More information regarding MIM is available on the website at www.themim.org.

Qualified candidates should submit a letter of interest, resume or CV, and three professional references to:

Human Resources – Curatorial Assistant or Research Assistant

Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) 

8550 S. Priest Drive

Tempe, AZ 85284

CFP: The Musical Body: Gesture, representation and ergonomics in performance (IMR)

THE MUSICAL BODY: GESTURE, REPRESENTATION AND ERGONOMICS IN PERFORMANCE
INSTITUTE OF MUSICAL RESEARCH
SENATE HOUSE
22 - 24 APRIL 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS

Institute of Musical Research, in association with the Open University, the University of Durham and the Orpheus Instituut, Gent, the University of Sussex, the Royal College of Music and the IMR Music & Science group

London: Senate House, and the Royal College of Music, 22-24 April 2009

The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together researchers from widely divergent fields to share perspectives on the physicality of performance, and its visual representation, in musics of all kinds. From connections between musical performance and health, and musical performance as dance, to representations of the ‘ideal’ posture in historical treatises and the lampooning of soloists in caricature, the conference will explore the ways in which music and the body interact, both with ease (such as where composition or improvisation are explicitly ergonomic) and in tension (where physical strain is etched into a musical composition or acts as a marker of authenticity in a performance style). Finally, it is pertinent to consider those areas in which physical ease in performance is either obstructed (eg. via performance anxiety) or results from the creative adaptation of standard practices (eg. as a response to disability).

Sessions will be built around themes, with presentations grouped as far as possible in ways that bring together a variety of historical and generic areas of study. The following list of themes and topics is indicative only:

* Music and health
* Iconographical representation
* History of performance style
* Organology
* Dance and theatricality
* The boundaries of the idiomatic and the ergonomic in composition
* Entrainment, ensembles and community
* Gesture and embodied cognition
* Stage presence and performance anxiety

Keynote speakers will include Rolf Inge Godøy (Director of the Musical Gestures Project, University of Oslo) and Richard Leppert (Regents Professor, Department of Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota)

Proposals are invited for the following:
20-minute papers
30-minute lecture-recitals

For either category, please submit a 300-word abstract (authors of successful abstracts will be given an opportunity to edit their work before publication in the programme booket). Please submit by email, in an attachment including your full name and contact details, to the IMR Administrator Mrs Valerie James, at music@sas.ac.uk. Proposals will be anonymised before consideration by the Programme Committee. Deadline: 30 November 2008

Results will be announced in late December, with a provisional programme available from January 2009.

Programme committee:
Katharine Ellis (IMR)
Martin Clayton (Open University)
Mieko Kanno (Durham University; Orpheus Instituut, Gent)
Nicholas Till (University of Sussex)
Aaron Williamon (Royal College of Music; IMR Music & Science Group)