SysMus08 - Call for Papers

The SysMus08 organizing committee cordially invites submissions to the First International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus08) to take place at the Department of Musicology, University of Graz (Austria), November 14-15, 2008. SysMus08 welcomes contributions from research students in Honours, Master’s and PhD programs in the area of systematic musicology.

In the European tripartite model of musicology, musicology is generally regarded as a combination of three broad subdisciplines: ethnomusicology, historical musicology and systematic musicology. Ethnomusicology and historical musicology are primarily concerned with specific manifestations of music such as performances, works, traditions, genres, and the people who produce and engage with them (musicians, composers, social groups). Systematic musicology is different in that it tends not to put these specific manifestations in the foreground, although it of course refers to them. Instead, more general questions are asked about music. Systematic musicology involves diverse epistemologies and methodologies from the sciences and the humanities. The scientific side is primarily empirical and data-oriented; it involves empirical psychology and sociology, acoustics, physiology, neurosciences, cognitive sciences, and computing and technology. The humanities side of systematic musicology involves disciplines and paradigms such as philosophical aesthetics, theoretical sociology, semiotics, hermeneutics, music criticism, and cultural and gender studies.

The conference aims to promote systematic musicology and its subdisciplines in the long term by training the next generation of academics and by fulfilling the following needs of research students:

practice giving conference presentations (oral, poster)
feedback from people with different backgrounds (including other supervisors)
practice with the English language (if that is not their native language)
international contacts (friends and networks)

All submissions will be subject to a double-blind peer-review procedure conducted entirely by international students representing the various subdisciplines of systematic musicology.

Your abstract should be submitted as a Word document and be organised as follows:

title (bold, lower case, 5-10 words)
name(s) and affiliation(s) of author(s)
submission date
desired presentation format (talk or poster)
main text with bold section headings

The main text should be structured as follows and not exceed 500 words in length for the entire file including headings and references.

Please refer to the conference webpage at www.uni-graz.at/muwi3www/SysMus08 for further information on abstract submission.

Please send your submission as email attachment to manuela.marin_at_uni-graz.at with subject "SysMus08 Abstract Submission”.