Musicology Australia

Editor: Denis Collins
Associate Editor: Sarah Kirby
Internal Copy Editor: Elizabeth Kertesz
Reviews Editors: Rachel Orzech and Maurice Windleburn

Musicology Australia is the scholarly journal of the Musicological Society of Australia. Since its inception in 1963, the journal has published articles on a very wide range of music research, including historical musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music, Indigenous music practices, jazz, theory and analysis, and historically informed performance.

Call for Papers to mark the 50th anniversary of the MSA 1976–2026. Musicology Australia will publish a special anniversary issue of the journal, for which we invite proposals for articles on the history, development, and practice of music research cultures in Australia. Please see the CFP here for more details.

Musicology Australia is open to new submissions at any time. Contributors are not required to write on Australian music or be based in Australia. All research articles in this journal undergo rigorous double-blind peer review, and all published research articles are eligible for consideration for the annual Musicology Australia Prize.

Articles should normally be 6000–8000 words (including footnotes and/or references), although shorter and longer articles will be considered. Solicited and unsolicited book reviews (c. 2000 words), review articles (c. 4500 words), and meeting reports (up to 6000 words) are considered for publication.

The journal is published twice a year: in July and December.

For further information and instructions for potential authors, please see:  https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rmus20

Informal enquiries about the journal can be directed to the editor at [email protected]

Editorial Board

Musicology Australia is governed by an Editorial Board of senior musicologists:

  • Catherine Falk, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Annegret Fauser, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
  • Michael Hooper, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • Tami Gadir, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
  • David Larkin, The University of Sydney, Australia
  • Kerry Murphy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Kathleen Nelson, The University of Sydney, Australia
  • Jonathan Paget, Edith Cowan University, Australia
  • John Rink, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Katherine Butler Schofield, King’s College London, United Kingdom
  • Sally Treloyn, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Francis Yapp, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
  • Paul Watt, The University of Adelaide, Australia
  • Jennie Shaw, University College London

The Musicology Australia Annual Prize

The Musicology Australia annual prize is awarded to the best article published in the journal in a calendar year. Eligibility is governed by the volume year of the journal, regardless of the date the article was first published online or when the issue appeared in print form. This Prize is open to all authors who publish a peer-reviewed article in Musicology Australia. All authors of accepted articles will be automatically considered for the Prize.

The Musicology Australia Annual Prize was awarded in 2025 for the best research article published in volume 46 (2024).

Winner: Jesse Hodgetts

Hodgetts, Jesse. 2024. ‘Ngiyampaa ngiya guthigu ngiyali (Ngiyampaa Words for Talking About Songs): Creating Mayi (Aboriginal) Language for Musicology in a Language Revitalization Context.’ Musicology Australia 46, no. 1: 47–66. DOI: 10.1080/08145857.2024.2390194

This is a methodologically complex study with an excellent blend of approaches. It offers an important and persuasive model for music and Language revitalization by offering a new and more culturally appropriate approach to notating and analysing songs. It is nuanced and inviting to read, and while it is very accessible to a broad readership, it does not compromise on its choice to use concepts from within the Culture.

Honourable mention: Stephanie Rocke et al.

Rocke, Stephanie, Jane W. Davidson and Amanda E. Krause. 2024. ‘Wellbeing in Professional Chamber Music Performance Contexts.’ Musicology Australia 46, no. 2: 138–67. DOI: 10.1080/08145857.2025.2457244

The sophisticated methodologies and clear presentation in this study provide compelling frameworks for deeper understanding of wellbeing amongst chamber musicians and their audiences. The results point to further ways to enhance wellbeing in new and existing forms of chamber music making, and the study overall contributes to our understanding of the needs and of an often-overlooked group in studies of music and wellbeing: the performers.

Details about the Musicology Australia Annual Prize, now in its second year, can be found on this page.

Subscriptions

Subscription to Musicology Australia is included in MSA membership.

Become a member

A subscription to the institutional print edition (ISSN 0814-5857) includes free access for any number of concurrent users across a local area network to the online edition (ISSN 949-453X). Please visit the Taylor & Francis website to arrange an institutional subscription.

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