43rd MSA Conference – Melbourne 2020

Location: Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: 3-5 Dec. 2020

Deadline for Proposals: 15 Aug. 2020 [extended to 24 August]
Proposal Outcome: 15 Sept. 2020

Convenors: John Gabriel, Fred Kiernan, Linda Kouvaras, Kerry Murphy, Sally Treloyn

Conference Organiser: Sarah Kirby

After some deliberation we have decided to go ahead with this conference, noting the significance of 2020 as marking 125 years since the establishment of the Conservatorium at the University of Melbourne, and the benefit of meeting as a musical community. We will celebrate with a three-day conference with a focus on the local theme:

Australasian Music at Home and Abroad

Possible areas could include
• Contemporary art music
• Music of diaspora communities
• Music and music-making from the 19th century to WW2
• Jazz and popular musics
• Reception of European musics in Australasia and of Australasian musics in the world
• Music institutions

We invite proposals for individual papers, lecture-demonstrations, and roundtables that relate and respond to the general theme, and we also will consider papers on any other aspect of music research.

We intend to go ahead with an ‘in-person’ conference, but in view of the unpredictability of the current pandemic situation, we will also run the conference online to accommodate speakers and listeners who prefer to participate remotely. We will ask you to indicate in your submission the manner of participation you prefer, so we can plan accordingly, but your participation preference will not be a factor in selecting the papers.

As in past years the Indigenous Music and Dance symposium will be held concurrently with the MSA. See the separate CFP for this symposium.

Conference presentations may take the following forms:
• Formal conference papers (20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion)
• Lecture recitals and demonstrations (20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion)
• Panel sessions (90 minutes, up to three participants)

All presenters must be current financial members of the MSA at the time of giving their paper.

Submissions

Proposals should include the title of the presentation and an abstract of up to 200 words.

Please omit identifying details from the title and abstract, but include in a separate section the presenter name(s), affiliation(s), email address(es), and a short biography of each presenter (100 words). Please also indicate here whether you are interested in presenting in person, online, or would be comfortable with both formats.

Please also indicate if you would be interested in being potentially included in a later publication based on the conference main theme.

Proposals for panel sessions should include titles, abstracts and presenter details (as above) for individual papers (where applicable) as well as a title and abstract for the overall session.

Please send your proposal as a Word attachment to Dr Sarah Kirby at msa-conf2020@unimelb.edu.au.

Details for the student paper competition, travel and keynote speakers will be announced shortly.