Special Issue of Rock Music Studies: The Rolling Stones

Guest-edited by Neil Nehring, University of Texas at Austin

Rock Music Studies is a new popular music journal launched by Taylor & Francis in 2014, under the co-editorship of Gary Burns and Thomas Kitts. Contributions are invited to a special issue of the journal on the venerable Rolling Stones, to be published in February 2016.

With the Stones recently celebrating the 50^th anniversary of their first appearance as recording artists, the possible topics are nearly endless, of course. After 50 years all sorts of historical phases stand out: “The Golden Era” (or “Mick Taylor Years”) from 1969 to 1974, including the legendary tours of the United States in 1969 and 1972; the wild Clockwork Orange phase circa 1964, instigated by manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham, and/or the centrality of the Stones in Swinging London through 1966; the “lost” European tour of 1970, on which the Stones were arguably at the peak of their powers and dubious reputation among the New Left as political radicals; and the response to punk represented by the Some Girls album and tour in 1978.  Subsequent periods are fine, too; personally I agree with the music critic Bill Wyman that the Stones might well have bitten the dust long ago if not for the lingering cachet of the 1981 hit “Start Me Up” (written several years before) over the hiatus in the mid-’80s as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards feuded, and after, culminating in its use in the rollout of Windows 95 in 1995.

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Music and shared imaginaries: nationalisms, communities, and choral singing

October 30^th-November 1^st, 2014

Hosted and organized by the University of Aveiro and INET-MD (Portugal), and co-organized by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) , Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini (Italy), and the University of Rioja (SPAIN).

Keynote speakers:

Ruth Finnegan – The Open University, UK; Mário Vieira de Carvalho – Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Salwa Castelo-Branco – Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Call for papers

Philip Bohlman’s writings about music, nationalism and the construction of the “new” Europe proposed a “multitude of angles” that comprehended the plurality of actors and musical practices that weave and fray national identities. In relation to the study of music and nationalisms, this is not merely a question of genres and repertoires, and top-down narratives, but also how musicians negotiate their own nationalities in performance.

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One Century of Record Labels – Mapping places, stories and communities of sound

International Centre for Music Studies, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
November 6^th – 7^th 2014
Keynote: Dr Pete Dale (Slampt Records, Manchester Metropolitan University)

This two-day interdisciplinary conference will expose, question and celebrate the enduring role of independent and commercial record labels in the construction of musical patrimony, from the early days of the record industry to the present. Record labels have traditionally functioned as organs of representation (replicating for instance racial stereotypes), codification (setting genres and trends), as well as emancipation (allowing for marginal trends, voices and groups of artists to emerge). They exist at the intersection of the public and the personal, capturing the collective imagination as well as the private fascination of the collector. They occupy different spaces and scales, from internationally influential, legendary record labels (Stax, Motown, or Columbia) to more obscure, bedroom-run, non-commercial labels (Sarah Records, Musical Traditions Records). The aim of the conference is to gather a variety of perspectives on the past and present legacy of record labels, and to examine their changing status and relevance in an age of increasing dematerialisation.

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IASPM UK/Ireland Conference 2016

Dear all, In recent years, we have organised the location of the next IASPM UK/Ireland biennial conference electronically, with proposals and voting all taking place via the email list. This time, I’d like to try and increase participation by conducting the voting at Cork for the location of the 2016 conference. (This is the model used for the IASPM International conferences.) In advance of the Cork conference, then, I would like to receive proposals for the 2016 conference. I will then circulate these for perusal at members’ leisure, and an informed vote can take place in September. Read the rest of this entry »

PopLife: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century

The University of Northampton, UK
6th and 7th June 2014

Registration Open

It has increasingly become a truism to suggest that contemporary popular music practice is in a state of flux. Established patterns of consumption, distribution and production have at the very least been revolutionised by the opportunities afforded by digitalisation and the internet. While subcultural identities may have become increasingly adopted by mainstream media, the proliferation of media outlets has contributed to an increasingly varied and cosmopolitan listening experience both in terms of stylistic breadth but also in terms of historical depth. While some commentators have sounded the death-knell of the music industry, others see an opening-up of opportunity for musicians and audiences around the world that may be far more liberating than at any time since the dawn of recorded music.

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Discover Hendrix at Handel House

            Christian Lloyd and Sheila Whiteley

         invite you to 

         DISCOVER HENDRIX AT HANDEL HOUSE

As many of you know, I have had what seems a life-long love of Hendrix and you can imagine my delight when Christian Lloyd (BADER Study Centre, Queen’s University, Herstmonceux) asked whether I’d be interested in being involved with a Hendrix exhibition. This was last year, and having been briefed by museum director, Sarah Bardwell, we are now gathering information for an exhibition booklet, and thinking about websites and apps.

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A long way to the top: The production and reception of music in a globalized world

Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 6-7 November 2014
Keynotes by John Street and Fabian Holt

AIM

Once upon a time, a famous rock ‘n’ roll group sang about what it means to play in a music band. In their lyrics they touch upon the role of the music industry (‘getting sold’), the difficulties of a musical career  (‘under-paid’ and ‘getting grey’) and music consumption (‘if you wanna be a star’), while celebrating music for music’s sake. As such, this song addresses many issues in the production and reception of popular music in the contemporary globalized world. Yet, recent developments in the field of music have changed the ‘way to the top’, such as governmental policy on music, the rise of new media, and the growing number of music festivals. Focusing on a select number of interrelated themes, this conference aims to bring together scholars from various countries each with their own perspective to engage in an international exchange of ideas and current research insights about music production and reception.

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IASPM UK & Ireland Biennial Conference – Cork, Ireland

University College Cork
12-14 September 2014

University College Cork is delighted to be hosting the 2014 meeting of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, UK & Ireland branch.

The final programme is now available.

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New Jazz Conceptions: History, Theory, Practice

Saturday 31 May
University of Warwick

In recent years jazz studies has attempted to move beyond the canonical view of jazz as a narrative of great performers within an American context, becoming more interdisciplinary and international in its approach. This one-day conference will bring together Warwick, Midlands and National speakers to discuss current research in jazz, share ideas about methodologies for future study, and explore the link between academics and the practice of jazz in the wider community.

Speakers: Tony Whyton, Catherine Tackley, Andrew Hodgetts, Roger Magraw, Katherine Williams, Adrian Litvinoff, Simon Barber and Vic Hobson (National Jazz Archive).

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Popular Music Education: Paradigms, Practices, Pedagogies, Problems

Call for Chapters

Popular music has a growing presence in education (formal and otherwise), from primary school to postgraduate study. Programmes, courses and modules in popular music studies, popular music performance, songwriting and many areas of music technology that could be said to relate chiefly to popular music (such as DJ-ing, for example) are becoming commonplace across higher education. Additionally, specialist pop/rock/jazz graded exam syllabi (RockSchool and Trinity Rock and Pop, for example) have emerged in recent years, meaning that it is now possible for school leavers in some countries to have obtained university entry requirements having only studied popular music. In the context of teacher education, classroom teachers and music-specialists alike are becoming increasingly empowered to introduce popular music into their classrooms. However, discourse regarding ‘popular music’ in education still tends to take place alongside normative discourse around ‘music’.

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