Call for papers
International Conference on Music Semiotics in Memory of Raymond Monelle
Establishing New Musical ‘Topics’ in the Repertoire and Popular Culture
University of Edinburgh Music Department, United Kingdom
26-28 October 2012
The Department of Music at The University of Edinburgh presents an international conference on Music Semiotics in memory of Professor Raymond Monelle, with the support of the UoE Innovation Initiative Grants.
The aim of the conference is to promote the work of Professor Raymond Monelle in semiotics of music through the presentation and discussion of ‘new’ musical ‘topics’ as they emerge in the West European repertoire and in popular music during the last two centuries. The in-depth investigation of musical topoi was one of the main musicological outputs of Professor Monelle, a theory which has emerged in recent decades as a powerful tool for the analysis of musical signification.
20-minute papers and presentations are invited, but not limited to the following themes of musical signification:
1) Themes elaborating on musical topoi in:
– Repertoire music: instrumental, vocal, and dance.
– Popular music: instrumental, vocal, dance.
– Cinema, television, radio.
The goal is to create discussion in both the ‘transposition’ and use of already established musical topics into the audiovisual context and also to reveal ‘new’ topical worlds born and established in these popular means. This effort to present new musical topics of the Western European ‘art’ and ‘popular’ music complies with the vision of the late Professor Monelle for a future encyclopaedia of musical topics in which their cultural ground and musical characteristics would be recounted fully.
Also welcome are papers on:
2) Formal functions that musical topoi could have as passages in larger works of music (Agawu, Caplin), how they create a network of musical meanings as passages (Hatten) and their contribution in a musical narrative (Tarasti, Almen, Grabócz).
3) Any topic inspired by Raymond Monelle’s contribution to the discipline of Music Semiotics and Musicology.
References to the late Professor’s work in terms of its function and value in history and culture would be especially worthwhile. The conference will be held in the historic city of Edinburgh, UK, and is being organised by former postgraduate students and colleagues of Professor Raymond Monelle from the University of Edinburgh Department Of Music.
Submission Guidelines
Abstracts should not exceed 300 words (saved as MS Word or .pdf file). They should be accompanied by a short biographical note (not more than 150 words, continuous text). Panel proposals of three to four papers are also welcome. The official language of the Conference is English.
Abstracts should be sent to: edmusemiotics@gmail.com
Closing date for submissions: Friday 1st June 2012
For more information please visit http://sites.ace.ed.ac.uk/edmusemiotics/