Dear IASPM-ites,
We are writing to let you know about the launch of the AHRC-funded Songwriting Studies Research Network which is taking place at Birmingham City University on March 20th. The event will feature a mix of papers, panels, conversation and performance focusing on contemporary songwriting practice and production. Some of the highlights of the day include:
-Ivor Novello-winning singer-songwriter KT Tunstall will join members of the Sodajerker songwriting podcast to record a live episode of the show.
-Keynote speaker Phillip McIntyre (University of Newcastle, Australia) will discuss songwriting as a form of cultural production based on themes from his book, The Creative System in Action: Understanding Cultural Production and Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
-We’ll have short takes on songwriting research and practice from Prof Andrew West, Dr Jo Collinson Scott, and other network members, and a mix of scholars, industry workers and practitioners will convene a panel exploring the philosophies, approaches, techniques and tools that define contemporary songwriting and its relationship to technologies of production.
There will be a total of four events across the UK between 2019-2020, so if you would like to get involved please sign up to the mailing list on our website at https://songwritingstudies.com/research-network, and follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/songstudies) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/songwritingstudies).
Our website, located at https://songwritingstudies.com, is intended as a space for anyone whose work intersects with songwriting in some way. Our mission is to adopt a holistic approach to the community in order to obtain a better understanding of the scope of contexts and ways in which songwriting is useful, and to use these insights to create opportunities for new conversations, projects and publications. So no matter whether you’re a songwriter, producer, publisher, historian, musicologist, copyright expert, music therapist or protest singer, if you care about your relationship to songs and songwriting, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re also open to virtual contributions such as guest posts for the website introducing your songwriting-related research, projects you are working on, or key ideas you are grappling with. By incorporating a range of experiences from across fields, disciplines, sectors and borders, we aim to get a rich sense of the varied nature of work taking place around songwriting and those who are leading on it.
Many thanks for your interest and we hope you will join us in developing this field of study. There are currently a handful of places left for the launch event and registration is here: http://songwritingstudieslaunch.eventbrite.co.uk
All the best,
Dr Simon Barber, Birmingham City University (PI)
Dr Mike Jones, University of Liverpool (Co-I)