Musical Networks – The 2012 Echo Conference: October 19-20, UCLA

Musical Networks – The 2012 Echo Conference: October 19-20, UCLA

As the impact of digital networks on our lives increases, the logic of networks becomes a major factor in how we view and explain the world.  The implications of this logic for the study of music are numerous; communal structures (of kinship, authority, discourse, etc.), genealogical critique, histories of style, and narratives of artistic influence could all be reconfigured as networks.  Musical practices can result in relationships among individuals and communities; music is transmitted through media networks, virtual networks, networks of consumption, and through the interlocking networks that form among listeners, performers, and creators; and the exchange of musical sounds, idioms, and ideas can reveal how we create social and political structures. 

The goal of this conference is to examine the various implications of networks for the study music. Open to a variety of fields and methods, we encourage participants to experiment with how this term can relate to music, offer new ways of thinking about music, and re-think past practices and methodologies.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
-Music in virtual networks (including “social networks”)
-Music in media networks
-Musical communities
-Understanding music in relation to other arts or other fields
-Networks of musical content within particular works
-Musical institutions: schools, families, religious organizations
-Music and neural networks
-Music and historical genealogies
-Networks of musical distribution
-Musical collaboration
-Musical transnationalism

Proposals are due by June 30, 2012 and should not exceed 250 words. Please send proposals to echoconf@ucla.edu in .doc or .docx format only. We also welcome proposals for panel discussions, lecture recitals, and other non-traditional presentation formats.