Teaching Composition: A Symposium on Music Composition Pedagogy
We are pleased to announce the second meeting of Teaching Composition: A Symposium on Music Composition Pedagogy, which will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, Sept. 28 through Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. This conference fills an important gap in music scholarship. In other areas of music academia—for example, performance or theory—there are pedagogy journals, conferences, courses, and degree programs. In contrast, there are almost no such resources or programs relating to the teaching of music composition at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Similarly, the National Standards for Music, which outline topics and skills for K-12 music education, emphasize composing and improvising—yet music education students are rarely trained to teach those areas and may have limited experience in them as musicians. The Teaching Composition conference was created to address this gap in resources, discussion, and training.
The program committee welcomes proposals for research presentations, posters, panels, and workshops/demonstrations that relate to any aspect of music composition pedagogy.
Proposals may be submitted by college and graduate level instructors as well as those who teach pre-college and amateur adult composers. Students are eligible to apply. Presenters’ primary area may be composition or any other area of music (performance, theory, etc.). Proposals from individuals of historically excluded identities are highly encouraged.
Interested individuals or teams may submit proposals for in-person or online sessions in any format:
Single or multi-author paper presentations
Lesson or class demonstrations
Workshops
Panel sessions
Round table discussions
Lightning Talks
Posters
Other formats as needed
Tips:
Be specific about the content of your presentation/workshop/etc.
Don’t say what you will talk about—just present your argument (i.e., “I will talk about the implications of…” vs. listing the specific implications)
Include examples as relevant
Refer to the 2022 program (linked below) to see what was included last year
Check out this helpful handout for writing a proposal (geared toward doctoral students, but relevant to anyone): https://societymusictheory.org/sites/default/files/pdc/proposal-advice-straus.pdf
Information on the 2022 program, including abstracts, can be found at: https://music.umbc.edu/events/teaching-composition/.
Videos from the 2022 meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmZ-Vdp7vcrotOJx8WGqX3A.
Deadline for proposals: June 1, 2023
Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2023
Link to form: https://forms.gle/VhiNvf92yXPCXaF26
Review committee:
Jessica Rudman, chair
Lynnsey Lambrecht
Devin Maxwell
Joseph Sowa
Please contact us at comp.pedagogy@gmail.com with any questions.