Under the overarching theme of ???Islands???, the conference will feature the following strands:
Australia and New Zealand: Islands apart?
In spite of obvious correspondences in culture and geographical location, musical contact and exchange between Australia and New Zealand is limited. Instead of gazing across the Tasman, performers, composers and researchers seem to be looking more to Europe and the United States for inspiration and collaboration. This strand seeks to unearth the nature of the musical relationship between these large landmasses, and possibly discover ways forward in bridging this remarkable divide.
Torres Strait Islander and Pacific Islands music
The Torres Strait Islands are a cluster of islands bridging Cape York to Papua New Guinea . Explorers, marine traders, missionaries and other travellers have traversed these waters for hundreds of years. Despite this, and with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Beckett, Haddon, Hayward , Neuenfeldt, Sharp, Shnukal), Torres Strait Islander peoples, musics and cultures remain virtually invisible on the academic and musicological landscape. As Torres Strait Islander performer Christine Anu notes, "The whole culture of the Torres Strait Islands is based around music and storytelling. Ceremonies, weddings, funerals, births. . . [are] all brought in with singing" ("Australia Warts ???n' All", SBS, 2000). In this strand, we aim to open up a two-way conversation between researchers and musicians about the centrality of performance to Island life, experiences and culture, and its resonances across the water.
Gender and Sexuality
Queer musicology has always had a strong connection to feminist musicology. Although many musicologists feel there is a compelling relationship between the two marginalised disciplines, others feel that the two, however they are defined, are distinct ??? each having their own theories, politics and constituencies. This strand will explore the current relationship between these two somewhat ???isolated islands??? and mainstream music studies, in light of recent debates not only in musicology, but also within the broader context of critical and cultural studies.
Institutions and society
Music practice, education and research rely heavily on institutions: concert halls, opera companies, orchestras, conservatoires, universities, music departments, and archives. What is the nature of these islands and their inhabitants in an increasingly dynamic environment? Are they points of rest and artistic delight in the mad, rushing sea of contemporary life, or anachronistic places of isolation?
Popular music
The serious study of popular music is a relatively young tradition, drawing on a multitude of disciplines including cultural studies, sociology, and musicology. Within this interdisciplinary framework, the relationship between popular music studies and musicology has been a complex one, defined at various times by the high culture versus low culture debate, or issues regarding specialist and non-specialist knowledge. This strand aims to bring together the somewhat separate islands of popular music studies and musicology, and to connect the insights of both disciplines in an open and critical manner.
Performance practice
With the study and practice of music largely separated since the nineteenth century, the relation of research to performance has been somewhat strained at times. This strand will seek to establish where we are in relation to research into performance, research in performance, and performance as research.
History and analysis
Free papers are invited within the broad fields encompassed by historical and analytical musicology. Papers relating to the conference theme are particularly welcome. By way of examples, such topics could address the relationships between English music and continental practices, musical traditions maintained (deliberately or otherwise) in regional centres, or historiographical notions of composers as islands of greatness in the seas of lesser masters.
Special event
A half-day strand devoted to recent studies of Queensland's rich musical history will include parlour songs, western art music, pop and world music.