9th Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music & Philosophy Study Group
Department of Music, King’s College London
Thursday and Friday, 11–12 July 2024
Keynote speakers to be announced
The RMA Music and Philosophy Study Group warmly invites session and paper proposals for this two-day international conference, to be held in London on 11–12 July 2024. The event will offer an opportunity for those with an interest in music and philosophy to share and discuss their work, in the hope of furthering dialogue in this area.
We are soliciting session and paper proposals under the following headings:
- AssociatesSessions, hosted by organisations with related interests;
- Themed sessions, will be organised by individual session convenors, who have issued calls for papers on specific topics;
- Free Sessions, open to papers on all topics relating to music and philosophy.
Proposals may be on any topic relating to music and philosophy broadly conceived (see call for Free Sessions below).
Call for Associates Sessions
Related organisations, including scholarly societies, study groups and institutional departments, are warmly invited to host a session at the conference. The topic and organisation of such sessions is left to the host: sessions may feature invited speakers. All formats (including but not limited to workshops, roundtables, experimental) will be considered; the maximum overall time available for the session will be 2 ½ hours.
If you would like to be involved in this way, please submit your session abstract (of up to 350 words), proposed paper titles and speaker names where applicable here by 31 October 2023. Decisions will be communicated in December 2023; individual paper abstracts and speaker biographies for accepted panels will be solicited from organisers in early 2024.
Call for Themed Sessions
We seek enthusiastic individuals to propose Themed Sessions on topics that are focused yet inclusive. All topics and formats (including but not limited to workshops, roundtables, experimental) will be considered but should be designed to encourage submissions from both music studies and philosophy, whilst assuming a broad and inclusive definition of each. The maximum overall time available for the session will be 2 ½ hours.
If you would like to host such a session, please submit a 300-word draft call for papers/contributions that will also function as a session abstract by 4 September 2023 here. The draft call for papers should focus on the topic of, and rationale for, the session.
We hope to communicate decisions on the selection of Themed Sessions within a week, with a further deadline of 31 October 2023 for submission of paper abstracts (where applicable) to session organisers. Organisers will be asked to submit paper choices to the programme committee by 17 November 2023. The intention is that the programme committee will, in most circumstances, simply approve the organisers’ choices, however the committee reserve the right to request changes if there are problems of topical balance or scholarly quality. Final decisions on panel acceptance will be communicated in December 2023.
Call for Free Sessions
We invite submissions for papers on any topic relating to music and philosophy. The conference presumes inclusive definitions of both music and philosophy. We take music to include all forms and genres of music, art music and popular, secular and sacred, from any and all historical and geographical locales. We take philosophy to include analytic, continental, classical, and non-western thought, as well as critical theory. Regardless of disciplinary affiliation, the committee seeks conceptually rigorous and clearly articulated research that presents a novel argument and advances understanding of its topic.
Collaboration between persons from different disciplines (including music studies, philosophy, performance, composition, psychology, history, literary studies, art history, anthropology, and others) would be especially welcomed.
Proposals are invited for:
- individual papers (20 minutes) – up to 350 words
- collaborative papers (up to 30 minutes) – up to 500 words
- lecture recitals (30 minutes) – up to 350 words
Please submit proposals by 31 October 2023 here.
Decisions will be communicated in December 2023. All paper submissions will be considered by blind review by the programme committee:
- Alexander Douglas (University of Wolverhampton)
- Professor Andrew Huddleston (University of Warwick)
- Dr Clare Lesser (New York University)
- Professor Derek Matravers (Open University)
- Dominik Mitterer (Durham University)
- Professor Martin Stokes (King’s College London)
- Dr Férdia Stone-Davis (University of Cambridge)
- Professor Naomi Waltham-Smith (University of Oxford)
- Dr Samuel Wilson (Guidhall School of Music & Drama)
If you have queries about the CFP and your proposal, please contact the Chair of the RMA Music & Philosophy Study Group Dr Férdia Stone-Davis, fjs23@cam.ac.uk.
Timeline Overview
| Date | Type of Session | Deadlines |
| 7 August 2023 | Associate Sessions | Call for papers: OPENS |
| Themed Sessions | Call for themed sessions: OPENS | |
| Free Session | Call for papers: OPENS | |
| 4 September 2023 | Themed Sessions | DEADLINE to submit call for papers. |
| 31 October 2023 | Associate Sessions | DEADLINE to submit abstracts. |
| Themed Session | DEADLINE to submit abstracts to session organisers. | |
| Free Session | DEADLINE to submit abstracts. | |
| 17 November 2023 | Themed Sessions | DEADLINE for session organisers to communicate paper choices to MPSG committee. |
