[ARSCLIST] CFP -- "Farther Along": A Conference on the Southern Gospel Convention-Singing Tradition

["Paul F. Wells" <pfwells@xxxxxxxx>]

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University
invites proposals for presentations in:

“FARTHER ALONG”
A Conference on the Southern Gospel Convention-Singing Tradition
4-5 April 2008
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Southern gospel convention singing is an amateur American musical 
tradition in which practitioners train at singing schools and gather at 
monthly and annual singings to sing and play from upright, or octavo, 
"new books" containing southern gospel songs in seven-shape notation. 
Historically it follows the four-shape tradition (Southern Harmony, 
Sacred Harp, etc.) and has been led primarily by publishers such as 
Ruebush-Kieffer, Anthony J. Showalter, James D. Vaughan, Stamps-Baxter, 
Hartford, and others.  These publishers also sponsored the largest and 
best-known singing schools from the 1870s through the early 1960s. 
Emphasizing new songs in the gospel style, as opposed to the four-shape 
tradition's more conservative bent, the southern gospel convention 
tradition also embraces the use of instruments, most particularly piano, 
to accompany the singers.  In addition, this amateur tradition and the 
publishing and educational industry that accompanies it have been the 
fertile ground from which has come many well-known songs, and from which 
has emerged the world of professional southern gospel.

Southern gospel convention singing, in turn, is part of a broader 
musical phenomenon stemming from the Protestant Reformation and 
Americans' responses to it: the recreational and congregational group 
singing of sacred music.  This phenomenon has played a central role in 
the history of Protestant music-making in the United States of America, 
from the unison and heterophonic psalm-singing of the colonial era 
through the part-music of the nineteenth century to the unison and 
homophonic choruses of modern praise-and-worship music.  After almost a 
century of scholarship devoted to this broader musical phenomenon, the 
southern gospel convention-singing tradition remains little understood 
by the larger scholarly community--an anomaly, given its popularity.

"Farther Along": A Conference on the Southern Gospel Convention-Singing 
Tradition is intended to help address this oversight.  We expect the 
conference to include sessions devoted to:
* scholarly presentation
* practitioners’ perspectives: i.e., the views of today’s publishers, 
singing-school teachers, songwriters, singers, and pianists
* singing

We encourage proposals for papers and presentations on all aspects of 
the convention-singing tradition and related activities.  Topics may 
include, but are not limited to, studies of:
* composers and lyricists
* publishers
* geographical distribution of convention singing
* community traditions
* singing schools
* pianists
* songs and songwriting
* performance styles
* crossover with bluegrass and country gospel
* relationship to professional southern gospel
* inter-cultural exchange
* mass media
*  the business of gospel music

Proposals should include an abstract of 250-300 words and an indication 
of audio-visual needs. Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged, 
but hardcopy submissions will be accepted.  SUBMISSION DEADLINE: October 
1, 2007

Submit proposals to:
Kym Stricklin
Center for Popular Music
Box 41
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN 31732
e-mail: kstrick@xxxxxxxx
fax: 615.898.5829

Those who do not wish to submit proposals but who want to keep abreast 
of conference news may join the conference mailing list by sending 
contact information to Kym Stricklin [kstrick@xxxxxxxx]

--
====================================================================
Paul F. Wells, Director
Center for Popular Music
Box 41
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN  37132  USA
615-898-2449
Fax: 615-898-5829
http://popmusic.mtsu.edu/