CFP: Dissonant Discourses? Finding Harmonies in Music and German, Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, Feb 2014

Dissonant Discourses? Finding Harmonies in Music and German

Abstracts due December 2, 2013
Conference: February 21 and 22, 2014
http://studentorgs.vanderbilt.edu/ggsa/
Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
Keynote Speaker: Holly Watkins, Eastman School of Music

>From minnesang to Mahler and beyond, the musical tradition of the German-speaking world has been remarkable not only for its aesthetic quality, but also because of the unusual degree to which musical works have been caught up in political, literary, and philosophical discourses. These convergences go well beyond such outright considerations of music in writing and philosophy as E.T.A. Hoffmann’s review of Beethoven’s 5th or Adorno’s dismissal of jazz. Examples of deeper and more subtle connections between music and language are found in everything from the complex use of alliteration in the Hildebrandslied to Thomas Mann’s use of sonata form in Tonio Kröger. Music crosses boundaries, whether these are the spatial boundaries muddled by Turkish-German rappers or the temporal boundaries sprung by heavy metal bands interpreting Walther’s courtly lyrics. Music can make the circular nature of such crossings apparent, as when a visitor to Magdeburg’s line-dancing club “The Nashville
  Salo
on” hears an American country music singer break into a yodel. An interdisciplinary approach to music and German studies can offer new metaphors and pathways of thought for contemporary discussions of literature, history, politics, media, culture, and, of course, music itself.

The German Graduate Student Association of Vanderbilt University seeks proposals for 20 minute presentations about music and German studies. Possible topics may include:

-Music and Indeterminacy; Music and the Absolute
-Foreign Reception of German Music; German Reception of Foreign Music
-Music and Pedagogy
-Implications of Analytical Methods
-Music and Politics

Please submit a 250 word abstract to vu.ggsa.grad.conference at gmail.com by December 2nd. Include your name, departmental affiliation, and contact information, as well as any equipment needs (technical or musical).