Upcoming CHIME meetings

Latest update: 26 January, 2010

The Music of China and East Asia: Theory versus Practice

15th International CHIME Conference
24-28 November, 2010, Basel, Switzerland

How does musical theory in China and East Asia differ from musical theory elsewhere in the world? What are its unique contributions to culture and to musical performance? How can we meaningfully integrate theory and practice in the (many) cases where theory and performance practice clash? What accounts for the discrepancies? Theory is a domain for theorists, scholars and political ideologists, but obviously also for musicians. In the case of musicians, too, we may encounter puzzling contradictions between what people say they are doing, and what they actually do in performance. This edition of the annual CHIME meeting explores the intriguing relationships between theory and practice from many different angles: state politics, nation-building, philosophy, ritual doctrine, ethnic cultural ideologies, Western-imported 'abstract' concepts such as l'art pourt l'art... We look at the whole spectrum, from professional stage arts to rural and tribal music, from living music to genres of the past. We would like to address specific questions such as: How has theorizing on music changed over time? What sort of theorizing informs cultural preservation policies in the realm of Chinese and East Asian music today? What kind of theorizing is applied in the realm of pop music? Where does modern analytical music scholarship (inside and outside Asia) stand? Can its claims to objectivity be substantiated?

The 15th International CHIME meeting will be held in conjunction with the Swiss festival Culturescapes, of which the autumn 2010 edition is devoted to Chinese culture. (For more info, see: www.culturescapes.ch)
CHIME is a worldwide network of researchers and afficionados of Chinese and East Asian music who meet regularly to discuss work in progress. The annual meetings are open to all interested scholars and students in the realms of musicology, ethnomusicology, popular culture, anthropology, and East Asian languages, cultures and religion, but also to anyone else with a professional or private passion for Chinese and East Asian music. CHIME meetings are attended by scholars, but also by musicians, journalists, film makers and general music lovers. Registering for the conference automatically results in a membership to CHIME.
The official language of the meeting is English. We accept presentations in other native languages, on the strict condition that speakers arrange a written translation of their presentation in English in advance, so that it can be handed out at the meeting.

Call for papers / Deadline
For the Basel 2010 edition of CHIME, we welcome scholarly proposals for individual papers and panels, but also - explicitly - proposals for poster presentations. Please note that posters will be viewed as a fully-fledged alternative to paper presentations (to be judged by the same high academic standards), and as an attractive and effective alternative format for introducing research topics.
Abstracts of up to 300 words for individual (20-minute) papers and for posters should be sent by e-mail to the Dutch main office of the CHIME Foundation, c/o Programme Committee of the 15th CHIME Meeting, P.O.Box 11092, 2301 EB Leiden, The Netherlands, e-mail address: chime@wxs.nl. Panel proposals (for three or four speakers) are explicitly welcomed and will be given preferential treatment over individual proposals. In the case of panel proposals we ask for a short description of the panel topic as well as for individual abstracts by the panel participants. Abstracts must have reached us by 15 May 2010. Possibilities exist for early acceptance of papers for those who need to rely on this for grant applications (please indicate the need for an urgent reply when you submit your abstract).

You are also welcome to attend the meeting if you wish to participate without giving a presentation. Please notify us of your interest so that we can keep you informed. More news on the meeting and on possibilities for pre-registration and booking of accommodation will be announced soon on the CHIME website.