Call for Proposals

The CMS EMERGING FIELDS IN MUSIC series, published by Routledge, consists of concise monographs that help the profession re-imagine how we must prepare 21st Century Musicians. Shifting cultural landscapes, emerging technologies, and a changing profession in-and-out of the academy demand that we re-examine our relationships with audiences, leverage our art to strengthen the communities in which we live and work, equip our students to think and act as artist-entrepreneurs, explore the limitless (and sometimes limiting) role technology plays in the life of a musician, revisit our very assumptions about what artistic excellence means and how personal creativity must be repositioned at the center of this definition, and share best practices and our own stories of successes and failures when leading institutional change.

These short-form books (25,000–50,000 words) can be either single-authored works or contributed volumes comprised of 3 or 4 essays on related topics. The books should prove useful for emerging musicians inventing the future they hope to inhabit, faculty rethinking the courses they teach and how they teach them, and administrators guiding curricular innovation and rebranding institutional identity.

The Editorial Board is currently considering contributions to the collection-within-the-series, Leading Change (read more about Leading Change at the bottom of this call).

This call focuses on books that examine how the systems and eco-systems that drive our music schools maintain inequities and obstruct innovation. Examining the academic journeys of students, faculty, and administrators, authors will decode often invisible systems that limit our growth and offer opportunities to realign our words and actions with the goals of fighting for equity, fostering inclusivity, celebrating creativity, and embracing community and the joy inherent within music-making.

The series welcomes new proposals beginning in February 2026 and encourages highly motivated potential authors to schedule time with the Series Editor, Mark Rabideau ([email protected]), in advance of submitting a proposal.

Proposals should address five main areas:

1. A Statement of Aims

How will your book be situated within the framework of How to Lead Meaningful Change within Music in Higher Education?
Briefly and concisely state the main themes and objectives of the proposed book. Please give a one or two paragraph summary of the content of the book.
What are its main themes and objectives?
What are you doing differently, in a more innovative way, or better than existing books?
Please also provide a concise (150-200 word) and compelling abstract for the book.

2. A Detailed Synopsis, including Chapter Summaries and Pedagogical Features (if any)

A proposed table of contents with chapter titles and subheadings.
Chapter headings and at least one paragraph of explanation on what you intend to cover in each chapter.
Indicate the basic structure and features of each chapter (e.g., introduction, argument summary, etc.).
If an edited collection, and you have already identified collaborators, please provide a list of the expected authors and their affiliations and indicate whether they have agreed to contribute. If you plan on authoring a single chapter, please make this evident. Note: Single essay submissions will be paired with other essays that connect or contrast ideas.

3. A Description of the Intended Readership

Discuss the intended audience for your book. Is it written primarily for scholars/researchers (if so, what disciplines), professionals/practitioners (if so, which fields)?
Will this book have international appeal? If so, where?
Writing Style: Is the writing accessible to the intended audience?

4. A Review of the Main Competing Titles

List the main competing (or closest-to) titles–three to five. Provide a few sentences of explanation on each. These could be books covering the same subject matter or books that are related in terms of field of research or cutting-edge argument. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What distinguishes your book from the existing competition?

5. Format and Timeline

Provide a realistic date for when you intend to submit the final manuscript. If this is an edited collection, remember to allow time for revisions to individual chapters once contributors have delivered them.
Wordcount–does this include references and footnotes? Please note that volumes in this series should be no more than 50,000 words in length.
How many diagrams, illustrations, or tables will there be (approximately)?
Third party material: Please give a clear indication of content to be included in the book that will come from another source (i.e., previously published material or illustrations). Other Relevant Information.

Other Relevant Information

One or two sample chapters (preferably the introduction and another chapter). If an edited collection, abstracts will do, but an Introduction from the volume editor would be helpful.
Your CV and the CVs of those with whom you plan to collaborate
Three to five people who would make qualified reviewers for this manuscript, please be sure to include their affiliations and emails. Though we do not always use these suggestions, they help to give us an idea of where you think your ideas fit into current debates.

To discuss an idea or submit a proposal, please contact:

Mark Rabideau, Series Editor
University of Colorado Denver
[email protected]

Leading Change in a time of uncertainty and promise (a collection within the series) offers a comprehensive scaffolding of why, what, how, and for whom meaningful change is necessary if music schools are to equip students to invent the future they will soon inherit, offer faculty insights for rethinking the courses they teach and how they teach them, and recalibrate administrators’ priorities, policies, and procedures as they paint the new landscape of the 21^st century music school. The editor’s premise for the collection is that institutions of higher learning in music must see their principal role as one that prepares musicians as one-of-a-kind artists-to-the-world, equipped with the requisite knowledge, skills, and understandings to create a lifetime of artistic moments, one after the next.

The collection begins by making the argument for music’s “essential” place within the human experience as the foundation of professional and career development. It then offers and examines pillars for change by addressing three fundamental questions facing the profession:

Pillar 1: Whose music matters?

Pillar 2: What might be possible if we were to reposition creativity at the center of all that we do?

Pillar 3: How might individuals and communities, through the work of career musicians and the experience of music, become more joyful, hopeful, connected, and healthy?

Each pillar opens with an anchor manuscript that provides a comprehensive approach for imagining change. Subsequent books within each pillar offer specific ways forward.