Call for Papers and Demos

Submission Deadline: 12 Noon Mountain Time on Wednesday, May 15, 2024

The College Music Society (CMS) is pleased to announce its 2025 International Conference in Colombia. The conference will take place from June 15–23, with activities in Bogotá and Medellín. 

The program will include scholarly discourse and the presentation of new music by CMS members, interaction with Colombian scholars and performers, and guided sightseeing and cultural opportunities.  

The Program Committee welcomes proposals for interactive presentations. This includes papers and demos that relate to all aspects of music creation, performance, scholarship, teaching, learning, career considerations, and other areas of interest to the music professional. The Committee invites the broadest representation from the music profession and its interests, and welcomes proposals from students, faculty, retirees, and independent musicians from all educational and professional settings.

Proposals may relate to the general interests of music in higher education, or to specific disciplines and areas of interest—administration, career issues, composition, cultural inclusion, ethnomusicology, music business/industry, music education/teacher training, music in general studies, music theory, musicology, community engagement, performance, and pedagogy. 

The Program Committee particularly encourages, and will give priority to, proposals that: 

(a) connect to the conference theme, “Innovation, Transformation, & Reconciliation: Inspiring Social Change through Music”

(b) illuminate the peoples, musical activities, and traditions of Colombia

(c) feature composers for whom 2025 is of special interest 

CONSIDERATIONS

• CMS International Conferences include cultural experiences and sightseeing opportunities which are meant to deepen participants’ understanding of the conference locale. These activities are included in the registration fee. With this in mind, attendees are asked to give careful consideration to the financial commitment associated with participation prior to proposal submission. Registration fees for recent international conferences have been between $1,000 and $1,200. Registration fees for the 2025 program have not yet been finalized, but they should be comparable. This fee will not include airfare or lodging.
• The College Music Society does not fund travel expenses of accepted presenters.
• Interactive presentations (forums, panels, and workshops) are limited to 55 minutes.
• Papers are limited to 25 minutes (20 minutes for the paper, 5 minutes for questions and discussion). These are spoken presentations that may include audiovisual elements.
• Demonstrations are also limited to 25 minutes and enable conference attendees to learn about methods, resources, or tools, which differ from workshops in that they are not interactive.
• Prior to submission, proposers must communicate with all co-presenters regarding their interest and availability. Proposals not listing all participants will be deemed incomplete and will not be considered. 
• All persons whose works are selected for inclusion on the program must register for, and attend, the entire conference.
• Proposers agree to present on any day of the conference should their proposal be accepted. 
• Proposers must submit their own work and may not submit proposals on behalf of their students or others.

ELIGIBILITY

• The primary proposer must be a current member of The College Music Society. Persons interested in submitting a proposal should check their membership status well in advance of the submission deadline. Please note the processing time for membership applications and/or renewals is 1–2 business days. 
• It is not necessary for co-presenters to be current members at the time of submission; however, if invited to the program, every person involved in the presentation must join CMS.
• CMS currently offers a trial membership option for those who may want to submit a presentation without committing to a full year of membership. Trial memberships are $20 and provide full access to membership benefits for a period of six months. You can sign up for a trial membership here.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION & PARTICIPATION POLICY

• Each member may propose a maximum of two submissions to this conference. 
• Each member may submit only one proposal of each format type (e.g., one panel, one workshop).
• In addition to the allowed two submissions, each member may added by another person as a co-presenter (e.g., panelist or accompanist) to one proposal. 
• Each submission must unique and should not duplicate the subject matter of other work submitted by the proposer in response to any other Calls for this conference.
• The maximum number of presentations in which a member may be involved on the conference program is two. If more than two proposals involving the same member are accepted, regardless of whether the member submitted the proposal or was added to another member’s proposal, the individual in question must choose in which two presentations they will participate.

PREPARATION OF MATERIALS

• The College Music Society's conference submission process is powered by Submittable. To submit a proposal, please (1) log in to the CMS members-only website using your user name and password and then (2) click the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of this call. You will be directed to Submittable to complete your proposal. If you don't already have a Submittable account, you will be prompted to establish one. (Click here for help using Submittable and to view a list of Frequently Asked Questions.)
• A complete proposal includes:

1. The proposal’s title and format.
2. An abstract of 250 words or less. 

Preparing an Abstract - The Program Committee chooses presentations based primarily on the abstract as submitted, so it is important to write an abstract that the Committee will understand and can evaluate fairly. The purpose of the abstract is to convey to the reader what will be said in the presentation. Do not merely describe the subject or list the topics to be covered. Rather, state the main point of the presentation, outline the subsidiary points, and summarize the evidence offered, so that someone who has not heard the presentation can know in brief what it will say and can evaluate its contribution to our knowledge and understanding of music. The abstract, like the presentation itself, should be clear to an audience of musicians and music educators of all kinds, not just to those with a narrow specialty. While it may be necessary to set the context or lay out the problem to be addressed, this should be kept to a minimum. 

3. A list of required equipment and internet needs. 
4. Optional: You may add up to 3 supporting materials to your proposal. These might include printed music examples, photos, statistics, or relevant data. Do not include lengthy documents, dissertations, CVs, resumes, or PowerPoint presentations. 
5. A biography of the proposer (250-word maximum).
6. Contact information for your co-presenter, if applicable.
7. A biography of your co-presenter (250-word maximum), if applicable. 

Please Note: 

• To support the anonymous review process, the name(s) or affiliation(s) of anyone involved in the presentation should not appear in the title or abstract, nor in the file names or body of submitted supplementary materials, as submissions are evaluated anonymously. Proposals identifying the proposer or co-presenters will be disqualified. Names and affiliations may, however, appear in the “Personnel” section of the proposal and in submitted biographies, as the review committee will not have access to this part of the application.
• When referencing one’s own previously published research, the proposer should refer to such research in the third person to avoid identifying themselves. For example, hypothetical proposal submitter D. Graham should write, “D. Graham’s article, ‘XYZ,’ summarizes pertinent issues,” instead of writing, “My article, ‘XYZ,’ summarizes pertinent issues.” The wording in the first example protects the anonymity of the author, while the second compromises the author’s anonymity by linking the author of the proposal to previously published work by a named author.
• Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be considered.

TIMELINE

• Proposals must be submitted by 12 noon Mountain Time on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
• Proposers will be notified by Sunday, June 9, 2024.

QUESTIONS?

Questions regarding this call should be directed to: 

Andrés Gómez Bravo, 2025 CMS International Conference Program Chair

Questions concerning conference operations should be directed to:

Charlie Chadwell, CMS Conference Planner