Sixty-Second National Conference (2019)

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Welcome to Louisville and the 62^nd National Conference of The College Music Society!

I am excited that you have planned to attend the national conference to be held in Louisville, Kentucky, October 24–26. As Program Chair, I can assure you that this year’s program includes some of the topics that led me to become a member of The College Music Society, including pedagogy, curriculum development, and performance practice. The program also features panels, papers, and demonstrations highlighting research in traditional musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory, as well as parallels in other subdisciplines of music and presentations focused on the music of the Appalachian region, musician’s health, female composers, and curricular issues.

I hope you will immediately add these four conference highlights to your calendar:

1. Come and discover what makes Louisville unique.
The pre-conference experience on Wednesday, October 23, will include a special tour and private lecture about the Violins of Hope exhibition (a collection of instruments from the Holocaust) at the Frazier Museum, a docent-led orientation of the Muhammad Ali Center, and a luncheon aboard the MV Mary Miller, where you can take in the Louisville waterfront from the vantage point of the Ohio River. Complete details about this event may be found here.

2. Come ready to be inspired and motivated.
We have invited three incredible keynote speakers for the conference and each speaker will have separate discussion forums where you can interact and dialogue after the keynote. See the program for more information about the discussion forums!

Thursday 10:30–11:55 am:	Ken Bain (Best Teachers Institute)
Friday 11:00–11:50 am:	Laura Escudé (Electronic Creatives)
Saturday 11:00–11:55 am:	Carmen-Helena Téllez (University of Notre Dame)

3. Come ready to network and embrace the culture of Louisville.
On Thursday night, you will have an opportunity to visit Churchill Downs for an opening reception at the home of the Kentucky Derby. Having visited the site back in February, I can assure you that fun will be had by all in this beautiful space. Your ticket includes transportation, food, beverages, tours, films, and access to the museum. Further details about this event can be found on the Evening at the Derby page.

Thursday 5:00–7:30 pm:	“An Evening at the Derby”
Thursday 8:00–9:30 pm:	“Showcase of CMS Composers” at the University of Louisville

4. Come ready to sing in a whole new way!
The conference will conclude with an authentic Sacred Harp Singing school session, led by the Kentucky-Ana Sacred Harp Association and will be preceded by a special “CMS Talks” session featuring three premier scholars of shape note traditions — Leann Conley-Holcomb, Mellonee Burnim and Mary Greene. We encourage everyone to come and join in on this collaborative, musical experience. I know I am personally excited to join in through song!

Saturday 4:00–5:00 pm:

"Sacred Harp Sing with the Kentucky-Ana Sacred Harp Association"

I am grateful for the many professional relationships and friendships that have come out of my attendance at CMS national conferences over the past 20 years. CMS is the only organization where we all come together to talk about the issues that are important to us and engage in a meaningful dialogue unimpeded by discipline barriers. My sincere thanks for joining the conversation so that we all can experience music, scholarship, and conversation in a new way.

I look forward to seeing you in Louisville,

Jennifer Snodgrass, 2019 Program Chair