Northern California Chapter – AMS

Update from Jessie Ann Owens, President, AMS NorCal (March 23, 2020)

I am pleased to report that we will be able to hold the Dahl competition this year, the final time it will be open to graduate students registered in both the Northern California and Pacific Southwest chapters. (Next year, the Northern California chapter will hold a competition open just to students registered in our chapter.) The meeting will be held virtually by Zoom, hosted by Beverly Wilcox at California State University, Sacramento. Following the presentations, there will be a brief (virtual) business meeting. Many thanks to Bev for hosting us!

We will keep the same deadline for abstracts that we announced earlier, April 7. Please submit an abstract of 300 words, along with the proposed title, author’s name and institutional affiliation via email to: amsnorthcal@gmail.com.

A graduate student committee chaired by last year’s winner, Malachai Komanoff Bandy (USC), will select three finalists. They will present their papers via Zoom on Sunday, May 3. The Dahl Committee will then decide which paper will receive the award.

Details about the Zoom meeting will be sent once the program is set.

I am also pleased to report that our website is now up and running, with many thanks to JoAnn Taricani. Because we’ve been a year without updates, there will be some catch up work to do. Please email me with corrections and updates: jaowens@ucdavis.edu. The new address is— https://norcal.ams-net.org/

Message from the Chapter President, Jessie Ann Owens (March 17, 2020)

Like so many other organizations, AMS NorCal must rethink its “standard operating procedure.” Following consultation with the student and chapter representatives and discussion with the officers and our hosts at UC Davis, we have decided to cancel the in-person meeting scheduled for May 2-3. We would, however, like to find a way to hold a virtual/online Dahl competition for the best paper by a graduate student registered in either the NorCal or PSW chapters. At this time I am seeking a volunteer to manage the tech aspects and host the virtual meeting.
We have other business to conduct. We invite nominations and self-nominations for the positions of president and of secretary/treasurer. These leadership positions offer a way to provide valuable service to the discipline, to help support new scholarship and to provide a positive, workshop-like atmosphere for graduate student presentations. Please send nominations to me <jaowens [at] ucdavis.edu>. The deadline is April 20.
I recently learned by chance that the Pacific Southwest Chapter had unilaterally decided, with no consultation, to turn the Ingolf Dahl Award from a joint competition open to graduate students from both chapters, which it has been since its inception, to an award open to PSW students only. Thus, the Dahl competition, if we are able to manage it virtually, will be offered this year for the final time as a joint award.
The officers of AMS NorCal are unanimous in their desire to establish a new graduate student award for students in our chapter. This will require an amendment to our bylaws. At this time we invite nominations to name the prize: please submit a proposal to Alice Miller Cotter (amsnorthcal@gmail.com), providing a brief biography of the scholar/teacher you would like to honor and a rationale for naming a chapter prize for him or her. The deadline is April 20. We will then conduct an email vote of members of the chapter.
Our chapter site is still not operable (it can be consulted but not updated). We have a new URL and WordPress site. I would be happy to hear from any volunteers who know WordPress and are willing to clone our existing page onto this new platform.
Thank you for your patience during these challenging times.

Message from the Chapter President, Jessie Ann Owens (March 9, 2020)

The Spring meeting of the Northern California chapter of the American Musicological Society will be held on Saturday all day and Sunday morning, May 2 and 3, at UC Davis. Proposals are invited for papers or other scholarly presentations on any subject of musicological interest. We particularly welcome proposals for pre-planned sessions on a specified topic, especially those that cross disciplinary boundaries. Papers should require no more than 20 minutes for full presentation, plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

This meeting will also feature the competition for the Ingolf Dahl Memorial Award in Musicology, which is given annually to the best student paper presented at the conference. (Details concerning the Dahl Competition may be found at http://www.ams-net.org/chapters/psc/Dahl2.html.) Students who are currently enrolled in institutions within the boundaries of the Northern California and Pacific Southwest chapters are invited to submit abstracts, specifying in the cover email their intention to participate in the competition. The abstracts will be assessed separately by a committee chaired by last year’s winner, Malachai Komanoff Bandy (USC). Three finalists will be chosen, all of whom will present their papers in the Sunday morning session of the meeting. The Dahl Committee will then decide which paper will receive the award.

Those wishing to make a presentation should submit an abstract of not more than 300 words (500 words for a pre-planned session) by April 7, along with the proposed title, author’s name and institutional affiliation, and a list of the equipment necessary for the presentation. Abstracts may be sent by email to amsnorthcal@gmail.com.

Message from the Chapter President, Jessie Ann Owens (December 2, 2019)

The Winter 2020 meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society will be held on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.
The Program Committee invites proposals of up to 300 words for 20-minute papers (this is now the length for papers at the AMS annual meeting). Proposals may also be submitted for an organized session consisting of three related papers; these sessions can involve allied disciplines such as ethnomusicology or music theory. Proposals for an organized session should provide a rationale for the session and a brief description of each paper, no more than 500 words in all.
Abstracts will not be subject to blind review, in order to promote diversity of all kinds, including institutional and career stage. Submissions from faculty, independent scholars, and graduate students are all encouraged and welcome.
Abstracts should be submitted before midnight on Monday, January 6, 2020 via email to amsnorthcal@gmail.com. Decisions will be announced shortly thereafter.
Please refer to the AMS abstract guidelines: “Proposals should represent the presentation as fully as possible. A successful proposal typically articulates the main aspects of the argument or research findings clearly, positions the author’s contribution with respect to previous scholarship, and suggests the paper’s significance for the musicological community, in language that is accessible to scholars with a variety of specializations.”
If you are not already, you are encouraged to become a member of the chapter. Annual chapter dues are voluntary: all AMS members within the chapter boundaries are automatically members of the chapter, so don’t forget to pay your AMS national dues! Suggested annual chapter dues of $15.00 can be submitted via Paypal to AMSNorthCal(at)gmail(dot)com, specifying “Chapter Dues” in the message; dues can also be paid in person at our meetings, or by contacting our Secretary-Treasurer, Alice Miller Cotter (alicemillercotter(at)gmail(dot)com).