CALL 2020
Out of Nature (vol. 50 – 2020)

Chigiana - Journal of Musicological Studies

Call for articles

Out of Nature. Music between Natural Sound Sources and Acoustic Ecology – (vol. 50, 2020)

The journal Chigiana would like to promote a debate around the role of nature in the shaping of twentieth-century musical horizons with a volume entitled Out of Nature. Music between Sound Sources and Acoustic Ecology (vol. 50, 2020). The book will include key-note papers by Aaron Allen, Gianfranco Marrone, Makis Solomos and Barry Truax.

As well as inspiring new music compositional trends, references to nature have fostered new forms of interplay between artistic practices, performance spaces and socio-cultural contexts.

Nature, conceived not only as a symbol or entity to be imitated and represented but also as sound material, dynamic process and transformation model, has prompted composers to question Western music parameters, the dimension of space and time, the dynamics of listening and performing. At the same time, music has become a means of exploring and critically interpreting socialized nature, sound landscapes and the interaction between humans and the environment.

Scholars are invited to submit proposals addressing the relationship between music and nature concerning any musical experience in the twentieth and twenty-first century, also taking into account one or more of the following topics:

  • natural sound sources in musical composition
  • music as mimesis of natural phenomena and processes
  • nature, musical syntax and compositional techniques
  • nature and musical time
  • nature and sound space
  • music, nature and digital mediation
  • nature and acousmatic music
  • sound perception, nature and cognitive models
  • soundscape composition
  • field recordings, arts of sound, deep and critical listening
  • music and acoustic ecology

Proposals may be written in Italian or English, and they must include:

– title;
– abstract of no more than 800 words (bibliographical references aside);
– contact information.

Proposals may be submitted before January 15, 2020 to: chigiana.journal@chigiana.org

Authors of selected proposals will be invited to submit the complete article (5000 words, in Italian or English) by June 10, 2020.