Student Testimonials

"Having been to larger research conferences such as ICMPC, I wasn't sure what to expect of a graduate student conference, but what I found made me ever so glad I'd finally managed to participate. The quality of work presented at SysMus14 was high and the single stream of presentations made it possible to catch talks on topics I might have missed at other events. It was very engaging to see research presented as a work in progress, welcoming feedback and insight from other young voices. By restricting the participants to researchers-in-formation, those who will be shaping our field in ten to twenty years time, it also provided a snapshot of how our priorities are shifting against the principal streams of study that have come before. Many projects treated music as an embodied phenomenon, studying it within social contexts, dependent on individuals' capacities to participate; they gave me hope that these important themes will grow in popularity and prominence with the incoming generation of researchers. But wherever our efforts turn, this conference has made me all the more excited to hear of the insights to be gathered from empirical musicology in the years to come."

Finn Upham, PhD Candidate, New York University, New York, USA

"SysMus11 took place in Cologne this year and for the first time in Germany. Master and Phd students came from all over the world, e.g., from Israel, Brazil, USA, Taiwan and several European countries. They all had the opportunity to present the results of their current work as a poster or talk. All presentations were held in English, which made it possible for non-native speakers of English to practise this important skill. The diversity of research was impressive, both methodologically and in terms of contents, which was also reflected by the invited keynote speakers (Prof. W. Tecumseh Fitch, Dr. Jin Hyun Kim, Prof. Anthony Moore and Prof. Ricarda Schubotz). Aside from their contribution they also gave conference candidates many useful and inspiring hints, comments and further suggestions for their research. The conference was also enriched by an extensive social programme, such as a guided tour through Cologne by night, an experimental concert and lunches and dinners together with all participants and the keynote speakers. We are all looking forward to next year’s conference in Montreal, Canada, which will again be an awesome opportunity to meet the young community of musicologists, share our findings and get an impression of international research in systematic musicology."

Anna Wolf, M.Sc. and Friedrich Platz, M.A., PhD candidates, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Germany

"SysMus10 in Cambridge was a very interesting experience. Reflecting with my international colleagues on systematic musicology in these beautiful surroundings was very helpful to find a "theoretical place" for my own research. The very friendly atmosphere allowed great exchanges of ideas and discussions on music research. During the conference I met new colleagues and some of them are now my friends. I attended the conference with the purpose of understanding better what systematic musicology exactly is and which kind of researchers can contribute to this field. I came back to Paris with many suggestions, answers, and fortunately, also questions. The organisation of the conference was perfect and the social musical events were great. Thanks!"

Manuela Filippa, PhD candidate in music psychology, Paris, France

"I attended SysMus08 and got to present a paper on House music. The conference was particularly meaningful for me as it got me into contact with a community of young scholars from across the world. The feedback I received has been inspiring and informed the progress of my South African music project."

Thokozani Mhlambi, musicologist, Pretoria, South Africa

"SysMus08 was a very good experience and one of the best post-graduate events I have been to. The atmosphere was friendly, so nobody was scared to give a talk. I'm still in contact with some of the delegates I met there. The organisation of the conference was impressively professional. When I organised a conference in 2009, I often referred back to the SysMus08 website to see how they did it. I hope this conference series will continue, and I'm looking forward to hopefully going back there in 2010."

Motje Wolf, musicologist, Leicester, United Kingdom

"Attending SysMus08 was a refreshing experience. The conference was really well organized and provided a friendly environment to discuss and learn new things. My colleagues and I attended the workshop "Empirical research methods in systematic musicology", which was a great opportunity as we received important feedback on our research and advice on how to deal with some particular issues. Even though it is quite fulfilling to attend big conferences where one has access to a great amount of research, one of the things I enjoyed the most about SysMus08 was that it gathered not too many people. This allowed me to get to better know many of the participants and to discuss each other's work, both in formal situations with a high academic standard, and in informal, one-to-one reunions. I experienced SysMus08 as a rather unique and enjoyable conference."

Gabriela Perez-Acosta, pianist and music psychologist, Mexico City, Mexico

"I found out about SysMus08 during my semester as an exchange student of musicology at the University of Graz. The musicology department at my home university is mostly oriented towards traditional historical musicology, which partly explains why I found the topics of the SysMus08 talks very attractive and decided to attend the conference. SysMus08 was not only an extremely educative experience for me, but I also met a lot of colleagues from all over the world, some of whom I have remained close friends with. Getting feedback, advice and motivation for my own research in the field of popular music (which is also quite unusual at my home university) was the most precious part of attending SysMus08, and thanks to that I presented a paper of my own at the next SysMus conference in Ghent in 2009. Again, it was a wonderful, inspiring experience and I got a lot of precious feedback. The conference was also very well organized - I enjoyed taking part in useful workshops, attending very interesting concerts and investigating the beautiful city of Ghent, as well as meeting old friends and getting to know new ones. I hope we will all meet again at SysMus10 in Cambridge!"

Nina Jukić, musicologist, Zagreb, Croatia