Latest News - December 2025
International conference: Music theory and Education through the Ages
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UPCOMING EVENTS
6-8 March 2026 - VvM Symposium and Conference |
Keynote lecture at the VvM International Conference 2026 (abstract)
Do you hear what I hear?: What do we know about human perception of music, and what can / should we teach tomorrow's musicians?, by Dr Michelle Phillips (RNCM)
All cultures of the world make music. And those people engage with music in a variety of ways - through participatory music making, by attending live music performances, by listening to the radio or to streamed music, or through the visual representation of music in the form of the musical score. The perception of music during such engagement is complex, and reliant on a huge number of factors - musical, individual, and environmental. How we receive and enjoy music may therefore be partly in the hands of the composer and performer, but it is also dependent on a wide range of contextual factors, some of which music and science research is only just beginning to shine a light on.
This paper will present the state of play of research on music perception, especially in relation to how we may hear some of the musical features that we study, and train today's music analysts, composers and performers to identify or manipulate. For example, what evidence is there that we may be able to hear sophisticated mathematical patterns embedded in a musical score? Furthermore, how do we perceive music in our everyday worlds, such as music in the background when we are passing the time (e.g., when we experience 'on hold' music on the telephone), or when we attend a live music event in a gig venue or concert hall?
Findings and theories from my own and other research will be presented, and I will then draw these together to propose what the role of today's music educator may be, in training the musicians of tomorrow. How much of a degree programme can / should teach composers about how their musical material may impact the listener, and what is the education sector's responsibility to give performers a toolkit that allows them to have the impact that they want to have on their audience?
This paper will present the state of play of research on music perception, especially in relation to how we may hear some of the musical features that we study, and train today's music analysts, composers and performers to identify or manipulate. For example, what evidence is there that we may be able to hear sophisticated mathematical patterns embedded in a musical score? Furthermore, how do we perceive music in our everyday worlds, such as music in the background when we are passing the time (e.g., when we experience 'on hold' music on the telephone), or when we attend a live music event in a gig venue or concert hall?
Findings and theories from my own and other research will be presented, and I will then draw these together to propose what the role of today's music educator may be, in training the musicians of tomorrow. How much of a degree programme can / should teach composers about how their musical material may impact the listener, and what is the education sector's responsibility to give performers a toolkit that allows them to have the impact that they want to have on their audience?
Martin J. Lürsen prize
The Martin J. Lürsen prize will once again be awarded during the VvM conference in 2026. The prize, worth €500,- , is awarded every two years to a (Bachelor or Master) student graduating from a Dutch or Flemish conservatoire (in the field of music theory) or university (in the field of musicology) for their thesis on a music-theoretical subject. Only students who graduated in the academic years 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 are eligible for this edition. The closing date for submission of the thesis was 1 October 2025.