Dear Loyal Reader(s),
So once again I have attended the annual Music and the Moving Image conference at New York University, and this year I had the pleasure of actually presenting! As an aspiring academic, teacher, etc., having that first presentation at a major national/international level conference out of the way is a tremendous relief and milestone. My presentation was a new version of the Rashomon paper that I presented last year at the AMS chapter meeting and that I also posted here. I’m still working through some things with the film and I hope to finish a newer, more in-depth version some time in the next few months.
The papers this year were quite good and I attended some interesting panels and key notes dealing with video game music, which was sort of the focus of the conference. Also in attendance was almost a who’s who of scholars. I don’t want to geek out, but actually meeting many of the people who’s books and papers I’ve read over and over as grad researcher is a strange and wonderful experience.
On the one hand, I am one of them (sort of) now, I am a part of that conversation, but to put it in baseball terms, I’m still down in single A minor leagues and they’re in the Show – okay maybe I’ve just been called up to AA ball, but regardless, I’m still in the minors.
That being said, my presentation went quite well and I received some good feedback and questions afterwards that will help me to refine the future version of my paper. Also, I met a fellow scholar who is quite interested with Kurosawa and music and sound (she presented on the same panel) and we hope to collaborate on a future project .
One of the best things about these conferences, especially one that focuses on film/tv/vg/etc. music, is getting to meet the scholars in the field and just enjoy conversation and good company. For the most part, the people are friendly and enjoy discussing their research and lives. Part of it might be that we all love and are passionate about what we’re doing, and, let’s face it, are all fans of what we’re studying.
We are all not only music geeks, but film music geeks to boot.
This was demonstrated perfectly last night for me. We were having a closing dinner/party thing and I was sitting at a table and this guy Tim comes over, I ask him what he does, and he says he works as a music editor and also teaches a class at NYU. I ask what he worked on and he rattled off a list which included Lord of the Rings and the entire table fell silent…
Massive geek out.
Anyway, I don’t have a lot to say about individual papers this year. I didn’t take notes like last year, but there were a number of interesting papers and people. If you are interesting in submitting or attending next year, I do recommend it. Just google “music and the moving image conference” and you’ll find the website straight away.
On a housekeeping note, I do hope to get back to regular blogging now that the interval between semesters is here. I will be studying for my comprehensive exams in the fall most of the time, but I hope that won’t keep me away from you, loyal reader(s).
Sincerely,
The Temp Track
