International Association for Word and Music Studies (WMA) General Assembly

Friday, 12 June 2009, 12:00 noon

Institut für Analyse, Theorie und Geschichte der Musik

Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien

A-1030 Vienna, Lothringerstraße 18/III

Agenda

I. President's Report

  1. 2009 marks the official 10th anniversary of the WMA (the first, constitutional Meeting, however, was held in 1997)
  2. current state of the organization:
    1. 108 members (increase of 5 since 2007)
    2. representing 24 countries
  3. exceptional number of submissions for the Vienna conference resulted in parallel sessions for the first time, a measure which found little enthusiasm (including the Executive Board, who will carefully consider the matter)
  4. recognized Fred van der Zee of Rodopi Press, publisher of the book series Word and Music Studies, who attended the conference and organized a book display
  5. WMS 9: Essays on Word/Music Adaptation and on Surveying the Field. Proceedings from the 5th WMA Conference, Santa Barbara, CA. Ed. David Urrows. Published 2009.
  6. WMS 10: Regula Hohl Trillini. The Gaze of the Listener: English Representations of Domestic Music-Making. Published 2009.
  7. gratitude expressed to Gerold Gruber (Vienna) for organizing the 7th WMA Conference

II. Treasurer's Report

  1. the 2008/2009 report has been approved by the WMA auditors
  2. organization has a positive balance of approx. 5100 Euros
  3. projected expenses for 2009/2010:
    1. approx. 2600 Euros for publication of WMS 11
    2. approx. 200 Euros for homepage (wordmusicstudies.org)
  4. treasurer’s report approved by acclamation

III. Secretary’s Report

  1. WMA Forum 3 (online publication) will be posted later in 2009
  2. members are requested to submit list of publications (3-5) addressing word and music topics to dmosley@bellarmine.edu for Newsletter and posting on website
  3. members are requested to submit announcements and/or calls for papers related to word and music studies to dmosley@bellarmine.edu for posting on website and distribution to members
  4. WMA Forum 4 anticipated in 2010

IV. Membership

  1. motion that membership fee remain the same approved by acclamation
  2. reminder that all speakers at WMA conferences are required to become members of WMA
  3. Gerold W. Gruber, organizer of the Vienna conference, elected honorary WMA member

V. Election of Governing Body

Walter Bernhart reads from a message sent by Suzanne Lodato, who regrets being unable to attend the Vienna conference and hopes this being the first and last time of missing a WMA conference

  1. following slate of candidates for Executive Board approved by a show of hands:
    • President – Walter Bernhart (Graz)
    • Vice-President – Michael Halliwell (Sydney)
    • Vice-President – Suzanne M. Lodato (Bloomington, IN)
    • Treasurer – Werner Wolf (Graz)
    • Secretary – David L. Mosley (Louisville, KY)
    • Member at Large – Lawrence Kramer (New York, NY)
  2. motion that David Urrows (Hong Kong) and Klaus Zerinschek (Innsbruck) continue as auditors approved by acclamation
  3. Advisory Board announced:
    • Mary M. Breatnach (Edinburgh)
    • Peter Dayan (Edinburgh)
    • Albert Gier (Bamberg)
    • Gerold W. Gruber (Vienna)
    • Ulla-Britta Lagerroth (Lund)
    • John Neubauer (Amsterdam)
    • Leon Plantinga (New Haven, CT)
    • Eric Prieto (Santa Barbara, CA)
    • Harry E. Seelig (Amherst, MA)
    • Jürgen Thym (Rochester, NY)
    • Deborah F. Weagel (Albuquerque, NM, future conference organizer)
    • Ulrich Weisstein (Graz/Bloomington, IN)
    • Simon Williams (Santa Barbara, CA)

VI. Future Activities

  1. WMA Newsletter to be released on wordmusicstudies.org later in 2009
  2. WMS 11, papers from Vienna conference, edited by Walter Bernhart and Michael Halliwell
    1. acknowledged that cost prohibits all papers being included in WMS 11
    2. encouraged speakers to consider submission to WMA Forum 4 (online publication)
    3. publication anticipated in fall 2010
  3. 8th International Conference (WMA 8) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, organized by Deborah Weagel, with the assistance of Simon Williams
    1. scheduled 1st or 2nd week of August 2011 to coincide with the opera festival
    2. call for papers will be released early in 2010, topic not yet decided
  4. Robert Samuels and Delia da Sousa Correa (both Milton Keynes) are willing to consider organizing the 2013 WMA conference in London

V. Other Business

  1. Robert Samuels (Milton Keynes) asked that WMA consider assisting with expenses for attending the biannual conferences and/or scholarly work. This issue will be discussed by the Executive Board.
  2. Simon Williams (Santa Barbara), anticipating the ongoing growth of the WMA, encouraged the organization to think strategically about the future.
  3. Several junior scholars attending the conference announced their intention of organizing separate Forum conferences in the years in between WMA conferences.
  4. Conference Announcements