Announcing the Formation of Two New Study Groups

The AMS is pleased to announce the formation of two new study groups: the Jazz and Improvisation Study Group and the Skills and Resources for Early Musics Study Group.

The Jazz and Improvisation Study Group aims to unite the interdisciplinary community of jazz scholars to provide a focused venue for the musical tradition, with an emphasis on what musicologists bring to this robust scholarly conversation. Organizers plan to create a more welcoming space for junior scholars and graduate students while also shifting the demographics of jazz studies to include more women, first generation scholars, performers, members of LGBTQIA+ communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Organization of the Jazz and Improvisation Study Group has been spearheaded by Kimberly Hannon Teal, Darren Mueller, Stephanie Doktor, and Ken Ge.

The Skills and Resources for Early Musics Study Group seeks to coordinate and energize the study of musical practices from before around 1600 by focusing on the skills necessary to teach and undertake research into musics of the distant past. Courses on Western notation, paleography, and codicology are not offered as frequently as once they were, and there is an ever-growing need for knowledge of myriad languages, notational systems, and non-notated musical traditions. One of the group's top priorities is facilitating the specialist training and interdisciplinary collaboration upon which so much successful work in early musics depends. Organization of the Skills and Resources for Early Musics Study Group has been spearheaded by Luisa Nardini and Catherine Saucier.

As with all study groups, these new groups have been invited to participate in the 2021 AMS Annual Meeting. AMS members interested in becoming involved are encouraged to reach out to the study group organizers directly or through the AMS office, attend the study group session at the AMS Annual Meeting, and keep an eye out for any study group events organized during the year.