McGill.CA / Timbre and Orchestration in Popular Song

Call for Proposals

June 5–7, 2025, McGill University, Montreal QC, Canada 

Timbre and orchestration are essential aspects of musical experience in any culture or style. They enable us to effortlessly identify different genres of music and are particularly important in popular musics. This centrality is reflected in Timbre and Orchestration in Popular Song (TOPS), a three-day conference hosted by McGill University's Schulich School of Music and the ACTOR (Analysis, Creation and Teaching of Orchestration) Partnership. The conference convenes scholars, producers, performers, and audiences of popular music for keynote lectures, workshops, posters, and papers, united under the theme of how timbre and orchestration give rise to critical and analytical accounts of genre, identity, performance, production, and perception. 

TOPS is soliciting proposals for paper (20 minutes) and poster presentations. We welcome submissions that approach timbre and orchestration in popular music (broadly defined) from any perspective or academic discipline, especially music theory, musicology, ethnomusicology, sound recording, performance, production, and cognition. 

*New info* (as of January 15, 2025)

  • For those who, for any reason, cannot attend to present in person, we plan to devote a small number of presentation slots to virtual/remote presentations. Please note that these slots will be limited in number.
  • In addition, we are pleased to offer, based on the recommendation of the program committee, partial travel and accommodation funding for two successful proposals whose authors are either students or otherwise precariously employed.

Proposals should be submitted by email to topsconference2025 [at] gmail.com by 11:59 PM (anywhere in the world), February 1, 2025.  

The deadline for proposal submissions has been extended to Saturday, February 8, 2025 by 11:59pm (anywhere in the world).

  1. In the subject line, please include your name and “TOPS Proposal”  

  1. In the body of your email, please include the following: 

    • Indication of whether the submission is for a paper or poster 

    • The primary (presenting) author’s name, email address and institutional affiliation (if relevant) 

    • The professional status of the primary (presenting) author: student, postdoc, non-tenured, tenured, independent scholar, independent professional, etc.

    • The names of any co-authors (if applicable) 

    • Any technical requirements beyond audiovisual projection (i.e., a piano, whiteboard, etc.) 

    • Whether you wish to be considered for a virtual / remote presentation

  2. As a DOC or PDF attachment, please include: 

    • An anonymized abstract of no more than 250 words 

Results will be communicated to all corresponding authors by March 1, 2025. Should your proposal be accepted, we will ask you to confirm your attendance via email by April 1, and let us know of any accessibility, dietary, and/or childcare needs. For any questions, please email the organizing committee at topsconference2025 [at] gmail.com ​​​​.

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