REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!! Pop Conference is free and open to the public.

The annual EMP Pop Conference, first held in 2002, mixes together ambitious music writing of every kind, in an attempt to bring academics, critics, musicians, and dedicated fans into a collective conversation.

EMP POP CONFERENCE 2016
APRIL 14-17, 2016 AT EMP MUSEUM

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM: THE VOICE IN MUSIC

The EMP Pop Conference returns with its biggest roster of presentations yet, looking at the ways music lets us hear voices: singers, to be sure, whether virtuosos or idiosyncratic originals, but also other types of vocalizing. How do instrumentalists insert their selves into their music? When the dominant voices in our songs change, what changes with that, from personal identity to collective messages? A switch in voice—from croon to rasp to rap to Auto-Tune—alters everything it reaches.

In dozens of panels, all free to the public (though we strongly recommend advance registration), we’ll explore musical voices across genre and time period: soul singers and rock singers, singers of exotica and Mexi-Cajun blues. Panels on goth-punk wailer Siouxsie Sioux, warbling rapper Future, and pop-rock duo Hall & Oates. Synthetic “vocaloids” and challenges to female decorum. Singing across lines of color. Good bad singing and bad good singing. Vocal coaching. Southern accents.

Follow the links on this page for more information about each session, including the biographies of presenters, summaries of talks and roundtables, and details on how to pre-register and have an entrance badge waiting for you when you arrive. We look forward to seeing you at the Pop Conference!

Eric Weisbard
Pop Conference organizer
University of Alabama

View the full schedule here:
http://www.empmuseum.org/popconference