Children’s Music-Making in the Institution: Historical Perspectives on Music Education in the Long Nineteenth Century Call for Papers Meetings & Events NEW

Children’s Music-Making in the Institution: Historical Perspectives on Music Education in the Long Nineteenth Century
University of Oxford, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
October 17th, 2026
CFP deadline: May 31st, 2026

This RMA-funded study day aims to bring together researchers working across the areas of historical musicology, music education and childhood studies to investigate the relationship between children’s music-making and the Institution in the long nineteenth century. The term ‘Institution’ in this case is broadly defined to include educational, commercial, and charitable organisations as well as large-scale systems of transmission, including examination boards, pedagogical networks and publishers. In addition to highlighting how these various institutions sounded (and thereby defined) the life stage of childhood, this study day will also aim to examine how these hierarchical structures paralleled larger political, social, and cultural systems of power during the long nineteenth century. Furthermore, discussions will also extend to investigating the long-standing influence which these institutions continue to exert upon the landscape of music education today.

In addition to papers, the study day will also include a workshop engaging with primary sources, and a panel featuring guest speakers offering both academic and institutional insights into the development of children’s music education.

Confirmed Panellists:

Dr Timothy Coombes (St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford)
Professor Lucy Green (University College London)
Professor Christina Bashford (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Dr Jennifer O’Connor Madsen (Sing Ireland)
Professor Roe-Min Kok (McGill University)
Dr Ross Purves (University College London)
Zoë Smith (Royal Welsh Conservatoire of Music and Dance)

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The committee wishes to emphasise the friendly nature of the study day. It intends to foster a welcoming space for early-career researchers with opportunities to connect and socialise interwoven throughout the day. The committee invites proposals from postgraduate and early career research students for 20-minute conference papers. Key areas of interest include:

I. Institutions as Ideals: The Impact of Institutions in Shaping Childhood Musically

* How did nineteenth-century institutions create the “sound” of childhood?
* How did institutions contribute to the creation of a genre of children’s music?
* How and why was music implemented by institutions, and what was the intended outcome?

II. Institutions as Mirrors: The Function of Musical Childhood in Mirroring and Making Nineteenth-century Society

* How did institutions’ implementation of children’s music reflect ideals surrounding childhood itself?
* How, through its presence in institutions, did music communicate, instruct and reflect moral teaching and social expectations of the period?
* What role did pedagogical practices and syllabi have in shaping notions of “taste” in the next generation?
* In what ways was music a vehicle for class mobility and individual, social, national, and imperial improvement?

III. Institutions as Legacies: The long-lasting impact of the nineteenth-century/Victorian Institution on children’s musical culture

* How are the ideals of childhood, as sounded by the Institution, echoed or ‘heard’ in post- nineteenth-century contexts (particularly by and because of long-standing institutional tradition)?
* What has been the continuity and change regarding children’s music in the Institution over time?
* How has children’s music changed over time?
* What vestiges of the Victorian institution remain in today’s music education landscape? Are they still relevant to today’s society?

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To submit a proposal, please send an email attachment containing the following information to cmioxford2026@gmail.com by May 31st 2026,with the following information:

*Title of Paper
* Abstract (max. 250 words)
* Full name (as you would like it to appear in the programme)
* Institutional affiliation
* Short biography (max. 150 words)

All proposals will receive a decision by mid-July. Further information regarding the programme and registration will be circulated in due course.

Programme Committee:
Emma Arthur (University of Oxford) and Vinzent Wesselmann (University of Oxford)