Conference Agenda

Organized by the AMS Committee on the Publication of American Music (COPAM).

The Committee on the Publication of American Music (COPAM) is pleased to present a workshop comprising two complementary sessions on the theory and practice of preparing critical editions. These two sessions serve as an exciting opportunity to galvanize discussion about the role of critical editions in contemporary musicology. In a period where the field of musicology continues to see a range of new approaches to music, in areas extending from historiography and political economy to hermeneutics and musical analysis, critical editions provide a compelling lens for approaching a range of questions about music and its documentation: How might new critical editions expand the range of repertories that are represented in the literature, and how do editors set about documenting these repertories? What tools are critical for the training of critical editors, and how might these keep pace with broader changes in our understanding of music? How does the publication of critical editions unfold in practice?

This first of two sessions explores theoretical aspects of creating editions of music. Four presenters will speak for 10 minutes each on their subject of expertise, afterwards allowing 50 minutes for open discussion. Our critical editors bring considerable expertise to bear in the area of critical editions, having been instrumental in the preparation of crucial volumes. Amy Stillman, editor of MUSA’s Hawaiian Songs: Ancient and Modern, will present on the development of new repertories for critical editions. Patrick Warfield, editor of the MUSA edition Sousa: Six Marches, will address the process of evaluating and choosing between conflicting sources. Alexander Dean, managing editor of A-R Editions’ Recent Researches in Music, will speak to the process of publication for critical editions, and Pamela Whitcomb, President and Director of Music Publications at A-R Editions, will discuss the process of training critical editors.