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Uy presenting at SAM

The American Music Research Center (AMRC) team recently went on the road to participate in the (SAM) Conference in Richmond, Virginia, March 11-15—an annual gathering of SAM members and American music researchers and enthusiasts to share ideas, experience performances and connect with one another.

The group representing the AMRC included Associate Professor of Musicology and Director of the AMRC Michael Sy Uy, PhD candidate in ethnomusicology and AMRC Teaching Assistant Johnette Martin and myself, the College of Music’s communications and program assistant.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to expose graduate students—and also the AMRC’s coordinator—to what SAM is like as an academic conference,” Uy says. “Until you go to a conference, meet people and hear what is the current state of research on American music, it can be hard to figure out your own position within a center and an institution, as well as the broader field.”

Each day, there were a number of presentations, meetings, outings, concerts and lecture recitals. Presenters came from various academic institutions and interest groups. Topics ranged from music festivals to pedagogy and—one of my personal favorites—the history of music in Richmond which helped me fully appreciate the setting of the conference while also learning about local music legends, some of whom were in the room.

Martin was most impacted by the talk “At the Boundaries of the Sacred, Profane, and Grotesque: Corridos as Votive Offerings and Migrant Resistance on the U.S.-Mexico Border” presented by College of Music and AMRC alumna Teresita Lozano, now at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“What this did for me as a Mexican-American is situate my personal experience growing up Catholic into American music itself,” Martin says. “I didn't think about it from a Catholic point of view of what Mexican-American music does for your identity, and to use it as an offering at an altar, as such, was very enlightening. I never thought of it from that perspective—I really enjoyed it.”

Uy also presented in a session about Washington and the idea of fostering a national music. His talk—“Challenges and Opportunities of Diversity and Equity at the NEA: Determining Excellence and Merit at a Washington, D.C. Institution”—used two National Endowment for the Arts grant case studies to discuss unequal funding in the agency. It also covered the Expansion Arts program, a now-discontinued branch of the NEA and its work funding minority-led arts programs. Uy’s co-edited book with Daniel Boomhower, another conference panelist, and Emily Abrams Ansari will be published this fall, “Musical Capital: Sound and Power in Washington, D.C.” (Harvard University Press).

The AMRC team at breakfast with previous director Tom Riis. From left to right, Riis, Martin, Bistodeau, Uy

The AMRC team connected with affiliates throughout the conference, getting breakfast with previous AMRC Director Tom Riis and saying hello to Associate Conference Manager Megan Murph who visited the AMRC in January.

Martin is coming out of the SAM conference inspired to continue expanding the AMRC’s collections and connecting with groups representing different facets of American music.

“Any conference that we go to is important in that there's always something to take away from it,” she says. “We have so much more work that we can do with the AMRC—not only with our collections, but with representation itself and how it can look and how it can sound. What collections haven't been explored yet? It helps us to move the AMRC forward.”

Uy says attendance at conferences like these can also help spread the word about the AMRC—what we’re doing and how people can collaborate or get involved.

“It's always great to hear the latest research being done by very interesting scholars which can lead to future guests of the AMRC, as well as future research initiatives or projects.”

Learn more about the AMRC!