IASPM Canada 2021 Conference Blog: Fiona Evison (Part 1)
IASPM CA
Creating a Sense of Place in an Online Music Conference
By Fiona Evison
Community composer Pete Moser writes, “Our relationships to places, people, and our physical and metaphysical environment drive our personal journeys.”[1] As a community composer and musician, I am drawn to Moser’s sensitivity to the importance of place in his own work in community development through the medium of music. Yet Moser also extends the notion of place beyond the physical dimension and into a metaphysical space, that is, “a time in life, a moment in history, a personal feeling,”[2] observing the intersection of both the physical and metaphysical in his practice.
Throughout the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Canada [IASPM-CA] conference, this intersection reverberated as I contemplated the efforts that conference organizers had made to create a sense of place for attendees. This place was Cape Breton, which was to have been the conference’s geographical location before COVID-19 necessitated a virtual conference. I have attended a number of virtual conferences during the past year and a half of lockdowns—all have been thought-provoking, and I have felt deep gratitude for the ability to attend safely while in my own place in the rural hills of Ontario’s Grey Bruce region. These virtual conferences, however, did not include efforts to infuse a flavour of the hosting institution’s geography and culture. At IASPM-CA, however, such elements included Zoom backgrounds of notable locations in Cape Breton, links to virtual tours of the island, and concerts given by local musicians offering glimpses of Cape Breton’s famed and diverse musical heritage.
IASPM-CA Zoom background example: “Fog in the Clyburn Valley”
It has often bothered me when actual music-making does not occur at events featuring music discourses, and it seems that music is dissected and discussed without being embodied and experienced. My concern is likely the result of decades of weekly community musicking, accompanied by underlying worries that my academic journey might lead to an impersonal detachment from music and subsequent scholastic poverty. Thus, it was intriguing to note that experiencing music had been intentionally included by the conference organizers, even though virtual platforms lean more toward observation rather than participation. While the ability to translate touch, smell, and taste via Zooming eludes us, our experiences and understanding are still enhanced by visual and aural engagement.
The overarching conference theme of “Big Sounds from Small Places” resulted in conference sessions which continued to explore the idea of place, as presenters took us through discussions and recordings to a myriad of locations, such as Budapest’s community radio stations, Portugal’s indie culture, Australia’s protest-infused rock music, New Caledonia’s popular music scene, UK country music, European Hill Country blues, and various locations and events in Canada, among other locales.
Virtual place was not exempt from examination. The pandemic has highlighted the almost ubiquitous use of virtual music spaces, and an important conference discussion was started about the long-term impacts of virtual musicking. In my own community music practice, the sense of place is a key element to bringing a community together for, and through, music. Will we become habituated to virtual space, rather than live, in-person music? Are we there already? The virtual alternative is a pale imitation, but we are in danger of perceiving it as the norm.
Morose musings aside, the IASPM-CA convenors took advantage of virtual space to create community, exemplified by intentionally scheduling Zoom social networking times where break out rooms and discussion prompts fostered new connections and sharing of research interests and challenges. The graduate student sessions were meaningful in this regard, creating a sense of community that reached from Canada’s east to west coasts, and south into Peru. In a comment of appreciation shared at the close of such a session, one participant described how their shyness caused difficulty in meeting others at conferences, but how helpful the session was to them.
The conference, as mentioned, used virtual space to create that sense of physical space which would have existed had we been able to meet in person. Most conference concert performers also adopted this stance, such as fiddler Morgan Toney who merges Cape Breton Celtic fiddling with his Mi’kmaq roots to create “Mi’kmaltic” music. Though recorded, Toney’s presentation had a feel of being in the musical space as Toney spoke to us about his vision for music and desire to have been performing live. The set could have been done without this type of engagement—a one-sided conversation, but one that attempted to reach through the screen into the audience’s space. How much richer it would have been to be in a live audience, hearing about inspirations and choices; yet, under pandemic restrictions, conference attendees would not have encountered Mi’kmaltic music without the virtual space. Thus, arguments debating physical versus virtual place are not binary, though we will gain much post-COVID by reclaiming in-place musicking.
Returning to Moser, as we wait for that reclamation to happen, the IASPM-CA conference—as part of its participants’ personal journeys—took us virtually to many places of musicking across the world. It also transported us into the metaphysical place of learning from and with colleagues from a diverse spectrum of disciplines, reflecting one of the Association’s values. I am sure that the other attendees join me in feeling that we are all richer for the experience.
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[1] Moser, P. (2018). Growing community through a sense of place, p. 214. In B. Bartleet & L. Higgins (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of community music, pp. 214-229. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
[2] p. 215
Fiona Evison is a Music Education PhD student at Western University in London, Ontario. As a composer, she believes her creativity should be used to enable community music making. Her research interests include community music education, adult education, intergenerational musicking, and non-auditioned ensembles and soloists. Her 2019 international research on the role of the composer in community music will appear in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Community Singing. Current inquiries on the impact of COVID-19 on community music will be published by Oxford University Press. Fiona is a community music director and accompanist in Owen Sound, Ontario. She is also on the board of the Association of Canadian Women Composers, and is Editor for the ACWC Journal.