September 2024: myself, Ian Gardiner and Imogen Burman organised a conference at Goldsmiths dedicated to music by British composers who forged their musical language from US minimalism and English experimental music.
Organising a conference is a nerve-wracking experience; not only are there a myriad arrangements to take care of, beforehand and on the day, but there is always the nagging worry that no-one will be interested in the research niche being presented. This was particularly the case for Ian and I because the impetus for the conference had arisen from a very personal source; in July 2021 the composer Jeremy Peyton Jones passed away – a mutual friend and colleague, both of us were deeply shocked when we heard the news and, following a chance meeting whilst on external examining duties, we decided that something needed to be done to commemorate Jeremy’s life and work.
Ian had already organised a memorial concert for Jeremy in 2022, before he and I had become acquainted. Both of us were involved in what might be termed the alternative British contemporary music scene within which Jeremy was so important: Ian was a more central figure – a member of George W. Welch – whilst my activity centred around Icebreaker who arrived later, in 1989. We decided that this period warranted greater investigation, documentation and academic representation so a conference, one-day initially to ‘test the water’, was the way to go.
What transpired was a day that exceeded our expectations by some distance. The conference attracted a large audience many of whom (but not all – younger delegates and presenters featured too) were active in the period concerned and there was a definite ‘buzz’ and feeling of importance, of something valuable and relevant being shared.
A more or less complete set of conference materials are available at the above link but some of the themes I noted down for my summing up presentation give a flavour of the range of topics discussed: institutions; venues; process vs system; the impact of experimental music and John Cage; politics; multimedia/interdisciplinary/cross-arts practices; pulse-driven music and performance skills in undergraduate music education; instruments and technology; looking forward to further work may involve: oral history, mapping networks, archiving, lived experience and interleaving of artists’ lives into their work, preserving a legacy, focus on ensemble music-making.
Suffice to say that Ian and I are not going to leave it there – ideas are percolating and plans gradually forming for ways of taking this work forwards. Watch this space…!
