We are excited to share our program for the upcoming annual meeting on March 20-21, 2026 hosted by Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA!
American Musicological Society
South-Central Chapter
Annual Meeting, March 20–21, 2026
Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA)
Friday, March 20
12:30 Registration
12:50 Welcome
1:00–2:30 Enchantments and Nightmares
Chair: David Haas, UGA
Stephen Turner, Tennessee State University
“Asychronicity Between Christmas Carols and Themes of Trauma in NOS4A2”
Lydia Rufin, University of Kentucky
“Daemon Women”
Benjamin DuPriest, Georgia State University
“We Just Came Here to Play”: Sinners as Racial Allegory for the Mississippi Blues”
2:30–3:00 Coffee Break
3:00–3:45 AI and the Music History Classroom: A Student-led Approach
Chair: Joshua Bedford, Middle Tennessee State University
Esther Morgan-Ellis, Charlotte Nease, and Sofia Perez, University of North Georgia
“Partnering with Students to Confront the Challenges of Generative AI”
3:45–4:00 Short Break
4:00–5:15 Keynote Presentation
Chair: Marie Sumner Lott, Georgia State University
Marian Wilson Kimber, University of Iowa
“African American History as Pageant: The Impact of Ada Crogman Franklin’s Milestones of a Race”
Saturday, March 21
8:30 aM Registration, Coffee, and Pastries
9:30–11:00 Signifying Sounds: Music, Meaning, and Cultural Memory
Chair: Kendall Winter, University of Kentucky
Nderitu Kiragu, University of Georgia
“Scoring Black Memory: Hall Johnson’s Spirituals and the Sonic Landscape of The Green Pastures”
Kristen Williams, University of Kentucky
“The Misconceptions of Astrology, Astronomy, and Mythology in Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite, Op. 32”
Marva Griffin Carter, Georgia State University
“Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Choir Signifyin’ at the Gone With the Wind Movie Premiere”
11:00–11:15 Coffee Break
11:15–12:15 Musical Outsiders
Chair: Dale Disney, University of Tennessee
Jonathan McIntyre, University of Kentucky
“Nietzsche as Composer, Philosopher, Antichrist: A Conceptual Art Song Analysis”
Tim McCord, Indiana State University
“I Shall be Remembered!”: Outsider Status and Audience Relatability in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (1990)”
12:15–2:15 Lunch and Business Meeting
2:15–2:45 Professional Development Workshop
“Publishing Your First Academic Article”
Naomi Graber, University of Georgia
2:45–3:45 Negotiating Heritage
Chair: Allison Chu, Vanderbilt University
Adefisayo Olaniyi, University of Tennessee
“The Negotiation of Cultural Heritage and Identity in Contemporary Jùjú: The Case of King Sunny Adé”
Vicki Lu, University of Georgia
“From Stage to Screen: Cultural Memory and Digital Representation of the Sichuan Giant Puppets of Nanchong, China”