Day 1– 14 July, 2022
9:00: Registration with Tea & Coffee
10:00: Conference welcome with Prof. Nick Reyland and Dr Steve Halfyard
10:30-12:30 Panel 1 – Peakism
The Ostentatious Soundtrack: Defining Traits of Peak TV Scoring
(Nicholas Reyland, Royal Northern College of Music)
Engaging Viewers in Complex Television through Music and Sound: Lessons from Dark
(David Brown, Independent scholar)
Peak Television, ‘Off-Peak’ Scores: Establish the ‘peakness’ of music in Stranger Things (2016 - ), Tales From the Loop (2020), and Y: The Last Man (2021)
(Matt Lawson, Oxford Brookes University)
Peak TV and the Neo-Silent Aesthetic
Peter Adams (University of Cambridge)
12:30-13:30: Lunch
13:30-15:00 Panel 2 – Post-Traumatic Soundscapes
By (Dis)order of the Peaky Blinders: Trauma and Anachronistic Soundtracking in the Contemporary Period Drama
(Natalie Farrell, University of Chicago)
Re-Birthing Britain: Maternal Soundscapes in Call the Midwife
(Erin Johnson-Williams, Durham University) & Michelle Meinhart, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance)
Muscle Memory: The Sound of My Voice, The OA, and the Specifics and Generalities of Medium
Robynn Stilwell (Georgetown University)
15:00-15:30: Break
15:30-17:00 Panel 3 – Recommended….
Congruous incongruities? Scoring the complexities of the antihero in peak TV
(David Ireland, University of Leeds)
Playing with Time in The Queen’s Gambit
(Michael L. Klein, Temple University)
Music as Emotional Underpinning in Twin Peaks (1989–1991) and Twin Peaks: The Return (2017): Sonic Identifications of TV’s new “Golden Age”
(Reba Wissner, Columbus State University)
17:00-17:30:Break
17:30-19:00: Q&A with Ben Salisbury
19:00: Wine Reception and Dinner
Scoring Complex Delights and Their Open Ends: Ramin Djawadi’s Original Compositions for HBO’s Westworld
(Julin Lee, University of Music and Performing Arts Munich)
Peak Prostheticity: Westworld’s Player Piano and Imperialist Organologies
(Naomi Waltham-Smith, University of Warwick)
Beyond Nostalgia: Hearing Anachronism in Television’s New Golden Age
(Alexander Kolassa, The Open University)
11:00-11:30 Break
11:30-13:00 Panel 5 – Peak Production
Frighteningly good? ‘Queer excess’ in the soundtracks of Ryan Murphy’s horror television
(Catherine Howarth, University of Huddersfield)
Hans Zimmer, Bleeding Fingers and the Evolution of Library Music
(Toby Huelin, University of Leeds)
Sonic Scripts: Captioning Sound and Music in Peak Television
(James Deaville, Carleton University)
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:30 Panel 6 – Comedy
Notes About Nothing: Seinfeld and the End of the Sitcom Theme Song
(Nathan Fleshner, University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Failing in Music and Failing to Music: The Humour of Descent in Broad City
(Marc Brooks, University of Salzburg)
‘Let me sing you a little song’: the Serious Music of South Park
(Andrew S. Powell, Independent scholar)
15:30-16:00 Break
16:00-17:30 Panel 7 – Scales and Spectra
The Musicality of the Voice in Contemporary Television
(Miguel Mera, City, University of London)
Some Early 21st-Century Television Music Through the Lens of Non-Diatonic Scales
(Scott Murphy, University of Kansas)
Spectral transformations and Synthesizers: Examining Mac Quayle’s music for Mr. Robot (2015-19)
(Sergi Casanelles, New York University)
17:30-18:00 Break
18:00-19:30 Panel 8 – Peak Identities
Popular Music and Scoring Character Complexity in Teen TV
(Julissa Shinsky, University of Texas, Austin)
Saving la mestiza: Music, Diegesis, and Destiny in Battlestar Galactica
(Megan Francisco, Wake Forest University)
The Influence of Nordic Noir on the British Crime Drama: Music as a Signifier of Specific Local Identities
(Michael Baumgartner, Cleveland State University)
19:30: Conference Dinner
Peak TV for Kids: Pastiche, Metadiscourse, and the Disney Channel Original Musical
(Gregory Camp, University of Auckland)
‘They Tell The Truth, Songs Do’: How Authentic is the Soundtrack in Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective (1986)?
(Geoffrey Chew, Royal Holloway, University of London)
Do You Hear What I Hear? Musical Hallucinations in Primetime Television Series
(Susanne Scheiblhofer, Independent scholar)
‘Don’t You Remember?’: Television Memory, Popular Music, and the (Queer) Cultural Afterlife of Laura Branigan’s ‘Gloria’
(Leanne Weston, University of Warwick)
11:00-11:30: Break
11:30-13:00 Panel 10 – Scoring Strategies
Music and Memory in Battlestar Galactica
(S. Andrew Granade, University of Missouri-Kansas City)
“This [Sounds like] a True Story”: scoring the heightened reality of Noah Hawley’s Fargo
(Amy Bauer, University of California, Irvine)
East/West/Other: music, culture and identity in Firefly
(Steve Halfyard, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland)
13:00: Conference Closing
[Take away lunch bags are provided]
10:00: Conference welcome with Prof. Nick Reyland and Dr Steve Halfyard
10:30-12:30 Panel 1 – Peakism
The Ostentatious Soundtrack: Defining Traits of Peak TV Scoring
(Nicholas Reyland, Royal Northern College of Music)
Engaging Viewers in Complex Television through Music and Sound: Lessons from Dark
(David Brown, Independent scholar)
Peak Television, ‘Off-Peak’ Scores: Establish the ‘peakness’ of music in Stranger Things (2016 - ), Tales From the Loop (2020), and Y: The Last Man (2021)
(Matt Lawson, Oxford Brookes University)
Peak TV and the Neo-Silent Aesthetic
Peter Adams (University of Cambridge)
12:30-13:30: Lunch
13:30-15:00 Panel 2 – Post-Traumatic Soundscapes
By (Dis)order of the Peaky Blinders: Trauma and Anachronistic Soundtracking in the Contemporary Period Drama
(Natalie Farrell, University of Chicago)
Re-Birthing Britain: Maternal Soundscapes in Call the Midwife
(Erin Johnson-Williams, Durham University) & Michelle Meinhart, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance)
Muscle Memory: The Sound of My Voice, The OA, and the Specifics and Generalities of Medium
Robynn Stilwell (Georgetown University)
15:00-15:30: Break
15:30-17:00 Panel 3 – Recommended….
Congruous incongruities? Scoring the complexities of the antihero in peak TV
(David Ireland, University of Leeds)
Playing with Time in The Queen’s Gambit
(Michael L. Klein, Temple University)
Music as Emotional Underpinning in Twin Peaks (1989–1991) and Twin Peaks: The Return (2017): Sonic Identifications of TV’s new “Golden Age”
(Reba Wissner, Columbus State University)
17:00-17:30:Break
17:30-19:00: Q&A with Ben Salisbury
19:00: Wine Reception and Dinner
Day 2 – 15 July, 2022
8:00: Tea/ Coffee
9:30-11:00 Panel 5 – WestworldsScoring Complex Delights and Their Open Ends: Ramin Djawadi’s Original Compositions for HBO’s Westworld
(Julin Lee, University of Music and Performing Arts Munich)
Peak Prostheticity: Westworld’s Player Piano and Imperialist Organologies
(Naomi Waltham-Smith, University of Warwick)
Beyond Nostalgia: Hearing Anachronism in Television’s New Golden Age
(Alexander Kolassa, The Open University)
11:00-11:30 Break
11:30-13:00 Panel 5 – Peak Production
Frighteningly good? ‘Queer excess’ in the soundtracks of Ryan Murphy’s horror television
(Catherine Howarth, University of Huddersfield)
Hans Zimmer, Bleeding Fingers and the Evolution of Library Music
(Toby Huelin, University of Leeds)
Sonic Scripts: Captioning Sound and Music in Peak Television
(James Deaville, Carleton University)
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:30 Panel 6 – Comedy
Notes About Nothing: Seinfeld and the End of the Sitcom Theme Song
(Nathan Fleshner, University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
Failing in Music and Failing to Music: The Humour of Descent in Broad City
(Marc Brooks, University of Salzburg)
‘Let me sing you a little song’: the Serious Music of South Park
(Andrew S. Powell, Independent scholar)
15:30-16:00 Break
16:00-17:30 Panel 7 – Scales and Spectra
The Musicality of the Voice in Contemporary Television
(Miguel Mera, City, University of London)
Some Early 21st-Century Television Music Through the Lens of Non-Diatonic Scales
(Scott Murphy, University of Kansas)
Spectral transformations and Synthesizers: Examining Mac Quayle’s music for Mr. Robot (2015-19)
(Sergi Casanelles, New York University)
17:30-18:00 Break
18:00-19:30 Panel 8 – Peak Identities
Popular Music and Scoring Character Complexity in Teen TV
(Julissa Shinsky, University of Texas, Austin)
Saving la mestiza: Music, Diegesis, and Destiny in Battlestar Galactica
(Megan Francisco, Wake Forest University)
The Influence of Nordic Noir on the British Crime Drama: Music as a Signifier of Specific Local Identities
(Michael Baumgartner, Cleveland State University)
19:30: Conference Dinner
Day 3 – 16 July, 2022
8:30: Tea/ Coffee
9:00-11:00 Panel 9 – Songs and MusicalsPeak TV for Kids: Pastiche, Metadiscourse, and the Disney Channel Original Musical
(Gregory Camp, University of Auckland)
‘They Tell The Truth, Songs Do’: How Authentic is the Soundtrack in Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective (1986)?
(Geoffrey Chew, Royal Holloway, University of London)
Do You Hear What I Hear? Musical Hallucinations in Primetime Television Series
(Susanne Scheiblhofer, Independent scholar)
‘Don’t You Remember?’: Television Memory, Popular Music, and the (Queer) Cultural Afterlife of Laura Branigan’s ‘Gloria’
(Leanne Weston, University of Warwick)
11:00-11:30: Break
11:30-13:00 Panel 10 – Scoring Strategies
Music and Memory in Battlestar Galactica
(S. Andrew Granade, University of Missouri-Kansas City)
“This [Sounds like] a True Story”: scoring the heightened reality of Noah Hawley’s Fargo
(Amy Bauer, University of California, Irvine)
East/West/Other: music, culture and identity in Firefly
(Steve Halfyard, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland)
13:00: Conference Closing
[Take away lunch bags are provided]