Pop Conference 2016

What would a conference whose theme is the voice be without singers? This keynote conversation welcomes three remarkable vocalists in discussion about how they’ve discovered, nurtured, and continue to develop both their instruments and their musical vision. What makes a pop voice distinctive? How do the challenges of a life in popular music, including the difficulties of touring and the challenges of recording, both help shape and sometimes endanger a voice? What is the relationship between songwriting, song interpretation, and “pure” singing? How do singers preserve the pleasure of vocalizing over the course of their lifetimes? What remains personal about the art of singing, and how does that intermingle with technique? How has technology aided the singer’s craft while also sometimes standing in the way of “real” voices being recognized? These questions and others will be entertained in a casual, fun conversation about what makes a voice, a voice.

Popular music loses towering figures every year. But just a few months in, 2016 feels like a deluge of grieving: From Maurice White to Paul Kantner, Natalie Cole to Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie to Glenn Frey, this has already been a staggering year of loss. Here, the Pop Conference will pay tribute to the deceased in a concentrated fashion—and in our idiom, with critical and evocative words, images and sounds on the big Sky Church screen, and a spirit of celebration. Join us for a series of short papers and video clips considering the aforementioned music deities and a few more besides. Participants will share personal reflections and wrestle with these artists’ legacies and unique musical voices.