The Texas Society for Music Theory will hold its 48^th annual meeting on February 27 - 28, 2026, on the campus of Texas Women's University, with Paul Thomas serving as local arrangements coordinator. The conference will be held in person and streamed online for distance viewing. Presenters are asked to travel to Denton. Those not presenting may participate in person or virtually.

The Society invites the submission of proposals on any aspect of music theory or music theory-related interdisciplinary research topics. Proposals may be formatted as 20-minute scholarly papers, posters, or 90-minute panel discussions and special sessions.

The Society invites undergraduate students to participate in a special lightning talk session dedicated to working projects. This session aims to inspire undergraduates to pursue research in music theory. Students will deliver a 10-minute lightning talk on their project, followed by collaborative roundtable discussions to further develop their ideas and explore new possibilities. Students are encouraged to work with a faculty mentor to prepare their abstracts. If you are a faculty member, consider inviting outstanding students to participate by submitting a proposal or attending the conference. More information will be available on the Society's website.

The Society welcomes proposals for a special session suited for high school and college music theory classes to view together on Friday morning. If you propose one of these special sessions, be sure to include a statement why you think your topic is relevant for this audience.

To submit a proposal, please prepare two separate PDF files:

1. Anonymous proposal of no more than 500 words and supplementary materials of no more than 2 pages (may include diagrams, examples, works cited, bibliography, etc.). Include the proposal title; title words do not count against the word limit. The submitting author is responsible for making sure that the proposal and abstract contain no identifying information in the documents or metadata.
2. Author bio(s), no more than 50 words per author.

To submit a lightning talk proposal for the Undergraduate Session, please prepare two separate PDF files:

1. Anonymous proposal of no more than 250 words. Include the proposal title; title words do not count against the word limit. The submitting author is responsible for making sure that the proposal and abstract contain no identifying information in the documents or metadata.
2. Author bio(s), no more than 50 words per author, and Faculty mentor's name, title, and institution.

Note: An abstract is not needed at this point. Authors of accepted proposals will be asked to provide a 250-word abstract at a later date.

Submit proposals at: https://forms.gle/WbL9dEqx5QuULKCV7. Only complete submissions uploaded to the above address by November 24, 2025 will be considered. Questions about submitting a proposal may be addressed to Jennifer Beavers.

This year, TSMT is offering three awards: (1) the Colvin Award for best student 20-minute talk, (2) an award for best student poster, and (3) an award for the best undergraduate presentation. Each winner will receive a monetary reward. In addition, the recipient of the 2026 Colvin Award will receive an invitation to serve on the 2027 Program Committee.

We encourage scholars to consider carefully when responding to regional paper calls, and to submit only to the conferences that one seriously intends to attend if accepted. Further, we strongly recommend that scholars submit the same paper or poster to no more than two regional conferences per year, so as to broaden presentation opportunities for all.

This page is maintained by Philip Baczewski