Scoringpeaktv

'''Scoring Peak TV: Music and Sound in Television’s New ‘Golden Age’ '''

'''14-16 July 2022, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, UK and online '''

'''Conference co-organisers: Dr Steve Halfyard (RSC) and Prof. Nicholas Reyland (RNCM) '''

Registration now open: https://scoringpeaktv.blogspot.com/

Although a precise definition of ‘quality TV’ has proven elusive, Robert J. Thompson once suggested, in a 2007 essay marking a decade since the publication of his Television’s Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER (1996), ‘we knew it when we saw it’. But do we know it when we hear it?

This conference aims to do that hearing and audioviewing, and to analyse, map, contextualize, and critique the evolution of scoring and sound design practice during what is variously referred to as ‘quality’, ‘high-end’, ‘TVIII’, ‘peak TV’, or ‘the new golden age’ of televisual narrative. Examples relevant to the project extend from early and somewhat isolated instances such as Hill Street Blues (1981-87), The Singing Detective (1986), thirtysomething (1987-91), Dekalog (1989) and Twin Peaks (1990-91), via significant productions including The X-Files (1993-2002), Ally McBeal (1997-2002), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), and The West Wing (1999-2006) to series which, in one way or another, contested and extended the conventions or boundaries of TV storytelling in the wake of The Sopranos (1999-2007) – an increasingly rapid deluge, only slowed by the recent pandemic’s break in production schedules, including 24, Angel, Atlanta, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad, Black Mirror, Chernobyl, Dexter, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Fargo, Fleabag, Game of Thrones, Girls, Hannibal, House of Cards, Killing Eve, Luther, Mad Men, Mr Robot, Orange is the New Black, Six Feet Under, The Americans, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Killing, The L Word, The Mandalorian, The Wire, This is England, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Utopia, Westworld – and many more shows, including non-fiction and other content adopting (or resisting) peak TV’s paradigmatic status. Creatives producing music and sound for such shows have been adapting, evolving, rejecting, transcending, satirizing, and in many other ways moving beyond the conventions of blocks, library music and limited original content that once demarcated TV music and sound from film and other audiovisual media. Television’s sonic storytelling has been transforming.

Registration is now open for Scoring Peak TV (14-16 July 2022, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, UK). In-person conference passes, day passes and online passes are all available for booking. Highlights of the conference include: - Interview and Q&A with composer Ben Salisbury (Archive 81, Ex Machina, Hanna, Black Mirror, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth, Life in Cold Blood) about his work on Archive 81 and scoring collaborations with Geoff Barrow

- Panel topics including Peak Identities, Post-traumatic Soundscapes, Comedy, Peak Production, Scoring Strategies, Songs and Musicals, and Peakism

- Papers with discussion of shows including Stranger Things, Dark, Peaky Blinders, Call the Midwife, The OA, The Queen’s Gambit, Twin Peaks: The Return, Mr Robot, Battlestar Galactica, Fargo, The Singing Detective, Westworld, Firefly, Killing Eve, and The Sopranos

- Full programme, registration links and accommodation info: https://scoringpeaktv.blogspot.com/ For more information, visit the Scoring Peak TV website or email the conference co-organisers Dr Steve Halfyard (RCS) and Prof. Nicholas Reyland (RNCM) at scoringpeakTV@gmail.com More details: https://scoringpeaktv.blogspot.com/

'''Email: scoringpeaktv [at] gmail [dot] com '''