Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

The Desert Skies Symposium has used the following presentation format for several years, and we will continue with this format for the 2027 event.  

Sessions are 90 minutes long. Each 90-minute session will begin with eight to nine one-minute lightening talks given by each of that session’s presenters. The lightening talks are session overviews to help attendees select three presentations to attend. Attendees will then go to one of the presentation tables/spaces, where authors will present seated at a table to six to ten attendees.

Typically, presenters do not read entire papers. We ask that you prepare a presentation of your research in a format that fosters engaging discussion and questions from those who have selected your session. Some presenters choose to use slides and/or audio/video clips using their personal laptop computers. We will have some laptops/ipads available for presenters to use if needed. Some past presenters chose to provide handouts or an outline. Neither is required. Additional ideas are welcome! 

After about 25 minutes, groups rotate, and presenters repeat to a new small group, then another rotation occurs. In other words, you will present/discuss your research three times, each time with a different small group of attendees, during the same 90-minute session.

The Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Learning and Teaching invites submissions for the seventeenth biennial meeting, to be held February 18-20, 2027, on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. 

You are invited to submit papers related to research on music learning and teaching in any context. The Desert Skies Symposium conceives of research broadly and encourages the submission of a variety of methodologies and styles of inquiry. 

We encourage applications from college and university faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, preK12 music educators, teaching artists, music therapists and music therapy researchers, and community music educators. Finally, we explicitly encourage work that centers equity and justice as well as interdisciplinary study and community-based or community-inspired work. 

Submit your abstract of 700-800 words (references not included in word count) by the extended deadline, which is 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time on September 22, 2026 as an attachment with this link. 

Include the author or first author’s last name in the filename (e.g., Smith.DesertSkies.2023). 

Download a copy of the 2027 CFP here.