According to the Statute of the Hellenic Musicological Society (Paragraph 23), it has been considered advisable to found and to run different Study Groups, after the approval of the General Assembly, within a precise normative framework. Nowadays, the Hellenic Musicological Society comprises the following Study Groups:
1. Study Group “Byzantine Music Studies” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
The research target of this Study Group relates to all the forms of music that existed in the Byzantine Empire, the Art of Chanting (Psaltike) during post-Byzantine and newer times up to nowadays, as well as the secular music of the post-Byzantine period. The goals of the Study Group comprise:
- the promotion of Byzantine Musicology and Psaltic Art both in Greece and abroad,
- the contribution to the training of young specialists in this field,
- the fostering of collaborations among representatives of Byzantine Musical Studies and musicologists from other branches, other sciences and arts,
- discussions concerning epistemological themes and issues referring to the broadening of the methodologies in Byzantine Musicology,
- rendering these activities transparent and attractive for a broader public.
Types of activity pursued by the Study Group encompass the following ones:
- editions of works from the manuscript tradition,
- editions of musicological studies and papers,
- the organization of Study Days and conferences,
- the organization of workshops and other musical and musicological events concerning Byzantine Musical Studies.
Coordinators: Achilleas Chaldaiakis and Maria Alexandru.
2. Study Group “Research approaches to Music Performance” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
The research object of this Study Group presents the advantages provided by bridging very different fields, such as Music Analysis and Music Performance, as well as by attempting to have a fruitful cooperation between music researchers and artists. This Study Group does not focus merely upon Greek music, but can also evolve within a very broad geographical area.
Coordinator: Costas Chardas.
3. Study Group “Musical Crossroads between Greece and France during the 20th and the 21st centuries” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
Although the scientific target of this Study Group might appear rather narrow, this field of research is especially interesting and provides an important documentary basis for the investigation of Greek and French music, as well as for European culture.
The Study Group is coordinated by Andriana Soulele.
4. Study Group “Musics of the Mediterranean” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
The topic of this Study Group encompasses a wide spectrum, allowing a panoramic view and a holistic approach to the music of each genre and period on the three continents around the Mediterranean Sea.
The various characteristics of Mediterranean branches of music, with the distinctive idioms specific to each country, confer elements of ethnic identity, autonomy and cultural legacy. The broad geographic area combines, like in a mosaic, musical influences, tone colours and temperaments, which provide fruitful fields of investigation and study. In parallel, some environments that at first glance are conflicting, offer challenges and issues that need to be discussed and overcome. The components of this cultural coexistence are fluid and the boundaries of their interactions are blurred. They refer both to local relationships and those with neighbouring cultures, as well as to interactions between the different Mediterranean areas and the Western culture, during the periods of their common history. With other words, the frame of interest of the Study Group also comprises the investigation of the influence exerted by the local cultures on the development of Western culture, up to the end of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, it encompasses the influence of the more recent Western styles and the ways of their assimilation in the evolvement of musical paradigms in Mediterranean countries. Furthermore, this frame includes the sometimes almost complete absorption of the local and ethnical character by Western styles. Another main topic in need of clarification is provided by the changing conditions and contexts of music in the Mediterranean area.
The Study Group is coordinated by Georgia Petroudi.
5. Study Group “Music Theory and Analysis” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
This Study Group aims at carrying out and publishing / presenting and disseminating studies within the broader field of Music Theory and Analysis, as it has been internationally established during the last decades. This Study Group envisages to cover musicological and educational research in the field, within the framework of the Hellenic Musicological Society.
The research object of the Study Group is “Music Theory and Analysis” in a broader sense, including the following issues:
- the theoretical study of musical structure, through the systematic investigation of its parameters (melody, rhythm, harmony, form, musical texture, systems of pitch and rhythm organisation, compositional systems etc.),
- the systematic research on music theory sources from the Middle-Ages until the 20th century,
- the development of methodologies of music analysis, as well as their application to the entire spectrum of musical idioms, without restrictions as to the chronological period and the geographical area,
- the interaction with critical and hermeneutical theories,
- the interplay with other branches of Systematic Musicology (Aesthetics of Music, Music Psychology / Cognitive Sciences, Computational Musicology),
- the Pedagogy of Music Theory, Analysis and Composition.
The Study Group is coordinated by Costas Tsougras.
6. Study Group “Music and rhetoric during the newer European Period (16th-18th centuries)” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
The Study Group investigates the relationship between music and rhetoric from the 16th century, when clear references regarding the kinship between the two arts occur in treatises of music theory, until the 18th century, when the tradition entwining music and rhetoric begins to fade out, in connection with the weakening of rhetoric itself, in the framework of European educational institutions. The Group aims to study and to strengthen in Greece the research concerning the interactions between music, rhetoric and poetics – a chain conditioning the entire history of the Renaissance and of the baroque – both on the level of music history and theory, as well as on the level of music analysis and performance practice. Because of its inter-thematic nature, the investigation target of this Group concerns historians of music, literature and of other arts, as well as researchers looking for historically informed performances.
The goals of the Study Group are the following:
- to attract and to strengthen the interest of the Greek musicological community in the topic that can be described as the relationships between music and rhetoric. Furthermore, to promote research concerning the principles of rhetoric, its application fields in the realm of music, and to investigate the different methodological approaches that exist,
- to reinforce the dialogue between the members of the academic community who investigate themes concerning rhetoric and its interaction with the other arts,
- to inform the members of the Study Group and of the HMS about international activities and publications concerning this subject, as well as to facilitate the networking among researchers, students, and everyone interested in this topic in Greece and abroad,
- to organize sessions in the framework of the Conferences of the HMS and, in future, also independent Study Days in Greece and Cyprus.
The coordinator of the Study Group is Vasiliki Koutsobina.
7. Study Group “Modern Greek (Neohellenic) Music: 19th-21st centuries” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 24.04.2015).
This Study Group aims at fulfilling special requirements pertaining to the research and teaching of Modern Greek Music, according to the normative framework and the goals of the Hellenic Musicological Society. Emphasis is laid upon issues concerning Modern Greek musical composition and (mainly, but not exclusively) upon its art genres, musical life, music education, as well as upon the wider artistic activity in the broader Greek region, from the 19th century until nowadays. The research framework of the Study Group turns on the following pivots:
- Research regarding the work of Modern Greek composers (catalogues of compositions, scrutiny and restoration of manuscript sources, accession to and organization of composers’ archives).
- Research concerning the development of musical life (chronologically, geographically and historically defined), the advancement of activities in the realm of musical composition, performance and musical education, as well as to the improvement of the means of their documentation.
- Investigation of the institutions promoting music (musical associations, opera houses, educational institutions, orchestras, music ensembles, publishing houses etc.).
- Research envisaging the collection of documents of Modern Greek musical compositions from the 19th century up to the present day (published scores, microfilms of musical manuscripts, recordings on CDs, DVDs, vinyl and tape).
- Archival organization of the research concerning the collection of printed documents regarding the musical life from the 19th century until today (journals / magazines, concert programmes, videos, photo material, correspondence of composers, performers etc.).
- Research on the style and texture of Modern Greek compositional creation, both from historical, systematic (analytic) and aesthetic points of view.
Coordinators: Nikos Maliaras, Giorgos Sakallieros, and Kostas Kardamis.
8. Study Group “Ethnomusicology” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 30.10.2015).
This Study Group intends to develop activities connected with a broad spectrum of social, cultural and other musical, both phenomenological and performative activities, on historical, as well as on synchronic versus diachronic levels. From this point of view, each special research subject is not defined thematically, but theoretically and methodologically, being envisaged as shown by the contemporary trends of Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology. Thus, beyond the folk music traditions, other research fields are made up by issues of contemporary, but also of historical music genres favoured in town communities, by related epistemological issues, by performance and living approaches to traditional or non-traditional musical forms, by gender studies, social networks, social transformations and by ways of entertainment, as well as by issues concerning the role and influence of the educational practices.
Within this frame, the correspondent activities will relate to the organization of Study Days or/and conferences, concerts and cultural events. Furthermore, they may consist in the writing and publication of ethnomusicological papers and/or books, and, more generally, in organising and working through all kinds of source material bearing ethnomusicological interest. We think of material that has already been collected, but equally of items to be gathered in the future, so as to release the necessary documentation for further research and study.
The Study Group is coordinated by Georgios Kitsios.
9. Study Group “Music Iconography” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 30.10.2015).
The Study Group of Music Iconography, which represents a branch of Historical Musicology, analyses and interprets the musical contents of certain works of art. It evaluates all the pieces of information provided, and this can lead to the broadening of the historical parameters of music. Greek art since pre-historical times up to the present is rich in musical representations. This wealth of documents concerning Greek music and the visual arts represents a yet unexplored field of investigation for the musicologist. The study of such representations, considered from a musicological point of view, can reveal important aspects of the history and organology of Greek music, as well as of the special conditions and contexts in which music has been created. Finally, it can cast light on the special aesthetical and artistic relations, contingencies and interactions developed between Greek musical culture and that of the visual arts. Furthermore, it can offer valuable insights into the artistic traditions of nations with whom the Greeks in contact.
The Study Group “Music Iconography” focuses, within the normative frame of the Hellenic Musical Society, upon the following objects:
- the development of the research field of Music Iconography in Greece,
- the promotion of research on Greek music and its relationships with visual arts since pre-historical times until the 21st century, on the basis of iconographical documents,
- the development of educational applications for all the levels of education, and the dissemination of the scientific knowledge concerning Greek music and the visual arts, both in Greece and abroad, with the aid of iconographical documents,
- research on Greek music and the visual arts in different chronological periods, geographic zones, cultural and social contexts, based on iconographical documents, that emphasizes the following parameters:
- the place and the evaluation of music, as concept and practice, in particular social and cultural environments,
- the allegorical or symbolic contents of musical representations and, in a more general sense, the different ways music has been used to depict the mythical, philosophical, theological and educational doctrines of each period and culture;
- promotion of the scientific research, aiming to develop new approaches in the investigation of Greek music,
- development of a methodology and of interdisciplinary methods for the creation of catalogues and of digital applications for the compilation of inventories of iconographical material,
- cooperation with analogue Study Groups from abroad and realization of joint activities in the field of Musical Iconography.
Coordinator: Alexandra Goulaki-Voutyra.
10. Study Group “Opera” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 30.10.2015).
Within the normative framework of the HMS, the Study Group “Opera” sets the following goals:
- the development in Greece, of the research field concerning the Opera,
- the promotion and dissemination of knowledge concerning the Opera,
- the enlargement of the didactic goals and of the methodology concerning the development of educational know-how for all the levels of education, and the systematization of the scientific knowledge concerning the Opera,
- the use and further development of digital technologies for the processing of a database concerning the Opera,
- the registration of each material relating to the Opera in Greece, aiming at the creation of an electronic database, an internet platform entitled “Open Gate for the Opera”,
- the development of digital and multi-media applications for the dissemination of scientific knowledge to the broader public and for the promotion of Hellenic compositions belonging to the genres of the Opera both in Greece and abroad,
- the fostering of cooperation with international Study Groups that have similar aims in the research on the Opera,
- the investigation of different European artistic traditions and of their role in the establishment of Greek operatic creation.
The goals mentioned above lead to a framework for activities of the Study Group “Opera”, where focus lies upon the following:
- Organization and implementation of research projects in order to bring to light, to document, to catalogue, to describe the context of, and to study in detail the sources of the Opera.
- Development of educational material, as well as of digital and multi-media applications for the dissemination of this scientific knowledge to the larger public. Transmissions of Opera performances, Study Days, masterclasses and workshops of Singing, by means of on-line conferences, for educational purposes. Development of a methodology and of interdisciplinary methods concerning the registration and production of digital catalogues describing the source material.
- Development of a bibliographical database concerning the Greek and international operatic creation, with constantly updated contents.
- The organization of conferences, symposia, Study Days and seminars, in collaboration with the Departments of Music Studies pertaining to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Ionian University of Corfu, and with the Department of Music Science and Art from the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki.
- Publication of musicological works concerning the Opera.
The Study Group is coordinated by Evi Nika-Sampson.
11. Study Group “Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music” (date of approval by the General Assembly: 01.02.2019).
This Study Group aims at carrying out and publishing / presenting and disseminating studies within the broader field of Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music, as it has been internationally established during the last decades. This Study Group envisages to cover musicological and educational research in the field, within the framework of the Hellenic Musicological Society.
The research object of the Study Group is “Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music” in a broader sense, including the following issues:
- the theoretical and interpretive approach to music as art, process, experience and as a social construct.
- the study of historical and aesthetic theories about music and its relation to other arts from antiquity until the 21st century.
- the interaction with critical and hermeneutical theories.
- the interplay with other branches of Systematic Musicology as well as with other branches of Humanities.
- the formation of critical research questions and points of view for the contemporary historical, systematic and cultural study of music.
- the Pedagogy of Philosophy and Aesthetics of Music.
The Study Group is coordinated by Anastasia Siopsi.