In 1980 the most densely populated region of the country had no forum specifically devoted to presenting the research of ethnomusicologists. Ethnomusicologists who
lived and worked in the southern mid-Atlantic would make the trip to the Southeastern-Caribbean Chapter meetings and those resident and employed in the northern part of the region made the journey to the Northeastern Chapter meetings. Both conferences often featured papers presented by mid-Atlantic participants. There were even discussions of expanding the Northeastern Chapter beyond New England to include New York. Yet, Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) members in the middle of the region had little recourse.
Barbara L. Hampton, who had faithfully attended and participated in Northeastern Chapter meetings as a graduate student at Columbia University, was serving on the faculty at Temple University and noticed the growing number of ethnomusicologists in the central mid-Atlantic. She decided that a chapter should be established, contacted Sue Carol DeVale, then national SEM Chapter Coordinator, for advice, and began to build a consensus around the idea. Gerard Behague, the President of SEM during the period of organizing, strongly supported the idea and even took some time to observe the situation in the mid-Atlantic when he accepted an invitation to speak at Swarthmore College. When John Blacking became President in 1981, support from the national Board of Directors did not wane. With the good wishes of Mantle Hood, Dieter Christensen and Carol Robertson who headed the large ethnomusicology programs in the region then, Dr. Hampton founded MACSEM.
In 1980, Dr. Hampton accepted an appointment at the City University of New York, but continued the organizing efforts. The new chapter would place major emphasis on presenting the research of graduate students who, at that time, did not always have the opportunity to present their papers at the national meetings. Many of the graduate students in 1981 could not afford to attend the national SEM meeting in Hawaii on 15-18 October and yet wanted to attend a fall meeting. It was decided that the founding conference would be held in New York in the fall of 1981. So that first year, the only fall meeting in the history of MACSEM was set for November 20-22.
The Program Committee at the first meeting was Dieter Christensen, Salwa El-Shawan, Raymond F. Kennedy, Adelaida Reyes-Schramm, Carol Robertson, Gei Zantzinger and Barbara L. Hampton. The Local Arrangements Committee was Cheryl McDaniels, Geoffrey Miller, Lois Wilcken and Barbara L. Hampton. The conference was hosted by Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Columbia University and New York University in cooperation with the Society for Asian Music, the Asia Society, the National Endowment for the Arts and the South Asian Institute of Columbia University. The Keynote Address was given by Hugo Zemp, who presented his film “ ‘Are’Are Music”. Film and videotape presentations were equally balanced with papers (four sessions each) and two workshops were offered. The conference themes were: 1) Metropolis and Suburbia in Contemporary Musical Traditions, 2) Concepts and Analytic Attitudes in Ethnomusicology, 3) Historical Reconstruction and the Study of Change, and 4) The Impact of Individuals on Musical Traditions. A principal concern also was “Film as a Medium for Ethnomusicological Documentation: Trends, Problems, Prospects”.
While the national organization knew that one of the goals of the chapter was to support graduate student research, it mandated that the position of President be held by an individual currently serving in a professional capacity. Fortunately, at that first meeting MACSEM elected an individual, Lorna McDaniel, who was both a graduate student in ethnomusicology and a distinguished member of the applied music faculty at her institution. The next year was spent meeting in our various homes on weekends to formulate the by-laws according to national guidelines and trying to get them accepted by the national organization. They were accepted before the end of academic year 1981-1982 and MACSEM was fully constituted.
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Last Updated 12/13/06.