Xanthe Lowe-Brown, Anna Kho, and Kayla Morgan are all graduate researchers who attended the AMPS/ESCOM 12 conference in sunny-but-cold Melbourne from 3 July-6 July 2024. Each of us really enjoyed the time we spent in Melbourne, and as we all had different ways we engaged with the conference, we have reflected on our own personal experiences of the week!
Xanthe:
If I had to describe the AMPS/ESCOM conferences in two words, it would be stimulating and inspiring! There is something truly special about a group of passionate researchers coming together over a shared love of music research. I had the pleasure of not only attending the conference, but I was selected to give the student keynote. I shared the findings of my recent Spotify playlist lab study, which investigated the effectiveness of emotion regulation playlists in the general population. Being my first keynote, this was a milestone for my academic career and one that I will remember forever. Thank you to AMPS for the incredible opportunity, and to the audience for your support and thought-provoking questions. A big congratulations to Dr Dianna Vidas (left), who presented the ECR keynote on validating Spotify’s ratings of valence, energy and danceability characteristics – important and timely research for this field. It was also a privilege to witness Dr Amanda Krause (middle) giving the MCR keynote, tying together her inspiring body of work on music listening in everyday life, and how the rise of digital music apps has changed the music listening landscape.
Anna:
My favourite session was the mentoring luncheon, where I was starstruck to meet my research hero, Jane Davidson. Groups of participating members were allocated to a mentor, where we could ask and discuss various research career topics. This point of the conference was the motivation I needed to get to the finish line for my PhD! Like many other students that worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, these social events were a great way to familiarise with the in-person conference experience without the social pressure that may come with being a higher degree researcher.
Kayla:
AMPS being co-located within ESCOM was a wonderful opportunity for us to participate in an international conference without having to travel to the U.K. This co-location also gave us the opportunity to participate in the overall organization of the conference, as several graduate researchers volunteered their time to chair or secondary chair for the AMPS/ESCOM presentations. This allowed us to understand how chairing works for our future engagement with research conferences. None of this would have been possible without the fantastic team of tech support we had in Melbourne. Every session at Southbank ran smoothly, and even when things went sideways, like a microphone not working, the team had a backup plan ready to go with minimal disruption.
Anna:
In addition to the formal events, there were opportunities for informal social gathering between the AMPS and ESCOM conference, and celebratory drinks nearby for those who survived the two-conference marathon every day. Throughout these experiences, I got to meet so many attendees from various states in Australia and New Zealand. There were also attendees that didn’t identify as researchers and simply enjoyed the conference as individuals from relevant fields of arts or education. As a music education researcher myself (who wants to hang out with the cool kids in music psychology), this experience welcomed me with open arms and a sense of belonging to a research community. Now appointed as the social media chair of the AMPS board, I can’t wait to work alongside like-minded peers and recreate that sense of belonging for other researchers. I had always known AMPS to be an inclusive organisation, and this conference experience further strengthened my values and appreciation for this community.
Xanthe:
A prickle of porcupines…
A personal favourite activity was the AMPS trivia session. Shout out to Kaila for organising this! In-between presentations, this was a fun way for AMPS members to get to know each other, our trivia skills, our abilities to recall lyrics, and our knowledge of names for groups of animals! Did you know that a group of porcupines is called a prickle?! I can proudly say that I was part of the winning team (the Cognitive Crescendos)!
Kayla:
I personally loved the Speed Dating activity on the first evening of AMPS/ESCOM. As a new student to this organization, I did not really know many people who were in attendance, but the guided questions were an excellent starting point for conversation, and I know that everyone enjoyed the session as we were all very kindly pushed to the next conversation when our time was up as we were enjoying every “date” and didn’t want to stop chatting! Meeting so many people before the conference actually started allowed me to feel really comfortable in the space and I found myself chatting with the new friends I met over the course of the conference, whether it was during lunch, dinner, or out at drinks after our long days!
Xanthe:
With different streams of presentations, we were really spoilt for choice. My personal favourites were the music listening and digital interventions presentations, as I resonated with the underlying goal of these research projects – to enhance the well-being of others from dementia patients and carers to young adults and everyday music listeners.
Kayla:
As I’m trying to work out a more final idea of what I’ll do for a PhD, I really enjoyed the sessions on perception and identity. They gave me some inspiration for questions to ask, methodologies I might use, and how I might go about structuring my future work!
Xanthe Lowe-Brown is a PhD student in Human-Computer Interaction/Music Psychology investigating the ethics and design space of emotion regulation features for music streaming services to enhance music listeners’ well-being.
Kayla Morgan has just submitted her Masters thesis, “A queer reading of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods,” and hoping to pursue future research that focuses on the intersection of queerness, performance, and education.
Anna Kho is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland School of Music, and is currently investigating how teachers, parents, and students facilitate high school percussion practice across school and home environments.