#COMBAconference26
COMBA Conference 2026 Mission
The College of Music Black Alliance (COMBA at FSU) Conference aims to uplift, within a global perspective, the diverse musical expressions of those within the American and greater Black diaspora. In our world today, labels such as "Black opera singer," "Black composer," and "Black researcher," along with monikers like "Dean of African American Composers," "the Black Mozart," or "the Black Puccini," question or qualify the legitimacy of the remarkable musicians shaping the world of music. This conference asserts that Black music, in all its
forms, stands fully and brilliantly in its own right as music. “Black Music is Music…Periodt” emphasizes the belief that Black music is simply music—resplendent and whole, without the need for qualifiers or comparisons. Black music is rich and alive–an entity unto itself. It unifies, it speaks in spite of those who seek to silence it, it suspends time, it feels, it heals that which we did not know needed to be healed, it challenges people to become more of themselves, and it is diverse as the people who perform, research, write, listen and dance to it. And at this moment in time, it is tired of seeking validation. It is time for Black music to not just assume its place at the proverbial seat at the table of music studies–to not just be included. Black music needs to be centered and most importantly, cared for and cared by all.
Conference Aims: This conference seeks to unravel these complexities and showcase the myriad ways that music within the Black diaspora can be studied, performed, and appreciated. We welcome contributions from music theorists, musicologists, ethnomusicologists, performers, and composers committed to exploring and advancing Music within the Black Diaspora. Scholars and performers of all racial identities are encouraged to participate; however, we strive to foreground Black voices within the scope of presentations and performances, recognizing the historical marginalization and, at times, erasure of Black voices from Western music history.
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Soprano, Leontyne Price
This conference is the product of a disheartened yet hopeful student population at Florida State University. How many more students will be told by their teachers, "We can look at your music later"? How many more will be expected to be grateful for lackluster attempts at inclusion? How many more Black sopranos will be asked to sing “Carmen”? How many more students will have to go to graduate school before they realize there are black
theorists? How many more times will orchestras program William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony before they program the works of Julia Perry, George Walker, or Julius Eastman–and ask yourself, do you know these composers? We are at the point in which enough is enough. We are not at a point, however, in which Black people are deemed enough. The phrase enough is enough is just words without action, a contrived attempt to acknowledge the afflicted while pleasing the afflicters by not putting in place any actionable items.
This conference is for those directly impacted by unjust, racist, and colonialist practices in music studies, perpetuated through academic societies and institutions. It is for those who in pursuit of their passions, in their path to ecoming a “professional”
musician, scholar, and composer, become less of themselves–become less Black. This conference is happening in March because its mission lies beyond the socially and culturally constrained space (western) society deems enough to recognize and celebrate Black music. This conference is happening and needs to continue to happen-period. Why? Because Black music is music-Periodt