Howard Voices Find New Resonance at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society

By Chad Eric Smith, Director of Marketing & Communications, Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts   

Featured Image: Prof. Matthew Franke, current Howard student Bri Stromer, and HU alumna Hannah D. Jackson (2025) at the national meeting of the American Musicological Society. 

At a conference where the nation’s leading scholars gather to debate, discover, and redefine the study of music, three voices from Howard University stood out—not simply for their scholarship, but for what their presence represented.

Earlier this month, the American Musicological Society (AMS) convened its 91st Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, joining forces with the Society for Music Theory (SMT) for a four-day exploration of ideas shaping the field. Founded in 1934, the AMS has long been a cornerstone of the discipline, dedicated to advancing research “in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship.” Its annual meeting is both a showcase and a crucible, where emerging questions meet longstanding traditions and where new scholars encounter the networks that will define their professional futures.

This year marked a meaningful milestone. For the first time in more than a decade, Howard University was represented by a cohort of three—faculty, student, and alumna—reflecting a growing presence and momentum within the field.

For Dr. Matthew Franke, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Music History in the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, who joined the Department of Music in 2015, the moment underscored how far the program has come. “I have supervised the music history program in the Department of Music for 10 years,” he reflected. “In that time, I have attended many meetings of the American Musicological Society and have usually been the only Howard person in attendance.”

That solitude had already begun to shift. Dr. Franke attended last year’s AMS meeting with then-student Hannah D. Jackson—now a 2025 Howard graduate and current master’s student in musicology at the University of Maryland—who earned an AMS travel award, becoming the first Howard student in many years to receive the honor.

In Minneapolis, that momentum accelerated.

This year, Dr. Franke was joined by current student Bri Stromer, the recipient of an AMS Annual Meeting Travel Grant—a competitive award supporting promising young scholars—as she explores graduate programs in music history. Jackson returned as well, presenting original research on contemporary gospel music through the prestigious AMS Explore program. Her work, rooted in African American creativity and cultural transmission, carried a scholarly and soulful resonance that directly reflects Howard’s legacy across the arts.

A photo (see above) captured the trio just after her presentation: mentor, student, and recent alumna standing together against the backdrop of a national academic gathering. Moments later, Dr. Franke recalls, they broke into the signature call and response known by generations of Bison.

We all performed an HU—you KNOW chant. Probably the first time it’s ever been done at the American Musicological Society.

In a conference hall filled with eminent scholars, the chant served as both a declaration and a reminder—of who Howard students are, of the knowledge they carry forward, and of the spaces they are increasingly shaping.

The presence of Howard faculty, students, and alumni at the AMS meeting signals a growing momentum within the College of Fine Arts’ music history program. It reflects the College’s broader commitment to preparing students to enter national and global stages not only with academic rigor but with cultural fluency, confidence, and a strong sense of purpose.

For a university defined by its contributions to the arts, culture, and scholarship, this year’s meeting was more than a conference. It was a place where Howard’s past, present, and future stood side by side—announcing themselves, together, to the field of musicology.