Music is a complex art. Firstly, it is abstract and intangible, yet simultaneously so impactful, even if one doesn’t actively seek to be moved by it. How many people are moved to tears, rejoice, get excited – in short, they don’t remain indifferent when they hear music. It affects everyone, even flowers, embryos, fruits, and animals. I recall an excellent documentary by Marianna Economou that I watched quite some time ago, and I recommend you watch it too. It was titled When Wagner Met the Tomatoes and explores farmers who play music for the fruits and vegetables they cultivate. They’ve even developed a series of empirical theories (beyond the existing scientific ones) regarding what music each plant, fruit, or vegetable should “listen” to. Excellent, I repeat.
The scientific field called musicology, which approaches music with corresponding scientific fervor (not that you don’t know this, but I’m saying it for certainty…), has expanded into everything imaginable. From gender issues to matters concerning sexuality, and from systematic analysis that often resembles Sudoku to philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and all related humanities and social sciences in general. However, science never ceases to surprise us. The topics one deals with can sometimes be exhausted, no matter how inexhaustible they may seem. How many conferences can you hold about Beethoven and Mozart? How many discussions can you have about pop culture and Eurovision (yes, musicology has even delved into this, and it’s quite interesting)? Should you expand into heavy metal? You could, but ultimately, it’s still music, it has musical norms, and you’ll draw similar conclusions. So what do you do? Perhaps you start combining two topics you like simultaneously, placing them side by side, hoping others will be interested. The impetus for all the above is a scientific conference organized by Leuphana University in Germany, with the theme (and title) Music and Cats! Indeed, if you wish to attend, you don’t even need to leave the warmth of your home and the comfort of your couch, as this conference will be held online in November 2025 (don’t worry, for those who wish to attend, all information is available at the end of this text). Furthermore, as the call for papers informs us, this will be an international symposium, which is why English was chosen as the conference language, and of course, this scientific meeting is the first step towards forming the necessary writing team to produce a volume with the exact same title – Music and Cats, that is – as the conference!
Many will say, “Seriously, have they run out of topics in science to be dealing with this?” and I will reply that we must let all flowers bloom, even those of us who are unfortunately allergic to cats but like them very much! If you wish to attend the conference, or even better, contribute your scientific knowledge on the subject, you can find more information about its organization here https://www.leuphana.de/institute/ikmv/aktuell/ansicht/2025/03/31/music-and-cats.html
