Call | Music and Cats

Online symposium “Music and Cats”

Date: November 28, 2025 / 11:00-19:00 CET

Deadline for Abstracts: May 1, 2025

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The upcoming symposium will explore the surprisingly understudied nexus of music and cats. As companion animals to humans for several millennia, cats have influenced music-making in myriad ways. Felines have sparked the creativity of musicians and composers across genres, from Western classical music to contemporary popular music. They have served as muses and have inspired the composition of countless pieces – many of them about cats. The envisaged audience remains by no means limited to humans; today, we even encounter music explicitly composed for feline ears.

Cats have long been ascribed musicality. Medieval illustrations depict them engaging with musical instruments, including lutes, flutes, and bagpipes. In the early 20th century, some cats were trained to speak and sing, providing entertainment for audiences. In contemporary culture, cats have emerged as internet sensations, appearing in viral videos where they sing, dance, and play instruments. This phenomenon challenges common perceptions of musicality as a predominantly human trait and prompts a reflection on what it means to be musical.

Felines have also gained symbolic significance, carrying gendered connotations that frequently link them to femininity. This is evident in the frequent portrayal of women as cats in popular music. Cats are further associated with traits such asindependence, freedom, and fierceness. The political potential of these connotations has been mobilized in various contexts, most recently by Taylor Swift identifying as a “Cat Lady” in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential elections.

Examining the connection between music and cats provides insights into human-animal relations, which have ranged from admiration to disdain throughout history. It also reveals a dark side where ethics emerge as a key theme. The cruel cat piano of the 17th century, the use of cats in acoustic experiments of the 19th century, and the contemporary practice of coercing felines to dance and play instruments highlight troubling aspects of human-animal relations and power dynamics. A critical examination is even more important given that the intersection of music and cats not only reflects but also shapes relations between human- and non-human animals.

The connections between music and cats are manifold. In this online symposium, we seek to scope out the field and connect researchers across disciplines, including but not limited to musicology, popular music studies, ethnomusicology, sociology, media studies, human-animal studies, art history, linguistics, and cultural studies. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged!

Contributions may include but are not limited to:

• Cat-themed music, music videos and performances
• Musicians and their relationships with cats
• Representations of musical cats in art history or literature
• Music for cats
• Musical uses of the symbolic potentials of the cat
• Music, cats, and gender
• Ethics and power in human-animal relations
• Musical cats of the internet, including memes
• “Cat” varieties of language in music (e.g., LOLspeak)
• Post-human musicality
• …

Submission:

Abstracts of up to 300 words, along with a brief biographical note, should be submitted by May 1, 2025, to monika.schoop@leuphana.de. Final presentations will be 15 minutes long, followed by a discussion.

As this is an international symposium, please include your time zone to ensure your presentation is scheduled at a convenient time. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by May 31, 2025.

Moving forward:

Ultimately, the symposium is a kick-off for a planned edited volume on “Music and Cats.” If you cannot attend the symposium but are interested in participating in the book project, please feel free to reach out!

Contact:

Monika E. Schoop
Professor of Musicology (esp. Popular Music Studies)
Institute of Fine Arts, Music, and Education
Leuphana University Lüneburg

monika.schoop[at]leuphana[dot]de

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Source and more information: https://www.iaspm-dach.net/blog/2025/3/14/cfp-music-and-cats-online-symposium-