Done and Dusted

Facing a rather demanding month, I decided I had to grab my deadlines by the scruff of the neck, shake them firmly and get them all neatly sorted.  By the 1st November, no less.  By dint of a bit of tactical rescheduling, I’ve got things just about organised to my liking.

This week, therefore, the research component of my work entailed:-

• Submitting a grant application (it had gone from idea to submission in eight days flat); and
• Editing a lecture and powerpoint, recording them for use in a month’s time, and updating a bibliography.

Additionally, the extended, dedicated special issue of Brio went off to the printer’s today.  Although I’ve been the guest co-editor for this issue, I can’t take any of the credit for the editing or proofing of anything except the bits I authored – I had more to do with commissioning the articles and chasing them up in time for the printing date!  Nonetheless, since it’s a major output for last year’s networking project, it is a great relief to know that it is on its way!

Meanwhile, I still had the larger part of my week to fulfil as a librarian, including some more user education – mercifully not quite as much as I’d done last week!  And the lecture, although I worked on it in research time, is actually one of those occasions where Librarian-meets-Researcher slap bang in the middle.  It concerns historical Scottish sources in the library.  They’re all there, and the students need to know about them – but I wouldn’t know any of the books’ history if they hadn’t been the subjects of my own doctoral research.

Moreover, I needed to play my own musical examples and get them recorded, too.  Now, I try to avoid EVER playing an instrument at work, because the students and their teachers are so blooming brilliant that I feel worse than overshadowed.  However, it was clearly unacceptable to contemplate playing CDs, on a recorded lecture that might end up online, so the only way to be sure there were no copyright issues was to record the examples myself.  Oh, the horror!  I tried singing to my own accompaniment last night, but I didn’t like the sound I made, so I resorted to playing what I could, and hoping it won’t sound too ragged for the student audience!  (At least I won’t be there to hear it!)

It’s a rather strange feeling, on the 1st  of the month, to know that – if I’m not actually ahead of myself – then I am, certainly, up to date with everything that should be done.

Now, about that list of church choir contributions that I promised to finalise this weekend …

Really a poster

 

 

I  discovered that my beautiful blog “poster” wasn’t going to fit the bill at our PGCert/MEd session, so I turned it into a proper poster.*  At least I had done the preparation in advance.

Then, mirabile dictu, we found we were going to speak about our posters, so the actual poster became more like a conference poster. But hey, we’re all teachers of one kind or another, so that was okay.  And it afforded me the opportunity to invite everyone in the cohort to respond to my questionnaire once I’ve secured ethical approval.

Since I’m at work on a Saturday morning with a cup of tea in front of me, and no further sessions to attend, I decided to update this blog and glance at a new book before I skip off home again!

* Disclaimer: The author scraped Art ‘O’ Level many decades ago.  Yes, I know. Who’d have thought it?!

Talking About Research

OK – since September, I’ve given four talks, with another to follow next week, and then a sixth in November.  In terms of both research activity and public engagement, I think I’ve been quite active!

In September, I talked about Instructions, Introductions, Treatises and Tutors: Music for the Regency Miss (Women and Education in the Long Eighteenth Century); then my Exchange Talk here at RCS: Meanwhile in Scotland, 1808.

Last week I did a Show and Tell talk at Martyrs Kirk research library in St Andrews; and yesterday I did an illustrated Music Talk in St Andrews: From Stationers’ Hall to St Andrews: late Georgian Music and Ladies of Leisure.

 

 

Next week it’s the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society: The Legal Deposit Music of St Andrews: Scottish Airs, Irish and Hebrew Melodies, and other late Georgian Favourites.

And finally, on 16th November, the RMA Scottish Chapter (5.15, Room 2, Music Department, 14 University Gardens, Glasgow) – an approximate but not exact repeat of yesterday’s Music Talk.

Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Talk

Another forthcoming talk, 20th October at 5.45 pm, Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh: The Legal Deposit Music at St Andrews: Scottish airs, Irish and Hebrew Melodies and other Late Georgian favourites.

Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Programme

Meanwhile in Scotland … 1808 (Exchange Talk)

On Sunday 2nd October, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is reenacting a benefit concert that was staged for Beethoven in 1808.  Details of event – click here.

But before that, on Monday 26th September at 6 pm I’m giving an Exchange Talk at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland  in the Ledger Room, to tie in with the 1808 theme.  Be prepared for an interesting auditory experience – we’re playing music that may not have been played for nearly two centuries!

Actually, the pieces by Nathaniel Gow are the most commonly known! Concerto Caledonia performed them on their latest CD, Nathaniel Gow’s Dance Band.  (We have it in the Whittaker Library).  But there’s also an early Scottish song arrangement by Beethoven, a piano trio by Kozeluch, and a duet for harp and piano by Sophia Dussek.  Can you resist?

And this is what happens when music librarians get immersed in historical research!

Exchange Talks: Dr Karen McAulay– Box Office Link

Gearing up: Trimester 1

Remember digging for information?

It’s that time of year again.  In order for our library teaching to take place, we need to get ourselves booked into our teaching colleagues’ timetables.  Every year our communications get a bit more finely-honed, and today’s is undoubtedly the best so far.  I’m emphasising the scope of what we can cover, and also clarifying the limitations of the traditional lecture format.  (We’re happy to work within it, but can do more in other teaching situations!)

“We’re trying to get organised bright and early this year. Colleagues will already have had an email asking for updated reading lists.  (Didn’t get it? Check your Clutter folder!)

“And now we’re offering our services to help inform and train our students in getting the most out of our library and electronic resources.

“We can talk about the catalogue; give an overview of particular electronic resources; explain how to access e-books and e-journals; give advice on referencing; or tell students about RefMe, a quick and easy way of saving bibliographic details for an assignment. We can give an overview suited to your students’ level, whether new undergraduates or more advanced students wanting to research information for their reflective journal. Or we can introduce some of our historical resources, if colleagues are teaching something that would be enhanced by them .

“We’re happy to appear at the beginning or near the end of a lecture or seminar – small chunks of information can be more palatable than a long spiel.  Obviously, we can’t arrange any collaborative learning activities in the context of a lecture theatre, but we’re very amenable to discussion as to how best to engage our students in other settings, if this would help.

“”Relevant and Timely” is our motto, so colleagues are urged to get in touch so we can organise our calendars accordingly.  Let’s start the conversation!”

 

A Historical Approach to Studying Traditional Music: Valuing Older Collections

In this presentation, I managed to combine Karen the music librarian, Karen the musicologist and Karen the newbie educationalist.  I’m posting the slides here, just so they’re there if I need them, but I’ll turn my notes into a written piece at a later stage.

A Historic Approach to Studying Traditional Music, slides without notes

Now then, later today Jennifer Snow gave an excellent presentation extolling the virtues of YouTube as an educational tool. Brilliant, I thought – maybe I could find some examples of my Scottish music for when I give seminars to our traditional music students.  (Someone had suggested this after my own presentation – so obvious that I could kick myself for not thinking of it earlier!)

A TREASURE HUNT FOR PARTICULAR SETTINGS OF SCOTTISH TUNES ON YOUTUBE

Things didn’t start well.  I couldn’t find a YouTube video of the very first example. But I did find one of the second. So I kept going!

1. Dutches [Dutchess, Duchess] of Athole’s Strathspey / Niel Gow, First Collection of Scottish Fiddle Tunes, 1784
2. The Highland watch, now the 42nd Regt. or Royal Highlanders Strathspey. Very Slow / First Part of Gow’s Complete Repository, 2nd edition, 1805  – here played by Tim Macdonald and Jeremy Ward, March 2016 – I think they’re using the first edition, though. This is how it would have sounded.  And see how slow it actually is!
3. The Lass of Peatie’s Mill / Frances Barsanti [ca.1742] -in A Collection of Old Scots Tunes. It’s written “with the bass for violoncello or harpsichord”. I have been playing it with realised figured bass on the piano, but I found a YouTube version for 3 cellos by Giovanni Solima. It’s a thought-provoking arrangement – I like it.
4. Thro’ the wood, laddie / Barsanti again. Here on the Baroque oboe with cello and harpsichord accompaniment. Delightfully played by Michael Henry, Roberto Gini and Diana Petech. Starts 7 minutes in.  Recognise it from Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy?
5. Cope, are you waking yet? / Ritson’s Scotish Song. Published as an unaccompanied tune, there probably won’t be a recording of it!  (If you look it up, try ‘Cope, are ye waking yet?’ – loads of versions but NOT Ritson’s unaccompanied vocal version. (Did he even intend it sung? His version is ridiculously high, perhaps because he was more interested in the words than the music, for the notation of which he had to seek advice.)  Just  because I like it, here’s an alternative for you – another Tim Macdonald YouTube recording. With cello accompaniment and variations -definitely not Ritson’s version, but I love the raw sound and energy of this setting.
6. Robin Adair / arr. Colin Brown, 1883 in a collection called The Thistle.  You won’t find this arrangement on YouTube – it’s very averagely late Victorian! I’ll record it myself at some stage.

 

Footnote: The paper was entitled “A Historic Approach”.  Any subsequent interations will be “A Historical Approach”, which is more correct! My approach isn’t historic in the sense that you’d talk of a historic event. It’s a historical approach making due recognition of the cultural history surrounding these music publications. Mea culpa!