Library and Information Services, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Thursday 30 September 2010

Researchers' use of academic libraries

This report, published by the Research Information Network, can be read online here. It's also accessible:-
  1. Via the RSAMD Moodle VLE (Virtual Learning Environment)
  2. In the Whittaker Library catalogue, so you can always come back to look for it by keywords later.)

If you like this, you may like to check out the RIN A-Z of Project Reports. Hours of relevant reading matter.

Free-Scores.com

Free public-domain scores must be a good thing. But be careful - check the small print. If it's very old, and it's a very old edition, there's a good chance it's okay to use. Yesterday, for example, I found an early 19th century cello tutor, in pdf format. Exactly what I wanted, and saved a trip to another library's Special Collections. Worth a look. Free-Scores.com.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Spanish piano competition 28 April - 6 May 2011

53 Concurso Internacional de Piano: Premio 'Jaen'. For more details, follow this link. The RSAMD Whittaker Library has a CD of Antonii Baryshevskyi, 2009 Winner of the Jaen Prize International Piano Competition. His recital includes Scarlatti, Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and Mateos.

Monday 27 September 2010

How to fail a PhD

A lecturer in media studies at the University of Brighton has posted a lively podcast about 'How to fail a PhD'. You might not expect this to be an upbeat presentation, but it's actually stuffed full of good advice. Worth listening. There are also other useful postings on Tara Brabazon's website - spend a coffee-break there, and see what other nuggets you can glean!

Thursday 23 September 2010

The Arts Desk - online news from the arts

Subscribe to TheArtsDesk.com for regular news about the arts. http://www.theartsdesk.com/

Royal Opera House: What's yours is ours!

Royal Opera House grab creative rights A new posting from The Arts Desk alerts us to alarming developments in contracts at the Royal Opera House. Read on - this is just the beginning of the article:-
For a creator of any kind, keeping control over what happens to their original work is essential. Their creativity is their livelihood, and their reputation is built on it. They protect it fiercely from other people copying it, altering it, selling it - anything in fact which devalues the work and damages the creators’ earning capacity from it. So it has come as a shock to the entire theatrical design community to find that the Royal Opera House appears to have drawn up a new contract for any new commission which will attack this core principle, which is the basis of English and European copyright law. The ROH is demanding that its entire stable of creative talent – directors, set and costume designers, lighting and special effects designers, even composers, choreographers and librettists - sign over to the Royal Opera House all their copyright in their work there - in perpetuity.
Read the whole article here.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

RSAMD welcomes Royal Literary Fellowship

Whittaker Live is very pleased to note the arrival of our first Royal Literary Fellow - Alexander Hutchison. He will be available for staff and students to consult about writing in all its many and varied forms.
Find out more about Alexander at his own website, or at Salt Publishing, the publishers of his recent poetry collection, Scales Dog.
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You'll find examples of Alexander's work in the Whittaker Library very soon:-
  • Scales Dog
  • Epistle from Pevkos
  • Carbon Atom
More about the Royal Literary Fund Fellowships here.

The Robert Minter Collection (early trumpet repertoire)

The Robert Minter Collection: A Handlist of Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Trumpet Repertory Professor Trevor Herbert, compiler of this handlist, writes:-
This site contains a database of music collected by Robert Minter. It does not contain images of the music itself, but it does include information about the music ... Minter’s interest was in the collection of sources that contribute to our understanding of the trumpet at various points in its history before the twentieth century. The site includes some background information on Robert Minter and the collection, as well as an explanation of how the handlist has been ordered and how to use it.
Brass expert Professor Herbert has compiled a handlist of this collection, which can be accessed here. RISM Sigla (international standard library codes) have been used to identify the sources of this music where possible, but Herbert warns that sources have not been identified in all cases. Staff and students of RSAMD, and interested researchers, should make an appointment to consult this material at the Whittaker Library, RSAMD.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Thursday 16 September 2010

Concentric circles - a model for e-research skills

Karen is the Guru of Concentric Circles. Intrigued? Ask about her recent presentation on library e-resources. Powerpoint and Notes available on Moodle for RSAMD colleagues and students.

a RIN reminder about the Concert Programmes project

The Research Information Network has posted a timely reminder about the Concert Programmes Project Online (phase 1) - particularly of interest to musicologists, or anyone curious about performers of the past.
online database of holdings of concert programmes in the UK and Ireland. Currently, it holds 5,500 collections of music related ephemera held by 53 institutions including the British Library, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the national libraries of Scotland and Ireland and the Bodleian Library and Trinity College Dublin. It includes material from the end of the 17th century to the present day. Its detailed search facility allows users improved access to previously inadequately catalogued and therefore underused material.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Ancient Scotish Melodies or Scotch Mist?

Ancient Scotish* Melodies or Scotch Mist? Day course at University of Glasgow, Dept of Adult & Continuing Education, Saturday 20th November 2010. Drs Karen and Karen (McAulay and Marshalsay). Sign up, Sign up! Plenty of room for more ... *and yes, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, that is the spelling of 'Scotish'. (Enough to make a scholar 'sic'!)

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Guide to Musical Theatre

Really useful website - worth bookmarking. The Guide to Musical Theatre It's introduced like this:-
Welcome to the wonderful world of musical theatre. This guide has been designed for those who enjoy musicals, especially for those who participate in productions of Broadway, West End and shows written with the amateur in mind.

Literary Britten conference - call for papers

An approach to Britten through his texts Here's a conference presented by The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (Cambridge). See http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1409 for further details.

Monday 6 September 2010

Creative Scotland

Launched in July 2010, Creative Scotland takes over the responsibilities of Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. From their website, here's what it's about:-
Creative Scotland is the new national leader for Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries. It’s our job to help Scotland’s creativity shine at home and abroad. We will invest in talented people and exciting ideas, develop the creative industries and champion everything that’s good about Scottish creativity. Scotland boasts an incredible range of talent, from award-winning directors and writers to widely recognised actors and internationally renowned architects and digital companies. As a result of the wealth of indigenous talent, Scotland produces a huge volume of home-grown productions and products each year. We think Scotland’s arts, culture and creative industries are worth shouting about. We’ll lead the shouting.