Library and Information Services, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Just look at that physique!

Physiology - for pianists!

The Whittaker Library is building up a wee collection of resources about the way pianists use their bodies. 

Take a look here.


(Johnny Depp image with thanks from http://data.whicdn.com/images/14745003/cigarette-hot-johnny-depp-muscles-piano-Favim.com-142370_large.jpg)

Working things out

Tommy Smith, Course Leader of Jazz here at Royal Conservatoire of Music, sends his friends regular "Quotes from the Road". 

Here's one 'Whittaker' liked:-


"Jazz also reminds you that you can work things out with other people. It's hard, but it can be done. When a group of people try to invent something together, there's bound to be a lot of conflict. Jazz urges you to accept the decisions of others. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow-but you can't give up, no matter what. It is the art of negotiating change with style. The aim of every performance is to make something out of whatever happens-to make something together and be together."

Wynton Marsalis



 

The idea of Scottish music (Matthew Gelbart new article)

ALLAN RAMSAY, THE IDEA OF ‘SCOTTISH MUSIC’ AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ‘NATIONAL MUSIC’ IN EUROPE

New article on 18th Century Scottish music:-

Matthew Gelbart
Eighteenth-Century Music, Volume 9, Issue 01, March 2012, pp 81 - 108
Published Online on 27th January 2012
[ abstract ]


Staff and students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland can read this article here.

Monday 30 January 2012

Essay crisis? Who are you going to call?

First year music students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have essays on the horizon.  Where to start? 



Assemble any notes you've already made
Check the library catalogue. (Do ask the staff if you need help with finding things in the catalogue or on the shelves!)
Don't forget all the electronic resources available to you. The library website has an A-Z of e-resources (all of them) or just the Databases.
DATABASES: Get an idea of what's available by consulting JSTOR (full-text articles) or RILM (abstracts/summaries of a wide range of items)
We just subscribe to the JSTOR music package, so do make sure you're using the "Items available to me" tab, and not "all items".
With RILM, an advanced search means you can select English language materials - or items in other languages. We can obtain items from elsewhere, but it's not usually necessary unless you're writing a dissertation or extended essay.
E-journals - look at our A-Z list, and see what might be useful. Articles are generally full-text. If you can't gain access to a whole article, consult the library staff.
Streamed music services - Naxos or Classical Music Library. You'll need to login if you're off-site. Ask us if you need a reminder of the login. Archival Sound Recordings are useful for historical topics.
Scottish theme to your essay? Don't forget Scran - multi-media resources - pictures, photos, film, sound, images of old Scottish music ... (What is Scran? Click here)
Ask the subject librarian if you get stuck at any point in your researches.
And the Effective Learning Services team are always on hand to help, too. Contact them at:- els@rcs.ac.uk
Alexander (Sandy) Hutchison, RLF Writing Fellow also advises on all aspects of writing. Contact Sandy at: a.hutchison@rcs.ac.uk

    News - University of Exeter - Short walk cuts chocolate consumption in half

    News - University of Exeter - Short walk cuts chocolate consumption in half Stuck on an assignment? Go for a walk before hitting that chocolate bar! (Recent research finds this helps!)

    NUS: inductions should continue beyond 'hello'

    'Whittaker' found this in the THE this week:- NUS: inductions should continue beyond 'hello' 

    Oh yes, indeed! Here at the Royal Conservatoire, the Whittaker Library has been very keen to continue the induction conversation beyond the initial 'hello'. And now we find the NUS agrees with us - what wonderful news!

    Visit NUS Connect, on the National Union of Students website, to read more about the NUS Charter for Academic Support.

    Friday 27 January 2012

    EU Screen - Conference in Budapest, September 2012

    Look! A conference with NO conference fee!

    EU Screen, 13-14 September 2012, Budapest

    EUscreen organises its third and final conference on the topic Television Heritage and the Web. The conference takes places at ELTE University in Budapest, on Thursday, September 13, and Friday, September 14, 2012. Attendance is free, but registration is required

    Conference Topic
     
    The television landscape is evolving at tremendous speed. According to Eric Schmidt, former CEO at Google, “the Internet is fundamental to the future of TV”. Most broadcasters are struggling to grasp the pitfalls and potentials of the net. Emerging viewing patterns involve increased interactivity, non-stop availabilty and the evidence of choice.
     
    The current shift suggests new ways of looking, where a web-centric view becomes more and more popular. Broadcasters’ resources are being redirected to web based forms of TV and the ‘archive’ increasingly becomes an asset, since it can attract potential users online. The major question for audiovisual archives, educators  and researchers these days, is what the current web-based shift implies for television heritage.
     
    The EUscreen project puts more than 30.000 televisual items online in an act to make historical audiovisual content widely accessible. The conference Television Heritage and the Web attempts to discuss and analyse the potentials and pitfalls of the current media transition.

    Conference programme  - The programme of the conference will be published soon. You can sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter or register your attendance on http://euscreen2012.eventbrite.com to stay up to date.
     

    

    Scottish Theatre Archive - searching the collections

    Searching the Scottish Theatre Archive

    Special Collections at Glasgow University Library host the Scottish Theatre Archive.  And that means you can search their fabulous database.

    For example, 'Whittaker' wanted to find out more about Hal D. Stewart, a playwright in our collection.  Easy!  I found all the biographical info I needed with this search link

    You'll immediately see just how useful this is.  Here's the basic search:- http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/

    Digitised Librettos

    What could be better news to the average singer than a bunch of links to digitised libretti?

    These suggestions have been made by German and Italian music librarians, members of IAML (The International Association of Music Libraries):-

    Goethe Universitat (University of Frankfurt) digitised music, film, theatre resources - including librettos. 

    This library has large collection of libretti (about 3000) from about 1750 to 1930. Digitizing them slowly - now up to now 458 libretti. You can find them on the repository website http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/solrsearch/index/search/searchtype/collection/id/16108


    Also, in the digitized collection of music ("Noten") there are some complete opera scores e.g. manuscript of "Don Giovanni" by W. A. Mozart or a print of "La Vestale" by Spontini.
    Raccolta Drammatica - digitised libretti, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense Digitised libretti - about 10,000 libretti.

    Another interesting link is the Italian union catalogue (Il Catalogo online del Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale, or OPAC SBN), which lets you search lots of library catalogues at once.

    Wednesday 25 January 2012

    Wan ye were jist a wean: Poem to Robert Burns for the Year of Homecoming, 2009

    This verse (it doesn't claim to be Poetry) - may only have a transient presence online. Written for Scotland's Year of Homecoming in 2009, 'Whittaker' has decided to air it in honour of The Bard himself - Robert Burns.


    Wan ye were jist a wean, Rab,
    Yer’ Mammie didnae ken
    That ye her eldest wean, Rab,
    Wad be the toast o’ men;
    An’ wan ye learned tae count, Rab,
    An’ read an’ write an’ spell,
    Ah reckon she’d hae nodded, lad,
    And said ye’d done richt well.

    Wan ye were growin’ up, Rab,
    Ye’d no’ much time tae read,
    From dawn tae dusk ye worked, Rab,
    Till ye were aff yer heid
    Wi’ boredom at the ploo, Rab –
    It wisnae tae yer taste,
    Thank heavens that yer Daddie didnae
    Leave yer brains tae waste.

    A tutor showed ye buiks, Rab,
    Ye grew tae love the words;
    Ye lo’ed the lassies tae, Rab –
    A rare man wi’ the birds!
    You wrote braw verse aboot them,
    An’ word o’ ye soon spread;
    It wisnae lang ere ye were writin’
    Sangs to earn yer bread.

    A man’s a man for a’ that –
    ‘Twas ye that penned the line;
    Ye kept yer’ common touch, Rab,
    Tho’ minglin’ wi’ the fine.
    Twa hunnert-fifty years, Rab,
    We’ve no’ fergot yer name,
    An' ye’re our national bard, Rab,
    The Year o’ Comin’ Hame!


    In accordance with Rabbie’s custom, this song has been penned by Karen E. McAulay to a weel-kebnnt air: 'John Anderson, my Jo'.

    Cellist Paul Fournier

    Cataloguing a donated cello CD, I was curious to find out more about the cellist.  Here's a very useful Korean page - clearly a labour of love by compiler Youngrok Lee.

    Pierre Fournier, Prince of the Cello
    (1906-1986)

    The CD that prompted my interest?  Fournier accompanied by the Festival Strings Lucerne, playing Vivaldi, Haydn and Boccherini cello concertos.  Rudolf Baumgartner conducted.

    See what Fournier CDs, books and music are in the Whittaker Library here.

    Tuesday 24 January 2012

    Celebrating the Bard

    Robert Burns

    Late 18th/early 19th century collaborators with Burns included James Johnson (of Scots Musical Museum fame), and George Thomson.  Thomson got Burns' lyrics set by famous Continental musicians like Haydn, Beethoven and Kozeluch.

    You could also look him up in one of our databases, like Oxford Music Online (for info), Naxos or Classical Music Library (streaming services).  See what's available to our staff and students here.

    Celebrating Burns

    • The BBC has a fantastic page for Robert Burns (biography, 716 works, and all about Burns Night)
    • Steve Jones' audio slide show inspired by Robert Burns (a page on the BBC site)
    • Scottish Storytelling Centre - Burnsfest this week (w/c 22nd January 2012)
    • Scottish Poetry Library - similarly a significant week for Burns enthusiasts here.
    • Echoes from the Vault - the St Andrew's University Library Special Collections blog has today posted about Burns. A truly beautiful page.

    Royal Opera House - what it's like being an opera singer

    From the ROH website:-

    Jette Parker Young Artists - Insight Evening

    21 February 2012 (Calendar)
    Clore Studio Upstairs

    Introductory: suitable for newcomers
    Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes | No Interval
    Next Performance Tue 21 Feb 2012, 7:30 PM
    Background
    Since 2001 The Royal Opera’s Young Artists Programme has been contributing to the development of the opera stars of the future with coaching ranging from music and sword-fighting to stagecraft and media training. Here, current members, alumni and Royal Opera House staff divulge the intensive two-year process.
    Tickets: £16.30 | £7.10 students

    Encant - Equality and Diversity Arts Festival

    Just circulated by internal mail at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland:-



    ENCANT is a radical, inter-disciplinary Arts Festival about EQUALITY and DIVERSITY across genres and across the board in Glasgow. We're looking for student and graduate performance artists, film-makers, visual artists, musicians, poets, dancers and writers to submit proposals for a piece of work based around the subject of equality and/or diversity to be performed/installed in several venues on the 9th and 10th of March. This exciting festival is in collaboration with the E and D RCS Forum and the GSA SU.
     
    See www.encant.org for more details and to submit applications or email abudge@rcs.ac.uk or a.josephinebudge@gmail.com for more information.
     
    Festival pass tickets are free for all RCS and GSA students (excluding the lounge night event) and will be on sale from the 10th of Feb.


    Monday 23 January 2012

    Write Now at AyeWrite festival - 9th March

    Creative writing event at Glasgow Mitchell Library's AyeWrite! festival

    9th March - Write Now

    AyeWrite! Glasgow book festival

    Friday 9th - Saturday 17th March 2012

    AyeWrite! home page 

    Can't miss it - AyeWrite! book festival promoted by Glasgow's Mitchell Library. 
    • Loads of Author events
    • You can't miss our own Principal, John Wallace, talking with co-author Sandy McGrattan on 11th March between 2-3 pm about their new book, The Trumpet.
    • Whittaker Live's own page about John Wallace and Sandy McGrattan's new book.
    • Start marking events in your diary!

    Saturday 21 January 2012

    John Wallace and Alexander McGrattan, The Trumpet

    The Trumpet /Wallace and McGrattan
    The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Principal, John Wallace, and colleague Alexander McGrattan, have written an authoritative new book on the trumpet, which is to be published this month.

    The Trumpet is to be released by Yale University Press, 27 January 2012.   

    Friday 20 January 2012

    Celtic Diaspora

    "Whittaker" thinks it's important for Celtic musicians to be aware what's going on in other Celtic lands.  With that in mind, we've added a few Welsh CDs to the Whittaker Library stock.  Take a look here.

    Image by Ogwyn Davies
    I've also been indexing useful websites onto my Diigo account.  Here are the Welsh sites.

    And then - did you think I'd omit the Irish websites?  (Me, half-Welsh, wed to a Scot, two of whose great-grandparents came from Ballymoney; I have genuine Celtic pretensions!)

    Thursday 19 January 2012

    Welsh bagpipes

    Released 5 years ago, but it takes a while for these things to filter through the misty Celtic borders ...

    ‘This is a new CD by Ceri Matthews, a solo album of pipe music played on the pibe-cyrn (bag-hornpipe). This is the first recording devoted entirely to the instrument.’



    And we have it here in the Whittaker Library at M145 M.  There!  I hope you’re impressed!  Find it here.

    Gathering Momentum

    New post, on Reflections on a Creative Scotland by Andrew Dixon. 

    Digitised guitar music

    GUITARISTS!


    From the Royal Irish Academy of Music, a very important announcement:-


    "Users can now view online the music contained in the entire Hudleston Collection of printed guitar music in digital format.  This is freely accessible via the Royal Irish Academy of Music online catalogue.
    "This unique resource, held in the RIAM special collections, contains over 1,000 works for guitar (both solo and chamber music) in original editions from the 19th century.


    "It was the private collection of Josiah Andrew Hudleston (1799 - 1865) who lived for many years in Madras and subsequently settled in Ireland in 1857. Throughout his life, Hudleston collected works for guitar composed by his contemporaries, several of whom he knew personally. This corpus of work represents a very flourishing period in the history of guitar music, featuring composers such as Giuliani, Sor and Carulli, and many other lesser known names.


    "You can search for material by going to our online catalogue http://library.riam.ie/ and selecting "Hudleston Collection" from the menu of options.


    "We welcome any feedback on which can be sent to library@riam.ie "
    Many thanks to the Royal Irish Academy of Music Library for alerting us to this fabulous resource.

    Intellectual Property Rights

    Thanks to our Educational Technologist for flagging up this interesting news item from The Guardian newspaper today - copyright in the arts and humanities

    Wheesht around the World

    Have you bought your Whittaker Library Wheesht bag?  Environmentally friendly, and you can join in our Wheesht around the World Flickr project as well, if you take your bag somewhere photogenic or unexpected! 

    New Year's Resolutions - how are you doing?

    What can we learn from ancient Scottish traditions about doing a PhD? 

    KarenMcA continues the theme with a posting for The Thesis Whisperer (a research support website).

    Wednesday 18 January 2012

    Scottish Music Composition Marathon

    Whittaker Live is adding this to the Whittaker Library's Awards, Grants, Prizes page!  Event details from the Scottish Music Centre's website:-

    Opportunities

    Composition Marathon - Scottish Music Centre 24th March

    A unique project inspired by Bang on a Can's inconic performance festivals. DEADLINE: 1st February 2012
    In March 2012 Bang on a Can are coming to Scotland for Glasgow Concert Halls’ Minimal: Extreme and to mark this occasion, the Scottish Music Centre are running a unique project, a Composition Marathon inspired by the organisation’s iconic performance festivals.
    The aim of this project is to challenge composers to create a brand new work in the Scottish Music Centre over the course of 8-12 hours on Saturday 24th March. The marathon will commence with each composer being partnered with the ensemble* who will be performing their work and it is requested that they remain on hand throughout the day to workshop and rehearse. Additionally, guidance and support will be offered by members of Bang on a Can.
    Following this, on Sunday 25th March, performers will rehearse the completed scores, culminating in a final performance in the Old Fruitmarket from 3pm.

    Tuesday 17 January 2012

    Samuel French - theatre bookshop


    Colleague was rhapsodising about the quality of information about plays on the Samuel French website.Take a look here.

    Select-a-Play looks fantastic, too.  Words from the website:-

    Plays to Perform and Play Publishers

    We have over two thousand play scripts available for amateur performance, covering all elements of performing theatre: comedy, tragedy, drama, pantomime, sketches, plays with music and full-scale musicals, ranging from classics to new plays, one act plays to full length plays. Use Select-a-Play, our advanced search facility, to help you choose the right one for you. Search by cast, genre, length, period, keyword, title or playwright. Or see our play lists with suggestions for Christmas plays and musicals, pantomimes, plays and musicals for children, schools, youth and student groups.

    Blodwen: Joseph Parry's opera, the first in Welsh

    The Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has just acquired the CD of Joseph Parry’s Blodwen. Written in 1878 whilst Parry was head of music at Aberystwyth College, this was the first ever Welsh language opera. 

    Wikipedia (English language) Blackout Wednesday 18th January

    Wikipedia Blackout
    You need to know this.  Tomorrow (Wednesday), you won't be able to access Wikipedia in English, because they're protesting about proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States.

    Read more about the politics on Wikipedia (before or after the blackout!).  It's about the freedom of information, and who owns it.  Make your own mind up what you think.

    English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout

    From the Wikimedia Foundation
     

    Monday 16 January 2012

    True Imaginary Friends

    Diary of the progress from thesis to book.  By Yours Truly, "Whittaker" himself!  

    From Dr to Author

    True Imaginary Friends

    Journeys across media: call for conference papers

    Journeys Across Media: Time Tells
    19th April 2012
    University of Reading (Film, Theatre and Televison)


    Call for papers - deadline Friday 3rd February
    Time Tells: Temporal Excavations in Film, Theatre and Television

    JAM (Journeys Across Media2012 is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the theme of time. The conference seeks to address issues of time in film, theatre, television, and more widely in performance, media and art, and initiate discussions about the temporal across disciplines, practices and fields of research.

    This is a call for postgraduates engaging in contemporary discourses around time to submit papers for the JAM 2012conference; topics may include, but are not restricted to:

    Perception of time
    Time and memory
    Spatialisation of time/Time-Space
    Cinematic time
    Time and technology
    Time and New Media
    The archive
    Revivals, Anniversary Productions, Retrospectives and Re-enactments
    Sequels, Series and Recurring Characters
    The Evolution of the Spectator in Time
    Endurance Art
    Debates on Ephemerality within performance
    Life-as-art
    The experience and performance of Duration
    Time-based performance
    Timelessness
    Please see Whittaker Live's CFP - Call for Papers page, for further details.

    Burnsfest at Scottish Storytelling Centre

    January 13-28

    It's that time of year, folks.  Burnsfest events in Edinburgh this week and next - click here

    Robert Burns died broke

    Podcast on BBC website

    There could be useful material here, if you're speaking at a Burns event next week!

    How do I publish a book (part 2)

    Pat Thomson suggests this self-publishing guide: 25 Things You Need To Know, by David Carnoy (on the CNET Reviews website). 

    This link has been added to Whittaker Live's first self-publishing blogpost, How do I publish a book?

    Thursday 12 January 2012

    PhD to Published

    Here's a blog that will be relevant to anyone just finishing / recently having finished a PhD:-

    PhD to Published

    Thomas Wilson Composition Prize: deadline 29 February 2012


    To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of the composer Thomas Wilson, a composition prize has been inaugurated in association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Composers will be invited to choose a theme from six incidental works commissioned from Wilson by the BBC and STV.

    The Thomas Wilson Prize for Composition is intended for composers of 25 years of age or younger. Works to be for solo guitar and should last between six and ten minutes. Entries to be submitted by 29 February 2012.

    A jury will select a shortlist of three entries to be played by students of the Royal Conservatoire during the PLUG Festival in April 2012. The jury will then select a winner to be awarded the prize of £500.

    For an application pack please apply to the Thomas Wilson Trust, c/o David Griffith, 146 Niddrie Road 3/2, GLASGOW, G3 7YL, UK. Full terms and conditions can be downloaded here.

    This competition will also be added to Whittaker Live's Awards, Grants, Prizes page.

    Wednesday 11 January 2012

    Crowdsourcing the Celtic Bard

    For a forthcoming conference paper, "Whittaker" has undertaken to talk about Scottish and Welsh  songbooks.  Welsh?  Now, there's a new venture!  

    A Tiki-Toki timeline keeps track of new Welsh discoveries: 21 titles so far. Next problem - getting hold of titlepages/ prefaces!

    Tiki-Toki is a brilliant way of organising historical facts.  Ask Music and Academic Services Librarian Karen McAulay to tell you more about it.

    Piano competition: Piano a Mayenne, 13-15 April 2012

    5e Concours International
    "Piano a Mayenne"
    13-15 April 2012

    Information from the Conservatoire at Le Grand Nord: www.legrandnord.fr

    Competition details here.  Registration before 10 March 2012.

    The competition will also be posted on Whittaker's Awards, Competitions, Prizes page.

    Emerging Young Artists: Monday Platform at Wigmore Hall, London

    Monday Platform Programme available now.

    ROSL (Royal Overseas League) Prizewinners Concert on Monday 16th January 2012 in the Wigmore Hall's Monday Platform series of concerts.

    SEMPRE - Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research

    Performance practice conferences coming up:-
    • The Reflective Conservatoire: Performing at the Heart of Knowledge (Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 17-20 March 20120
    • 40th Anniversary Conference, 14 Sept 2012 (Institute of Education, University of London)

    Call for papers: The Call for Papers for the 40th Anniversary Conference is available now in pdf formatThe deadline for submission of abstracts (maximum 200 words) is Friday 24 February 2012.  See website for details.  This CFP will also be added to Whittaker Live's CFP page.

    Tuesday 10 January 2012

    Music Streaming - more good news for 2012

    Classical Music Library
    adds  more  recordings

    Classical Music Library (Alexander Street Press) has added even more recordings to its database for you to stream and enjoy.  Staff and students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland can access these through the Library and IT Database website, here.

    Here's their news release:-
    "...we have just released released 459 albums (8,384 tracks) into Classical Music Library from a wide variety of labels, including new releases from Haenssler Classics, Mode Records, Bridge, Vox, and Wirripang.
    New material includes compositions by Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, Arnold Bax, Gustav Mahler, Charles Koechlin, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Carter, Edvard Grieg, Morton Feldman, Aldo Clementi, Antonio Salieri, Lawrence Dillon, John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, Henry Fillmore, Morton Subotnick, Ursula Mamlok, Valentin Silvestrov, Giacinto Scelsi, Toru Takemitsu, and more.
    ... This new content is available worldwide."

    Music Online now contains
    • 693,698 tracks
    • 100,030 pages text reference
    • 24,977 scores (417,083 pages)
    • 889 hours of video

    How do I publish a book?

    Subject librarians learn to expect the unexpected.  Today's question is: How do I get a book published?
    1. Are you looking for a publisher, or self-publishing?
    2. Here's a self-publishing guide, on Tom Andry's blog.  Our thanks to Pat Thomson for her advice here.  We bloggers stick together!
    3. Pat also suggests this self-publishing guide: 25 Things You Need To Know, by David Carnoy (on the CNET Reviews website)
    4. You need an ISBN;  this will make it easier to sell and promote your book. Here's a useful link: http://isbn-information.com/get-isbn.html
    5. So, to get an ISBN, where do you go? In the UK, it's Neilson Book Services.
    6. You need to have publisher status.
    NB: we don't claim to be experts! Any useful info that comes our way will be added here in due course.

    Monday 9 January 2012

    Reflections on a Creative Scotland

    'Our progress and the exciting year that lies ahead', a blogpost by Andrew Dixon for the Reflections on a Creative Scotland blog.

    Why archives are interesting

    The Guardian newspaper now has a blog called, From the Archive.  Interesting features pop up.  For example, how playwright Vaclav Havel becames President of the Czech Republic, as reported in 1989.  Take a look.

    Archives aren't just dusty old papers (though hidden treasures lurk within).  They also document the recent past.  That's why the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is so proud that we now have a proper archive - and archive officer - of our own.  Visit our Archives website here.  Contact Stuart Harris-Logan if you wish to arrange a visit in person.

    Cambridge Early Music Summer Schools 2012

    5-12 August 2012
    @ Emmanuel College, Cambridge

    The new programme for the Cambridge Early Music Summer Schools is available now.

    Music Streaming - good news for 2012

    Classical Music Library
    (Alexander Street Press)

    Classical Music Library – one of the Whittaker Library’s music streaming services – has just notified us of a huge addition to their provision.  They’ve now got lots more EMI recordings.  Staff and students can stream recordings via our library website.  Why not take a look at what’s on offer?  Here’s our databases page

    Subject: Major EMI content release into Classical Music Library and Music Online

    I am pleased to announce that we released 1,409 albums (35,688 tracks) into Classical Music Library and Music Online today!  We have now released the remaining EMI material into Classical Music Library, adding to the already 22,000 tracks of EMI already in the database - over 50,000 tracks of EMI in total.

    New content comes from EMI Classics, Angel Records, Capitol Catalog, and more.

    Highlights include recordings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jussi Bjorling, Victoria De Los Angeles, Itzhak Perlman, Renata Scotto, Mstislav Rostropovich, London Symphony Orchestra, Taverner Choir, Maria Callas, Jon Vickers, Melos Ensemble, Pinchas Zuckerman, Borodin Quartet, Christoph Eschenbach, Elly Ameling, Trio Sonnerie,  Alban Berg Quartett, Chung Trio, John Ogdon, and more.
    Also included in this release are hundreds of full length operas ... 
    Classical Music Library now includes 7,417 albums, equaling 134,381 tracks, and is growing regularly.


    Burnsfest at the Scottish Storytelling Centre

    13-29 January 2012, Scottish Storytelling Centre
    Burnsfest

    Find out more

    Friday 6 January 2012

    2012 Plans

    New Year's Resolution: the last word

    In the spirit of a New Year's Resolution, 'Whittaker' has devised a Grand Book Plan.  Just something for those out-of-hours moments ...

    And started a new blog: True Imaginary Friends

    Monday 2 January 2012

    On this day, 2nd January 1824

    Poet and song-collector William Motherwell responded to his friend R. A. Smith's polite request for a preface, along these lines: yes, fair enough, but it'll take me a week to get over Hogmanay!

    To all those staff and students just wearily psyching themselves up to some 'real' work on 2nd January 2012 - one can only imagine how Motherwell celebrated Hogmanay in 1824, if it was going to take a week to get over it!

    And did he write the preface eventually?  Yes, after a fashion.  Smith and his committee of "ladies" drafted a preface for The Scotish Minstrel, and Motherwell rearranged it a bit.  Gee whizz!

    • Whittaker Library at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland catalogue
    • COPAC - union catalogue of university and national British and Irish libraries

    Handel Singing Competition @ London Handel Festival

    Our contacts on Twitter advise that the 11th Handel Singing Competition is announced:

    Singers aged 23-34
    Applications due 16 January 2012. 

    Find out more here.  (Then get your skates on!)

    .
    This will also be posted on Whittaker Live's Awards, Grants, Prizes page.

    Sunday 1 January 2012

    And a Happy New Year!

    2012

    Whittaker wishes all 'his' followers a happy, healthy and productive New Year.  And may we all be solvent if not wealthy.  May the Whittaker Library be a buzzing hive of activity, with patrons aided and assisted by your enthusiastic Library & IT staff.

    Extra-murally, 2012 is going to be the Year of the Deadline.  'Whittaker' has a contract to deliver a book by 30th April 2012.  All solicitous enquiries, encouragements and otherwise supportive comments will be very welcome indeed. 

    But enough of this pseudonym stuff - to get myself in the right frame of mind for the task ahead - no, this is not procrastination! - I'm looking for a new mug to add to the collection.  I like, 'When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.'  But it's big, which in Cafepress terms is huge.  I want a Cafepress small (everyone else's medium) mug.

    'Working on a bestseller' is a good slogan, but - oh, I'm so fussy - I don't like the art-work.  And 'Writers hate deadlines' is another apt one, but it's not positive enough!

    The winner is: 'Writer's block is when your imaginary friends refuse to talk to you'.  Very nice.  (As regular visitors will have realised, there are a number of Victorian Scottish song-collectors who are very real to me. I know far more people in 19th century Edinburgh than I do today!   Alexander Campbell, R. A. Smith, George Farquhar Graham and Finlay Dun are like close friends; In London, William Chappell and his successors are a source of endless interest; and in the Hebrides, the Maclean-Clephane sisters were fascinating women.  So, too, was Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser.)

    But deadlines are about more than mugs.  Here are David Seah's Productivity Tools, as recommended by The Thesis Whisperer.

    Meanwhile, my own all-time favourites are Diigo, Mendeley, and Evernote, with Copac always in the wings to back up my evidence.  Where would I be without them?

    What are your most useful productivity/ time management aids?

    Wish me luck!