Maslink - Musician's Answering Service

Recommended 'reading' for your Career & Enterprise Skills studies - a professional diary service with 32 years of experience behind it -

http://www.maslink.co.uk/

Student expectations

Colleagues are advised that the Whittaker Library has just received the latest QAA offering, this time on student expectations and reflections on their first year. (Essential reading at this time of year!). The book will be at 378.1 QUAL as soon as it has been labelled. Full details:-

• The first year experience . Student expectations, experiences and reflections on the first year
• The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2009
• Series - Enhancing practice, and Enhancement themes

International Composition Competition

Jointly organised by organisations in America, Naples and Sykies (Greece)

The National Academy of Music, a public charity of the State of Colorado (USA), in conjunction with the Municipal Conservatories of Neapolis and Sykies (Greece), is pleased to announce a call for scores for its International Music Prizes for Composition 2009, the Academy’s annual International Composition Competition.

Goals

• to stimulate composers of all ages and nationalities to write new, high-quality music for educational purposes
• to motivate highly talented composers to persist in building a career in composition by rewarding them with recognition and performance.

Prizes & Awards

• Submit a portfolio of at least two original compositions
• Winning compositions will be considered for performance at a Gala Concert on November 21, 2009 (Municipal Theatre of Sykies in Thessaloniki, Greece)
• Winners will also receive Certificates of Mastery and Medals of Distinction

Research Information Network

New pamphlets from the Research Information Network:

• Communicating research in the digital age
• E-journals: their use, value and impact

Both will be added to the Whittaker Library bookstock at RSAMD. You can also access RIN publications online - click here to find out more.

An introduction to QAA

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD has just accessioned a new QAA document - An Introduction to QAA. It'll be shelved at 378.1 QUAL within the next few days. You can also read this short pamphlet online as a pdf.

Preserving Scotland's Heritage

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD recently purchased two rare old Scottish printed music scores - the first volume of R. A. Smith's Scotish Minstrel, and Niel Gow's Complete Repository of Original Scots Tunes Part 2. Robert Archibald Smith published a number of songs by Lady Carolina Nairne in his Scotish Minstrel (note the spelling - someone else published a different collection with the modern spelling of 'Scottish'). He was condemned by fussy antiquarians for 'inventing' Scottish songs and passing them off as traditional. Nonetheless, some of his songs became part of the Scottish repertoire in their turn. (He also published an Irish Minstrel, itself a controversial publication because of copyright issues, but that's another story.) The Gow family were famed fiddlers, and no self-respecting Scottish music library would turn up the chance to buy one of their publications. Niel Gow (1720-1807) was a seriously big name in his day. Both books were in a sorry state when we bought them, but they are being expertly restored by Scottish bookbinders Riley, Dunn and Wilson. Watch this blog for further news.

The Strad - 'masterclass' articles online

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD naturally subscribes to The Strad magazine. However, you may not realise that you don't even need a subscription to access 'masterclass' articles with famous string-players online. Click here. We're just ordering a CD featured in the latest issue - Jordi Savall playing Scottish and Irish tunes on viol. It'll appear in our catalogue in due course.